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Lift
Lift is achieved through the cross-sectional shape (airfoil design) of the wing.
As the wing moves through the air, the airfoil's shape causes the air moving over the wing to travel faster than the air moving under the wing.
The slower airflow beneath the wing generates more pressure, while the faster airflow above generates less. This difference in pressure results in
lift.
Lift will vary dynamically depending on the speed an aircraft is traveling at.
Angle of Attack
The angle at which the airfoil meets the airflow also greatly affects the amount of lift generated. This angle is known as the
Angle of Attack (AoA). It is commonly thought that AoA is the angle of the aircraft relative to the ground - this is incorrect.
The AoA is the angle of the wing relative to airflow, which can be a very different angle, depending on the attitude of the
aircraft.
For example, if you are flying at 300 mph on a level course, your AoA is normally close to zero (actually about 5) since your
wing is pointed in the same direction as your mass is traveling. Picture an aircraft on a landing glide. The pilot maintains a
nose-up attitude to help slow the aircraft, while the actual direction the aircraft is traveling is in a slope down toward the
runway.
Thus AoA is the angle between where the wing is pointed and the glide slope the plane is on.
Why is AoA important? Angle of Attack is critical to all planes because the AoA greatly effects the flow of air across the
wings. Since planes have different wings, planes also have different AoA limits that they must fly within. If you exceed your
maximum AoA, you interrupt the flow of air over one or both wings and you induce a stall. This is NOT just at low speeds.
The Focke-Wulf Fw 190 series were well known to be susceptible to high speed stalls if the AoA was exceeded. Despite flying
at 300 mph, you can pull the aircraft into a turn which interrupts airflow and will quickly cause a dangerous stall.
Thrust
When the propeller on the aircraft engine rotates, it pulls in air from in front of the aircraft and pushes it back towards the tail.
The force generated by this is thrust. Thrust gives the aircraft forward momentum, and in turn, creates lift on the lifting surfaces
(mainly the wings). Generally, the greater the thrust, the greater the airspeed. Thrust is controlled by raising or lowering the
revolutions-per-minute (rpm) of the engine by using the throttle.
Drag
As an aircraft is propelled forward by thrust, an undesirable effect is also created: resistance. When the aircraft travels through
the air, its frontal area pushes against the air in front of it, and air flowing over the aircraft causes friction. This is known as drag.
For any given aircraft, drag can be increased and decreased depending on the conditions. For example, a more streamlined
aircraft will reduce drag, while other factors may increase drag. These include increased AoA, lowering flaps and/or landing gear,
and carrying external stores, such as bombs and rockets
Altitude
Air density varies with altitude; at lower altitudes, it is thicker, while higher up, the air is thinner. The density of the air directly
affects drag and thrust.
For example, at lower altitudes the thicker air increases thrust by supplying the propeller with more mass to move. However,
that mass also increases drag.
The lesser amount of oxygen associated with the thinner atmosphere of higher altitudes reduces the power output of the
engine, thereby reducing thrust. However one benefit of thinner atmosphere is that it creates less drag.
G-Forces
Gravity effects all objects within the Earth's gravitational field - G-force. When a person is standing still on the earth, they are
experiencing One G (one times the force of gravity). When a pilot in an airplane changes its orientation rapidly (tight turns,
loops, etc.), the aircraft will undergo additional G-forces. These may be positive or negative G-forces.
Positive G-Forces
Positive G's are generated when an aircraft pitches upwards (the nose pulls up). For example, when the aircraft turns
quickly or pulls up sharply. A World War II fighter may be capable of generating 7 G's or more. The physical effect of
Positive G's on a pilot is a possible blackout, usually preceded by greyout (a less severe effect).This is caused by the
increased effort the heart must generate to counter the G-forces and still supply the brain with sufficient blood. When
the G-forces are too great, the pilot will slowly lose vision due to this lack of blood supply. When prolonged, the blackout
can cause a loss of consciousness.
Negative G-Forces
Negative G's are generated when an aircraft pitches downwards (the nose goes down). For example, a sharp dive or
similar maneuver that unloads the aircraft of the force of gravity. Excessive Negative G's will cause a pilot to red out.This
is the effect of excessive blood being pumped to the pilot's brain, causing distorted vision. Red out is usually preceded by
pink out. This signals the onset of excessive negative G's.
Compressibility
When an aircraft approaches the speed of sound, the airflow over the wings of the aircraft can actually exceed the speed of
sound. This transonic airflow creates a shockwave and a barrier that disrupts the flow of air over the control surfaces. This
causes a dramatic loss in control efficiency and is known as compression. Compression usually occurs between Mach 0.7 to 0.9.
Mach 1.0 is the speed of sound. The actual speed of sound varies at different altitudes, depending on air density.
The practical effect of compression on an aircraft is a lack of control. The ailerons and/or elevators seem to lock up, and moving
the joystick has little effect on the aircraft. If you experience compression in a dive, you may not be able to recover.
For a World War II aircraft to attain these speeds, a high-speed dive would be required. To counter compression, speed must be
reduced. Increasing drag and decreasing thrust will slow the plane. Once the aircraft slows, control will be regained.
Note that some aircraft compress at slower speeds, such as the A6M Zero and Messerschmitt Bf 109. These aircraft are lighter
than most others, and sustained high speeds in level fight can begin to compress their control surfaces.
An aircraft maintains control in flight with its control surfaces (see the illustration below with its color coded control
surfaces). These are:
The Ailerons that control Roll
The Rudder that controls Yaw
The Elevators that control Pitch, and to a somewhat lesser degree,
The Flaps which provide extra Lift and Drag
We also mention the Landing Gear which changes the airflow around the aircraft when it is lowered.
Each of these primary control surfaces controls one set of primary aircraft movements (roll, pitch, or yaw). Coordinated use of
these control surfaces allows you to perform complex maneuvers.
Elevator (Pitch)
The pitch, or the up and down movement of the aircraft is controlled by the Elevator. It is located on the trailing edge of the
horizontal tail assembly and is controlled by the forward and backward movement of the joystick. Pulling the joystick back will
move the elevator up, causing the nose of the aircraft to point up. Similarly, pushing the joystick forward will move the
elevator down and pitch the nose down.
Rudder (Yaw)
On the trailing edge of the vertical stabilizer is the Rudder. This controls the yaw or the left/right sliding movements of the
aircraft. On a real aircraft, this is controlled by the foot pedals. War birds supports the use of rudder pedals, but for those
who don't have pedals, the rudder may be manipulated with the following keys: A will move the rudder left, causing left yaw
forces, D will move the rudder right initiating right yaw force, and S will center the rudder
Flaps
The Flaps are located on the underside of the trailing edge of the wings, inboard of the ailerons. This set of control surfaces, when
lowered, changes the cross sectional shape (airfoil) of the wing. By lowering the flaps, more surface area on the wing is created, thus
increasing lift. This enables you to lower your stall speed and increase your Angle-of-Attack (AoA). However, the flaps also increase
the drag on the aircraft, which reduces speed. Flaps are most commonly used for take off and landing.
SPOILER :(sometimes called a lift dumper) is a device intended to reduce lift in an aircraft.
Spoilers are plates on the top surface of a wing which can be extended upward into the airflow
and spoil it. By doing so, the spoiler creates a carefully controlled stall over the portion of the
wing behind it, greatly reducing the lift of that wing section. Spoilers differ from airbrakes in that
airbrakes are designed to increase drag while making little change to lift, while spoilers greatly
reduce lift while making only a moderate increase in drag. Spoilers are sometimes used when
descending from cruise altitudes to assist the aircraft in descending to lower altitudes without
picking up speed. the real gain comes as the spoilers cause a dramatic loss of lift and hence the
weight of the aircraft is transferred from the wings to the undercarriage, allowing the wheels to
be mechanically braked with much less chance of skidding. Reverse thrust is also often further
used to help slow the aircraft on landing.
AIR BRAKES: In aeronautics, air brakes are a type of flight control used on an aircraft to
reduce speed during landing. Air brakes differ from spoilers in that air brakes are designed
to increase drag while making little change to lift, whereas spoilers greatly reduce the liftto-drag ratio and a higher angle of attack required to maintain lift, resulting in a higher stall
speed.
wing
The wing is the most important part of an aircraft since it produces the lift that allows a plane
to fly. The wing is made up of two halves, left and right, when viewed from behind. These
halves are connected to each other by means of the fuselage. A wing produces lift because of
its special shape, a shape called an airfoil. If we were to cut through a wing and look at its crosssection, as illustrated below, we would see that a traditional airfoil has a rounded leading edge
and a sharp trailing edge.
Top View
The top view shows a simple wing geometry, like that found on a light general aviation
aircraft. The front of the wing (at the bottom) is called the leading edge; the back of the
wing (at the top) is called the trailing edge. The distance from the leading edge to the
trailing edge is called the chord, denoted by the symbol c. The ends of the wing are called
the wing tips, and the distance from one wing tip to the other is called the span, given the
symbol s. The shape of the wing, when viewed from above looking down onto the wing, is
called a plan form. In this figure, the plan form is a rectangle. For a rectangular wing, the
chord length at every location along the span is the same. For most other plan form, the
chord length varies along the span. The wing area, A, is the projected area of the plan
form and is bounded by the leading and trailing edges and the wing tips. Note: The wing
area is NOT the total surface area of the wing. The total surface area includes both upper
and lower surfaces. The wing area is a projected area and is almost half of the total surface
area.
Aspect ratio is a measure of how long and slender a wing is from tip to tip. The Aspect Ratio
of a wing is defined to be the square of the span divided by the wing area and is given the
symbol AR. For a rectangular wing, this reduces to the ratio of the span to the chord length as
shown at the upper right of the figure.
AR = s^2 / A = s^2 / (s * c) = s / c
High aspect ratio wings have long spans (like high performance gliders), while low aspect ratio
wings have either short spans (like the F-16 fighter) or thick chords (like the Space Shuttle).
There is a component of the drag of an aircraft called induced drag which depends inversely
on the aspect ratio. A higher aspect ratio wing has a lower drag and a slightly higher lift than a
lower aspect ratio wing. Because the glide angle of a glider depends on the ratio of the lift to
the drag, a glider is usually designed with a very high aspect ratio. The Space Shuttle has a low
aspect ratio because of high speed effects, and therefore is a very poor glider. The F-14 and F111 have the best of both worlds. They can change the aspect ratio in flight by pivoting the
wings--large span for low speed, small span for high speed.
Continue
PROPULSION
Engine: The other key component that makes an airplane go is its engine, or engines. Aircraft use several different kinds of engines, but
they can all be classified in two major categories. Early aircraft from the Wright Flyer until World War II used propeller-driven piston
engines, and these are still common today on light general aviation planes. But most modern aircraft now use some form of a jet
engine. Many aircraft house the engine(s) within the fuselage itself. Most larger planes, however, have their engines mounted in
separate pods hanging below the wing or sometimes attached to the fuselage. These pods are called nacelles.
Diagram of an axial-flow turbojet
The term "jet engine" is often used as a generic name for a variety of
engines, including the turbojet, turbofan, turboprop, and ramjet.
These engines all operate by the same basic principles, but each has its
own distinct advantages and disadvantages. All jet engines operate by
forcing incoming air into a tube where the air is compressed, mixed
with fuel, burned, and exhausted at high speed to generate thrust.
The turbojet (and the turbofan) can also be fitted with an afterburner. An
afterburner is simply a long tube placed in between the turbine and the
nozzle in which additional fuel is added and burned to provide a significant
boost in thrust. However, afterburners greatly increase fuel consumption, so
aircraft can only use them for brief periods.
Turbofan : A further variation on the turbojet is the turbofan. Although most
components remain the same, the turbofan introduces a fan section in front
of the compressors. The fan, another rotating series of blades, is also driven
by the turbine, but its primary purpose is to force a large volume of air
through outer ducts that go around the engine core. Although this
"bypassed" air flow travels at much lower speeds, the large mass of air that
is accelerated by the fan produces a significant thrust (in addition to that
created by the turbojet core) without burning any additional fuel. Thus, the
turbofan is much more fuel efficient than the turbojet. In addition, the lowspeed air helps to cushion the noise of the jet core making the engine much
quieter. Turbofans are typically broken into one of two categories--lowbypass ratio and high-bypass ratio--as illustrated. The bypass ratio refers to
the ratio of incoming air that passes through the fan ducts compared to the
incoming air passing through the jet core. In a low-bypass turbofan, only a
small amount of air passes through the fan ducts and the fan is of very small
diameter. The fan in a high-bypass turbofan is much larger to force a large
volume of air through the ducts. The low-bypass turbofan is more compact,
but the high-bypass turbofan can produce much greater thrust, is more fuel
efficient, and is much quieter.
Turboprop : A concept similar to the turbofan is the turboprop. However,
instead of the turbine driving a ducted fan, it drives a completely external
propeller. Turboprops are commonly used on commuter aircraft and longrange planes that require great endurance. The turboprop is attractive in
these applications because of its high fuel efficiency, even greater than the
turbofan. However, the noise and vibration produced by the propeller is a
significant drawback, and the turboprop is limited to subsonic flight only. In a
typical turboprop, the jet core produces about 15% of the thrust while the
propeller generates the remaining 85%.
CONCLUSION : (Interactive)
Classification of Aircraft , Discuss
What are the control surfaces used for Take off and Landing of an Aircraft ? Sequence of operation ? Discuss
As of 2009 the United States NAVSTAR Global Positioning System (GPS) is the only fully operational GNSS. The Russian
GLONASS is a GNSS in the process of being restored to full operation. China has indicated it will expand its regional Beidou
navigation system into the global COMPASS navigation system by 2015. The European Union's Galileo positioning system is a
GNSS in initial deployment phase, scheduled to be operational in 2013.
Global Satellite Based Augmentation Systems (SBAS) such as Omnistar and StarFire.
Regional SBAS including WAAS(US), EGNOS (EU), MSAS (Japan) and GAGAN (India).
Regional Satellite Navigation Systems such a QZSS (Japan), IRNSS (India) and Beidou (China).
Continental scale Ground Based Augmentation Systems (GBAS) for example the Australian GRAS and the US Department of
Transportation National Differential GPS (DGPS) service.
Regional scale GBAS such as CORS networks.
LAAS/GBAS : Local Area Augmentation System is the ICAO definition ground based augmentation for Satellite Navigation. Ground
Based Augmentation System is the European application of LAAS.
SBAS: SBAS is a generic term for GPS and GLONASS augmentations such as WAAS, EGNOS and MSAS, which use geostationary
satellites to broadcast information to users over a large Geographical service. SBAS uses the transmission of a GPS look-alike signal
from the SBAS geostationary satellite to further augment the GPS system performance.
WAAS : WAAS consists of two basic elements. The first is a network of differential ground-stations that receive the GPS signals and
calculate differential correction signals. 35 ground stations are required to cover the USA. These differential corrections are then
transmitted to the second element of the system, which are WAAS transponders on a number of Inmarsat geostationary
communications satellites. The differential signals are then transmitted from the communication satellites to the aircraft. In addition,
the communication satellites also transmit integrity information about the performance of the GPS satellites and a signal similar to a
GPS satellite. This GPS type signal is used for navigation and gives the appearance of an additional GPS satellite being present. This
situation highlights the importance of the GNSS receiver in the aircraft being able to detect faulty satellites and discard them from the
position calculation.
MSAS: Japan is implementing the Multi Satellite-based Augmentation System (MSAS Japanese Definition) that will
provide correction to GPS only. The SBAS system planned by Japan.
Differential Global Positioning System (DGPS) is an enhancement to GPS that uses a network of fixed, ground-based reference
stations to broadcast the difference between the positions indicated by the satellite systems and the known fixed positions. These
stations broadcast the difference between the measured satellite pseudo ranges and actual (internally computed) pseudo ranges,
and receiver stations may correct their pseudo ranges by the same amount. Correction signal is typically broadcasted with in-build
UHF band radio modem
EGNOS: The space-borne segment of EGNOS will initially be composed of navigation transponders carried on two satellites owned by
the International Maritime Satellite Organization (Inmarsat).These are Inmarsat-3 series satellites that are positioned above the Indian
Ocean at 64 East, and over the Atlantic Ocean at 15.5 West. The Inmarsat-3 satellites operate from geostationary orbits at 36,000km
above the Equator. Since their orbit speed matches that of the Earths rotation, the spacecraft appear to be stationary above the same
area of Earth at all times. The EGNOS ground network will provide the backbone for three navigation services: ranging, integrity
monitoring and wide-area differential corrections. The ranging service will enable the EGNOS transponders to broadcast GPS-like
navigation signals. As a result, these satellites become two more sources of space-based navigation data for users. This is important
because neither the GPS or GLONASS systems can guarantee that the minimum number of six satellites required for safety-critical
applications, like aircraft navigation, is in view at all times and all locations world-wide. The EGNOS integrity service will enable users to
know within 10 seconds (or 6 secs?) whether a navigation satellite signal is out of tolerance, allowing action to be taken before any
critical situation arises. The third function of EGNOS is known as the wide-area differential service, which broadcasts correction signals
to improve the precision of satellite navigation. With the wide-area differential service, the satellite navigation precision will
dramatically increase to 5 or 10 metres well above the approximately 100 metres for the currently available non-encrypted signals
from GPS
ABAS :Aircraft-based augmentation system (ABAS-ICAO definition) augments and/or integrates the information obtained from the
GNSS elements with other information available on board the aircraft. The aim is to enhance the overall performance of the GPS
equipment on board in terms of integrity, (continuity), availability and (accuracy)
Frequency spectrum
IRNSS
The Indian Regional Navigational Satellite System (IRNSS) is an autonomous regional satellite navigation system being developed by
Indian Space Research Organization which would be under the total control of Indian government. The government approved the
project in May 2006, with the intention of the system to be completed and implemented by 2012. It will consist of a constellation of
7 navigational satellites by 2012. All the 7 satellites will be placed in the Geostationary orbit (GEO) to have a larger signal footprint
and lower number of satellites to map the region. It is intended to provide an absolute position accuracy of better than 20 meters
throughout India and within a region extending approximately 2,000 km around it. A goal of complete Indian control has been
stated, with the space segment, ground segment and user receivers all being built in India
frequency allocation of GPS, Galileo, and Compass; the light red color of E1 band indicates that the transmission in this
band has not yet been detected
Inaccuracy in the GPS is primarily due to distortion from "billows" in the ionosphere, which introduce propagation delays that makes
the satellite appear farther away than it really is. GPS is often quoted as having 15 m accuracy, although the signal itself is good to
about 3 m given current electronics. Of the 12 m of additional error, ionosphere distortion accounts for about 5 m. Another 3 to 4 m is
accounted for by errors in the satellite ephemeris data, which is used to calculate the positions of the GPS satellites, and by clock drift
in the satellite's internal atomic clocks.
DGPS correct for these errors by comparing the position measured using GPS with a known highly-accurate ground reference, and
then calculating the difference and broadcasting it to users.
Some of these corrections apply to any location, the corrections to the clocks and ephemeris data for instance, but the billows cover
only a certain portion of the sky so a correction measured at any one ground station is only really useful for receivers located nearby.
To make the corrections accurate over a large area, one would need to deploy many ground reference stations and broadcast a
considerable amount of data for finely divided locations.
Star Fire instead uses an advanced receiver to correct for ionospheric effects internally. To do this, it captures the P(Y) signal that is
broadcast on two frequencies, L1 and L2, and compares the effects of the ionosphere on the propagation time of the two. Using this
information, the ionospheric effects can be calculated to a very high degree of accuracy, meaning the Star Fire dGPS signal can ignore
this correction. The second P(Y) signal is encrypted and cannot be used by civilian receivers directly, but StarFire doesn't use the data
contained in the signal; it only compares the phase of the two signals instead. This is expensive in terms of electronics, requiring a
second tuner and excellent signal stability to be useful, which is why the StarFire-like solution is not more widely used (at least when it
was being created).
With the ionospheric correction handled internally, the StarFire dGPS signal is greatly reduced in the amount of information it needs to
carry, which consists of a set of correction signals for the satellite data alone. Since these corrections are globally valid, and there are
only 24 satellites in operation at any time, the total amount of information is quite limited.
StarFire broadcasts this data at 300 baud, repeating once a second. The corrections are generally valid for about 20 minutes. In
addition to ephemeris and clock corrections, the signal also contains information on the health of each satellite, offering quality-ofservice data in near real-time, with about a 3 second delay in updating the signals from the ground station.
StarFire has developed through two versions. The first, retroactively known as SF1, offered 1-sigma accuracy of about 1 m. Its error
was about 15 to 30 cm, meaning that while the displayed position (absolute accuracy) might be off by about 1 m, it could return you to
within centimeters of a previously measured spot (relative accuracy). This was enough for the intended role, field surveying. This
system was first offered in 1998, and since its replacement the SF1 signal is apparently now offered for free.
The newer system, SF2, was introduced in 2004. It dramatically improves accuracy, with a 1-sigma absolute accuracy of about 4.5 cm.
In other words, StarFire will generally leave you within 5 cm of a particular geographical point, and be accurate to under 10 cm around
95% of the time. The relative accuracy is likewise improved, to about 2.5 cm.
Even if the StarFire correction signal is lost for more than 20 minutes, the internal ionospheric corrections alone result in accuracy of
about 3 m. StarFire receivers also receive WAAS signals, ignoring their ionospheric data and using their (less detailed) ephemeris and
clock adjustment data to provide about 50 cm accuracy. In comparison, "normal" GPS receivers generally offer about 15 m accuracy,
and ones using WAAS improve this to about 3 m.
AVIATION TERMINOLOGY
Shortest distance between two points on Earth
If you assume that Earth is a round sphere with a flat surface, you can use basic spherical trigonometry equations to calculate the
"great circle" distance along Earth's surface between any two points. If the sites are not just at different longitudes and latitudes,
but also at different elevations, this adds a variable that the smooth spherical Earth model ignores. However, in most cases this
won't be a serious problem.
(The accuracy of this calculation depends on the accuracy of the longitude and latitude coordinates. Earth's circumference is about
40,000 km. So 1 of longitude at the equator, or 1 of latitude, is about 40,000/360 = 110 km. So, if you know a site's latitude to
only the nearest degree, you know its north-south location only to within about 100 km. If you know latitude to the nearest onethousandth of a degree, xx.xxx, you know its north-south distance to within about 100 m; for the nearest one-ten-thousandth of a
degree, xx.xxxx, to within about 10 m. Longitude and latitude coordinates from modern GPS receivers (but not necessarily the
elevation) should always be accurate to at least 10 m).
The distance between two points at different longitudes but the same latitude decreases as the cosine of the latitude. 1 is 110 km
at the equator, but at a latitude of 60, 1 of longitude corresponds to about 110cos(60) = 1100.5 = 55 km.
The shape of our planet is irregular and changing (due to the tides caused by the Moon and Sun). Its daily rotation causes the
equator to bulge. Earth can be considered a rigid sphere at first approximation. A better description would be a rigid ellipsoid of
revolution (oblate spheroid), having an equatorial radius of 6378.1365 km (3963.1903 mi) and polar radius (its axis of revolution) of
6356.7517 km (3949.9024 mi). The average radius for a spherical approximation of the figure of the Earth is approximately 6371.01
km (3958.76 statute miles, 3440.07 nautical miles).
(For nautical miles, divide km by 1.852, For miles, divide km by 1.609344)
The great-circle distance (orthodromic distance) is the shortest distance between any two points on the surface of a sphere
measured along a path on the surface of the sphere (as opposed to going through the sphere's interior). Because spherical
geometry is rather different from ordinary Euclidean geometry, the equations for distance take on a different form. The distance
between two points in Euclidean space is the length of a straight line from one point to the other. On the sphere, however, there
are no straight lines. In non-Euclidean geometry, straight lines are replaced with Geodesics. Geodesics on the sphere are the great
circles (circles on the sphere whose centers are coincident with the center of the sphere).
Between any two points on a sphere which are not directly opposite each other, there is a unique great circle. The two points
separate the great circle into two arcs. The length of the shorter arc is the great-circle distance between the points. A great circle
endowed with such a distance is the Riemannian circle.
Formulas
Let be the geographical latitude and longitude of two points (a base "standpoint" and the destination "forepoint"), respectively, and their
differences and the (spherical) angular difference/distance, or central angle, which can be constituted from the spherical law of cosines.
The distance d, i.e. the arc length, for a sphere of radius r and given in radians, is then:
This arccosine formula above can have large rounding errors for the common case where the distance is small, however, so it is not
normally used. Instead, an equation known historically as the haversine formula was preferred, which is much more accurate for small
distances:
Historically, the use of this formula was simplified by the availability of tables for the haversine function: hav() = sin 2(/2).
Although this formula is accurate for most distances, it too suffers from rounding errors for the special (and somewhat unusual) case of
antipodal points (on opposite ends of the sphere). A more complicated formula that is accurate for all distances is the following special
case of the Vincenty formula (which more generally is a method to compute distances on ellipsoids)
When programming a computer, one should use the atan2() function rather than the ordinary arctangent function (atan()), in order to
simplify handling of the case where the denominator is zero. If r is the great-circle radius of the sphere, then the great-circle distance is .
Note: above, accuracy refers to rounding errors only; all formulas themselves are exact (for a sphere).
TRUE AIRSPEED
True airspeed is the vector difference of the velocity vectors of the aircraft and the air mass, both with reference to the earth's surface.
When determining the true airspeed of an aircraft under zero wind conditions and in horizontal flight, the true airspeed of the aircraft is
equal to the speed of the aircraft relative to the earth's surface. When determining the true airspeed of an aircraft under non-zero wind
conditions an estimation of the wind speed vector is used.
To maintain a desired ground track whilst flying in the moving air mass, the pilot of an aircraft must use knowledge of wind speed, wind
direction, and true air speed to determine the required heading.
Indicated airspeed (IAS) is the airspeed read directly from the airspeed indicator on an aircraft, driven by the pitot-static system. IAS is
directly related to calibrated airspeed (CAS), but includes instrument errors and position error. Aircraft display an indicated airspeed on an
instrument called an airspeed indicator. Indicated airspeed will differ from true airspeed whenever the aircraft is flying in air whose density
differs from the density at sea level and 15 degrees Celsius. Air density is affected by temperature, moisture content, and altitude.
Indicated airspeed is used in aircraft operation as the aircraft stalling speed and structural limiting speeds are dependent on indicated
airspeed, irrespective of true airspeed. However, proper navigation via dead reckoning (without constant ground reference) requires the
use of true airspeed and wind corrections.
Calculating true airspeed
Low-speed flight
True airspeed (TAS) can be calculated as a function of indicated airspeed (or equivalent airspeed) and air density: [
Combining the above with the expression for Mach number under subsonic compressible flow gives an expression for TAS as a
function of impact pressure (pitot tube), static pressure and static air temperature:
Where Tt = total air temperature For manual calculation of TAS in knots where Mach number and static air temperature are known
the expression may be simplified to:
In general aviation aircraft, the most commonly-used and most safety-critical airspeeds are
displayed as color-coded arcs and lines located on the face of an aircraft's airspeed
indicator. The lower ends of the green arc and the white arc are the stalling speed with wing
flaps retracted, and stalling speed with wing flaps fully extended, respectively. These are the
stalling speeds for the aircraft at its maximum weigh. Having V speeds properly displayed is
an airworthiness requirement for type-certificated aircraft in most parts of the world.
Regulatory V-speeds
V-speed
designator
Description
V1
V2
V2min
V3
VA
VB
VC
V-speed
designator
Description
VNE
VS
VS0
VNO
VFE
VFC
VF