We often glimpse a plane in the sky with no greater understanding of the principles involved than a caveman. How do these heavy machines take to the air? To answer that question, we have to enter the world of fluid mechanics. Physicists classify both liquids and gases as fluids, based on...
We often glimpse a plane in the sky with no greater understanding of the principles involved than a caveman. How do these heavy machines take to the air? To answer that question, we have to enter the world of fluid mechanics. Physicists classify both liquids and gases as fluids, based on...
We often glimpse a plane in the sky with no greater understanding of the principles involved than a caveman. How do these heavy machines take to the air? To answer that question, we have to enter the world of fluid mechanics. Physicists classify both liquids and gases as fluids, based on...
Do commercial jets have locks on the doors and ignition keys? I've noticed that I am not allowed to use my cell phone in airplanes or in hospitals. Why are these prohibitions in place? When an aerobatic plane flies upside down, how does the fuel get to the engine? How does a speedom...
turbulence is responsible for 75 percent of all weather-related aircraft crashes. Severe turbulence can structurally damage the airplane and cause the pilot to lose control, which may in turn lead to a crash. Even in airplanes that do not crash, turbulence can still cause accidents. Indeed, it...
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– in the case of the airline industry – is not a piece of marketing-speak, it is a crucial selling point for the operators. In the early 2000s when fatal accidents happened significantly more often than they do now, airline reputations could be broken by a single crash, and they knew...
In1958,AustralianscientistDavidWarrendevelopedaflight-memoryrecorderthatwouldtrackbasicinformationlikealtitudeanddirection.Thatwasthefirstmodelforablackbox,whichbecamearequirementonallU.Scommercialflightsby1960.Earlymodelsoftenfailedtostandcrashes,however,soin1965thedevicewascompletelyredesignedandmovedtotherear(尾部)of...
Not just for airplanes: The black box pictured here came from a race car that was involved in a crash in Australia in 2006. Greg Burke-Pool/Getty Images There are all sorts of potential improvements on the horizon for black box technology. Most obviously, current systems don't record any ...
whichbecamearequirementonallU.S.commercialflightsby1960.Earlymodelsoftenfailedtowithstandcrashes,however,soin1965thedevicewascompletelyredesignedandmovedtotherearoftheplane–thearealeastsubjecttoimpact–fromitsoriginalpositioninthelandingwells(起落架舱).Thesameyear,theFederalAviationAuthorityrequiredthattheboxes,which...