Back to the Basics: Thrust, Lift, and Drag

Laversab Aviation is among one of the most highly regarded suppliers of pitot static testers and data test sets - sine qua non in the aviation industry. Flight is among one of man's most inimitable discoveries. Other than electricity, most other discoveries pale in comparison. It is a great shame that the majority of men in the 21st century, despite access to a bevy of educational resources thanks to the internet, have little idea how flight works - what makes an airplane, something so big and heavy, get up and stay in the air. The many scientific minds at Laversab have decided to be that educational resource. With the help of this article, it is our goal to educate even the most scientifically illiterate what makes airplanes fly. To do this, basic core concepts must be explicated. These basic concepts include: thrust, lift, and drag, among many others. This first article is going to focus on these three concepts. Following articles will introduce more complex and abstruse concepts - concepts which can only be understood if one has a strong, basic understanding of the primary concepts.

Once one has explicitly understood the axiomatic concepts on which all other knowledge rests - those being: the primacy of existence, of consciousness, and of identity - man can look to the world, to extrospect, and make an effort, through logic and empirical observation, to understand the nature of reality. Man sees that some things, which he calls birds, have the capacity to fly - to travel by way of air. For centuries, man has wanted to perform this act of flight. Only now can he say he has been successful in doing so. But what made him successful? What knowledge has man gleaned to make it happen?

Thrust, life, gravity, and drag - these are the four concepts which man has developed as a result of empirical observation and arduous inductive reasoning. The first two - thrust and lift - assist flight. The other two - gravity and drag - resist flight. All four of these concepts are classified as forces. In physics, a force is any interaction which changes the motion of a physical entity.

When an aircraft is flying in the air, straight and level, all four of the aforementioned forces (thrust, lift, gravity, and drag) are balanced and in equilibrium.

Thrust

Engines create thrust. When a propeller forces air through the engine, the airplane or aircraft moves forward. As the wings cut through the air in front of the aircraft, lift is created. This is the force pushing an aircraft up into the sky.

Lift

When air flows both over and under the surface of an aircraft's wings, you have lift. The wing is designed such that the top surface is longer than the bottom surface. This makes the air move faster along the top of the wing, thus creating a difference in air pressure above and below - a phenomenon known as the Bernoulli effect. The pressure pushing up is far greater than the downward pressure. This creates lift.

Drag

That phenomenon which opposes thrust is known as drag. Even though it generally occurs because of air resistance as air flows around the wing, several different types of drag exist. Drag is created as a result of simple skin friction as air molecules stick to the surface of the wings.

Gravity

Gravity is a force of acceleration on an object. The Earth exerts this natural force on all objects. It is a constant force that always acts downwards.

Laversab Aviation

Thanks to hard work and dedication, Laversab Aviation has emerged as one of the foremost suppliers of Pitot Static Testers and Data Test Sets in the world. The company's accumulative knowledge in the field of Aviation is incredibly expansive and prodigious, making them a primary source for those in search of educational resources on the subject of Aviation.

The Aviation Industry: An Economist's Perspective

Far too many industries have good reason for caution at the moment, given the fears of a "double dip" in the world economy. But the mood in aviation, especially among the aircraftmakers, remains optimistic. This week Airbus produced new long-range forecasts, predicting that a combination of vigorous emerging-market growth and the need to replace ageing and inefficient planes in the rich countries will mean a demand, between now and 2030, for almost 28,000 large aircraft (passenger planes with over 100 seats, plus freighters) worth $3.5 trillion. Airbus's archrival, Boeing, is even more boosterish: it predicted earlier this month that there would be demand for around 31,000 planes, worth $4 trillion, by 2030. Both planemakers are already seeing signs of this in their bulging order books. This bodes well for Laversab Aviation Systems, as their pitot static testers and air data test sets will remain in high demand.

The aircraftmakers' confidence about the emerging world is based on what appears to be an iron law of aviation: rising numbers of urban middle-class people will mean rising demand for air travel, whatever short-term blips the economy suffers. Since the 1970s, through oil shocks, Middle East wars, terrorist attacks and disease outbreaks, the number of passenger-miles flown seems always to have snapped back to its long-term growth trend (see chart 1). At the moment Airbus reckons there are 39 "megacities" worldwide whose airports handle more than 10,000 long-haul passengers a day. In 20 years it expects there to be almost 90 such cities, many of them in Asia. In terms of the numbers of very large aircraft (like the A380) that they handle, the world's busiest hubs by then will be Dubai, Beijing Capital and Hong Kong, with Heathrow and JFK in fourth and fifth place.

There is still plenty of room for growth in the rich world too, but a second important driver of demand for new planes in these countries will be airlines' desire to save on fuel and maintenance costs, especially as new taxes on emissions come into force, by swapping their old crates for shiny new planes. Airbus points out that the industry has already been doing pretty well on this score: in the past ten years, passenger-miles flown have risen by 45% but the airlines' use of jet fuel has gone up by just 3%. In large part that is because of more efficient aircraft, and there are more such gains to come. Airbus says the re-engined "neo" version of its single-aisle A320 plane, due to fly in late 2015, will burn 15% less fuel than the current version. New engine designs and greater use of lighter composite materials in aircraft frames will mean even greater gains in efficiency.

Another reason for the airlines' greater fuel efficiency in recent years has been that they have been steadily getting better at filling their planes. Of all the many charts that flashed by during Airbus's presentation on Monday, the one that most caught my eye was this one (chart 2), showing how planes were typically only half-full in the 1960s but now fly with more than three-quarters of the seats occupied. Surely there is scope for further improvement in the coming years, as long as the airlines do not let their capacity get too far ahead of demand. As passengers clamour for seats, airlines will switch to ever bigger planes, which are more fuel-efficient than smaller ones. Singapore Airlines, the launch customer for the giant A380, is said to be filling over 80% of the available seats on it.

So the long-term future for aviation looks bright. As for the short term, IATA, the body that represents almost all of the world's scheduled airlines, said on September 20th that air travel was holding up unexpectedly well despite the worsening economic worries and continuing high fuel prices. It expects the number of passenger-miles flown to increase by almost 6% this year, whereas back in June it was expecting only 4.4% growth. As a result, IATA expects airlines to make combined net profits this year of just under $7 billion, compared with the $4 billion forecast in June.

Whether this is cause for celebration or a shrugging of the shoulders depends on how you look at it. IATA points out that this year's expected profits represent a slender 1.2% margin on the airlines' combined revenues of almost $600 billion. This year's $7 billion is a sizeable fall from last year's record profits of almost $16 billion, and IATA expects a further reduction in 2012, to around $5 billion. On the other hand, airlines have been such chronically poor financial performers—they lost money in seven of the last ten years—that to clock up any sort of profit in current conditions seems an achievement by comparison.

Environmental Issues for Aviation

Like any other form of public mass transport that relies on finite planetary resources, aviation cannot (in its present form) be considered sustainable in the very long term. Because of the finite nature of the resources upon which aviation relies, it is more realistic in the medium term to think how best to improve the sustainability of air transport rather than it achieving sustainable development. Laversab Aviation Systems is incredibly concerned with the nature of environmental issues for aviation. That is why they put so much focus in developing pitot-static systems that not only function efficiently and effectively, but which are manufactured in an environmentally-friendly fashion.

Demand for air transport is continually growing and, if this demand is to be met with all the attendant benefits, society must also accept the costs (noise, pollution, climate change, risk, resource use etc). Whilst it is not possible to make aviation sustainable (in its present form) in the very long term, much can be and is being done to improve aviation’s sustainability including:

• ensuring safety and security;
• efficiently optimising available capacity;
• collaborating to achieve a shared vision for more sustainable aviation;
• making decisions based on optimising the balance between social, economic and environmental imperatives;
• serving the need for mobility in a manner where the greatest overall benefit will arise, meeting the needs of stakeholders;
• taking every opportunity to minimise adverse impacts and resource use by creating and operating more efficient ATM systems, equipment and technology;
• targeting efforts where they will produce the greatest improvement in our citizen’s quality of life;
• investing in adequate research, training, education and awareness;
• being transparent and honest about both the good and bad aspects of air transport;
• avoid conflicting policy and regulations.

Aviation Systems: A Look Into the Future

NASA asked the world's top aircraft engineers to solve the hardest problem in commercial aviation: how to fly cleaner, quieter and using less fuel. The prototypes they imagined may set a new standard for the next two decades of flight.

BOX WING JET, LOCKHEED MARTIN

Target Date: 2025

Passenger jets consume a lot of fuel. A Boeing 747 burns five gallons of it every nautical mile, and as the price of that fuel rises, so do fares. Lockheed Martin engineers developed their Box Wing concept to find new ways to reduce fuel burn without abandoning the basic shape of current aircraft. Adapting the lightweight materials found in the F-22 and F-35 fighter jets, they designed a looped-wing configuration that would increase the lift-to-drag ratio by 16 percent, making it possible to fly farther using less fuel while still fitting into airport gates. These future jets are incredibly sophisticated - much like the pitot static testers and air data test sets that Laversab produces.

They also ditched conventional turbofan engines in favor of two ultrahigh-bypass turbofan engines. Like all turbofans, they generate thrust by pulling air through a fan on the front of the engine and by burning a fuel-air mixture in the engine's core. With fans 40 percent wider than those used now, the Box Wing's engines bypass the core at several times the rate of current engines. At subsonic speeds, this arrangement improves efficiency by 22 percent. Add to that the fuel-saving boost of the box-wing configuration, and the plane is 50 percent more efficient than the average airliner. The additional wing lift also lets pilots make steeper descents over populated areas while running the engines at lower power. Those changes could reduce noise by 35 decibels and shorten approaches by up to 50 percent.

SUPERSONIC GREEN MACHINE, LOCKHEED MARTIN

Target Date: 2030

The first era of commercial supersonic transportation ended on November 26, 2003, with the final flight of the Concorde, a noisy, inefficient and highly polluting aircraft. But the dream of a sub-three-hour cross-country flight lingered, and in 2010, designers at Lockheed Martin presented the Mach 1.6 Supersonic Green Machine. The plane's variable-cycle engines would improve efficiency by switching to conventional turbofan mode during takeoff and landing. Combustors built into the engine would reduce nitrogen oxide pollution by 75 percent. And the plane's inverted-V tail and underwing engine placement would nearly eliminate the sonic booms that led to a ban on overland Concorde flights.

The configuration mitigates the waves of air pressure (caused by the collision with air of a plane traveling faster than Mach 1) that combine into the enormous shock waves that produce sonic booms. "The whole idea of low-boom design is to control the strength, position and interaction of shock waves," says Peter Coen, the principal investigator for supersonic projects at NASA. Instead of generating a continuous loop of loud booms, the plane would issue a dull roar that, from the ground, would be about as loud as a vacuum cleaner.

The future is looking bright.

Aviation Safety Management System

Many industry and regulatory "experts" suggest that implementing a Safety Management System (SMS) is difficult, time-consuming, and expensive.

A rational, empirical mind will disagree - and Laversab Aviation Systems is of the same sentiment.

Ask yourself this question: Are your safety management activities complex and expensive? If the answer is "yes," you’re doing something wrong.

Managing safety is ultimately about managing risk – a simple concept that is often lost in academic models and 300-page safety manuals. Managing safety is not about making things complicated and "user unfriendly." An effective SMS that actually adds value while elevating the level of safety within an organization, is easily understood and "user-friendly."

I’ve had the opportunity to review the SMSs of several types of operators – large, small, international, domestic, private non-revenue (part 91), non-scheduled commercial (part 135), scheduled commercial (part 121) – and the most effective SMSs are not complex; instead, they are streamlined and easy to understand. An example of reducing unnecessary complexity is an operator who utilizes a single report form, rather than three different forms, for 1) the reporting of hazards/threats, for 2) any recommended changes employees want to suggest, and for 3) any unintentional errors employees have committed. This is sort of a "one-stop shopping" concept. The operators with an ineffective SMS seem to focus more on managing the complexities of their SMS rather than managing safety itself. An example of complexities is the method an employee uses to access safety information. The safety information should be readily available and easily accessed for the front-line employees. Employees should not be forced to perform several steps just to get the safety information in front of them to read. Also, the safety information itself should be as brief and to-the-point as possible. The above is as important to safety as the pitot static tester or the air data test set is to Laversab.

It is a myth that SMSs are better suited for large organizations. Smaller organizations actually have an advantage when it comes to incorporating an SMS because the smaller the operation, the easier it is to communicate and implement the steps needed to run an effective SMS. Regardless of the size of the operation, all successful SMSs will include four basic elements:

• Top-level management is committed to safety.
• Systems are in place to ensure hazards are reported in a timely manner.
• Action is taken to manage risks.
• The effects of safety actions are evaluated.

Experience has shown that effective SMSs make good economic sense. An effective SMS not only allows an organization to become more proactive in identifying and avoiding major threats/hazards but also reduces the number of minor incidents an operator will experience over time. An effective SMS will lead to improved communication, higher workplace morale, and increased productivity.

If your SMS is just sitting there and not really doing anything to make your operation safer and more efficient, then you need to take a hard look at how your organization is really managing safety. Chances are, your safety management activities are too complex and more reactive than proactive.

Effective safety management depends on the involvement of everyone within an organization. In order to get everyone within an organization involved in the activities of an SMS, the SMS must be easily understood and transparent.

An effective SMS has credibility which leads to everyone’s involvement. Employee participation is inversely proportional to the complexity of an SMS. As complexity increases, participation decreases.

Without participation, an SMS can never be effective.

Aviation Systems: Core Concepts (Part 2)

In late July, an excursion into the aggregation of the core aviation systems concepts had begun. The intention: to get a better understanding of the discipline. And to get a firm grasp of what pitotic static systems are and what they are for, a basic, rudimentary knowledge of the relevant concepts is necessary. Terms such as air data test systems and RVSM test equipment cannot be understood from the get-go.

Civil aviation

Civil aviation is one of two major categories of flying that represents non-military aviation, both private and commercial. The majority of countries around the world are members of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), working together to establish a consistent and universal set of standards and recommended practices for civil aviation through that agency. The two major categories encompassing cival aviation are:

• Scheduled air transport. This includes every passenger and every cargo flight operating on regularly scheduled paths and routes.
• General aviation (or GA for short). This includes all other civil flights, either commercial or private.

Even though scheduled air transport is the bigger operation in terms of the number of passengers, General Aviation is greater in terms of the actual number of flights in the United States of America. In the United States of America, General Aviation carries over 166 million passengers every single year - more than any individual airline, though far less than every single airline combined.
A good number of countries also make a regulatory distinction. This is based on whether or not the aircraft are flown for hire like:

• Commercial aviation includes almost all flying that is done for hire, particularly scheduled service on airlines.
• Private aviation includes pilots that fly for their own purposes (recreation, business related reasons, etc.) without receiving pay.

International Civil Aviation Organization

The International Civil Aviation Organization is a United Nations agency that serves to codify and develop the principles and strictures that best ensure safe and orderly growth in the domain of air navigation. These recommended principles and areas of focus include but are not limited to: flight inspection, prevention of unlawful interference, and facilitation of border-crossing procedures for international civil aviation. The International Civil Aviation Organization was founded in 1947. Its headquarters are located in Quebec, Canada.

Aircraft

An aircraft is a machine that has the capacity to fly by gaining support from the air. It counters the force of gravity either by using static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil. In a few cases, though, an aircraft counters the force of gravity with the help of the downard thrust from jet engines.

Lift (force)

A fluid flowing past the surface of a body exerts a force on it. Lift is the component of this force which is perpindicular to the flow coming from the opposite direction. In contrast, draft force is the component of the surface force that is actually parallel to the flow direction. if the fluid is air, the force is known as an aerodynamic force. In water, hydrodynamic force.
Lift is the force that's generated by propellers and wings to get an aircraft in the air and keep it there. Animals such as birds, bats and instects have exploited lift for millions and millions of years. The manmade flying machines are an extraction and application of many of the same laws and principles used by said animals.

Pitot-Static Systems: Core Concepts (Part 1)

It is common knowledge that the field of discipline that Laversab deals with is abstruse to the layman – with such specialized knowledge being too much for an individual to comprehend all at once. For this, it's believed that it would be of great value to take the time to explicate and define some of the main core concepts involved in Laversab's line of work. Below is listed a set of definitions for terms and concepts that must be known by those working in the industry. To develop a certain degree of competence, one must start from the base – to first introduce the main, rudimentary concepts – and then build up to the more technical, complex concepts afterward. Please, do not expect to get through every single term today. These core concept articles are going to broken down into small, bite-sized chunks. That may indeed be a good thing, as listing them all at once may be information overload.

Aeuronautics

What is aeronautics? A nominal definition, based on the Greek root words, would tell us that aeronautics has something to do with the “navigation of the air.” And why? Because in ancient Greek, the term āēr means “air” and the term nautikē means “navigation.” Now, a more formal definition would go something like this: the science involved with the study, design, and manufacturing of airflight-capable machines, and the techniques of operating aircraft and rockets with the atmosphere. Sounds like a mouthful, doesn't it? Well, if you're looking for a simpler definition, “the science or practice of travel through the air,” should suffice.

The term “aeronautics” is often used interchangeably with "aviation", but one must be technical here in making one distinction between the two. “Aeronautics” includes lighter-than-air craft – like airships, as well as ballistic vehicles. “Aviation,” on the other hand, does not. To grok what apitot static tester is, both terms should be firmly understood first.

Aviation

So if you've got the concept of aeronautics well understood, then chances are you would be able to define “aviation” with little effort. But for those who would still like to flesh out the concept – to make sure that they have it down to the tee – one must take the time to define the term.

“Aviation” is the practical aspect or art of aeronautics, being the design, development, production, operation, and use of aircraft (heavier than-air aircraft). The word actually comes from the Latin word “avis,” meaning “bird.”

Okay, so chances are you already were aware thatLaversab aviation was in the Aviation Systems industry. If you didn't know what aviation meant, now you know. But where to go from here? What other concepts must one familiarize himself with in order to better understand what Laversab is all about? The number of directions that one can go from here are limitless.

Pitot-static System

A pitot-static system is a system of pressure-sensitive instruments that is most often used in aviation for the purposes of determining an aircraft's velocity, Mach number, altitude, and altitude trend. The main parts that make up a pitot-static system are: the pitot tube, the static port and the pitot-static instruments. This equipment measures the forces that act on a vehicle as a function of the temperature, density and pressure. It also measures the viscosity of the fluid in which it is operating – something that is incredibly important and must not be overlooked. Laversab has its own set of pitot-static system equipment – cream of the crop stuff; the highest quality systems out there at the moment.

Airspeed Indicator

This instrument is connected to both the static and the pitot pressure sources. There is a difference between the pitot pressure and the static pressure. That difference is called dynamic pressure. When there is more dynamic pressure, the airspeed reported will be higher. A traditional mechanical airspeed indicator has something known as the pressure diaphragm. The pressure diaphragm is connected to the pitot tube. The case that surrounds the diaphragm is actually airtight. This is crucial; it has to be airtight for everything to function properly. As the speed increases, the ram pressure also increases. This causes for more pressure to be exerted on the diaphragm - which will require larger needle movement through the mechanical linkage.