V speedsIn aviation, V-speeds are standard terms used to define airspeeds important or useful to the operation of all aircraft. These speeds are derived from data obtained by aircraft designers and manufacturers during flight testing for aircraft type-certification. Using them is considered a best practice to maximize aviation safety, aircraft performance, or both. The actual speeds represented by these designators are specific to a particular model of aircraft.
AirspeedIn aviation, airspeed is the speed of an aircraft relative to the air. Among the common conventions for qualifying airspeed are: Indicated airspeed ("IAS"), what is read on an airspeed gauge connected to a Pitot-static system; Calibrated airspeed ("CAS"), indicated airspeed adjusted for pitot system position and installation error; Equivalent airspeed ("EAS"), calibrated airspeed adjusted for compressibility effects; True airspeed ("TAS"), equivalent airspeed adjusted for air density, and is the speed of the aircraft through the air in which it is flying.
ContrailContrails (ˈkɒntreɪlz; short for "condensation trails") or vapor trails are line-shaped clouds produced by aircraft engine exhaust or changes in air pressure, typically at aircraft cruising altitudes several miles above the Earth's surface. Contrails are composed primarily of water, in the form of ice crystals. The combination of water vapor in aircraft engine exhaust and the low ambient temperatures that exist at high altitudes allows the formation of the trails. Impurities in the engine exhaust from the fuel, including sulfur compounds (0.
Cirrus cloudCirrus (cloud classification symbol: Ci) is a genus of high cloud made of ice crystals. Cirrus clouds typically appear delicate and wispy with white strands. Cirrus are usually formed when warm, dry air rises, causing water vapor deposition onto rocky or metallic dust particles at high altitudes. Globally, they form anywhere between above sea level, with the higher elevations usually in the tropics and the lower elevations in more polar regions.
Drop tankIn aviation, a drop tank (external tank, wing tank or belly tank) is used to describe auxiliary fuel tanks externally carried by aircraft. A drop tank is expendable and often capable of being jettisoned. External tanks are commonplace on modern military aircraft and occasionally found in civilian ones, although the latter are less likely to be discarded except in an emergency. The primary disadvantage with drop tanks is that they impose a drag penalty on the aircraft.
Piper AircraftPiper Aircraft, Inc. is a manufacturer of general aviation aircraft, located at the Vero Beach Regional Airport in Vero Beach, Florida, United States and owned since 2009 by the Government of Brunei. Throughout much of the mid-to-late 20th century, it was considered to be one of the "Big Three" in the field of general aviation manufacturing, along with Beechcraft and Cessna. Between its founding in 1927 and the end of 2009, the company produced 144,000 aircraft in 160 certified models, of which 90,000 are still flying.
EmbraerEmbraer S.A. (ẽbɾaˈɛɾ) is a Brazilian multinational aerospace corporation. It designs, manufactures, and sells commercial, military, executive, and agricultural aircraft, as well as provides leasing and aviation support services. Embraer is the third largest producer of civil aircraft after Boeing and Airbus, and the leading provider of regional jets worldwide; it is also among the world's top 100 defense contractors. The company is headquartered in São José dos Campos, São Paulo.
ParachutingParachuting and skydiving is a method of transiting from a high point in an atmosphere to the ground or ocean surface with the aid of gravity, involving the control of speed during the descent using a parachute or parachutes. For human skydiving, it may involve a phase of more or less free-falling (the skydiving segment) which is a period when the parachute has not yet been deployed and the body gradually accelerates to terminal velocity.
Flight dynamicsFlight dynamics in aviation and spacecraft, is the study of the performance, stability, and control of vehicles flying through the air or in outer space. It is concerned with how forces acting on the vehicle determine its velocity and attitude with respect to time. For a fixed-wing aircraft, its changing orientation with respect to the local air flow is represented by two critical angles, the angle of attack of the wing ("alpha") and the angle of attack of the vertical tail, known as the sideslip angle ("beta").
Regional airlinerA regional airliner or a feederliner is a small airliner that is designed to fly up to 100 passengers on short-haul flights, usually feeding larger carriers' airline hubs from small markets. This class of airliners is typically flown by the regional airlines that are either contracted by or subsidiaries of the larger airlines. Regional airliners are used for short trips between smaller towns or from a larger city to a smaller city. Feederliner, commuter, and local service are all alternative terms for the same class of flight operations.
