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1500 questions
28
votes
4 answers
What time zone is used for operating an airplane?
This might be a silly question but my thinking was the following:
There has to be a definition of time in an airplane for the logging of data and so on, but what definition would that be assuming a flight goes across timezones?
Would it be the local…
Ma0
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28
votes
6 answers
What is this F-18 Hornet "air intake" for?
I think I read once that they served to cool the on-board computer systems, but I'm not sure.
XF-91
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28
votes
3 answers
Can cameras and LCD screens replace cabin windows?
Windows in aircraft create a weakness to the structure, that is why they are very small. I'm not asking about installing them in the cockpit, which would create safety pitfalls, but could the windows in the rest of the fuselage be replaced by…
securitydude5
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28
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2 answers
Why do the wing tips on the Boeing 777X fold up instead of down?
The outer 11.4 feet (3.8 meters) of the wings of the Boeing 777X are designed to fold up when on the ground. Why aren't they designed to fold down?
It seems to me that folding down would be more "fail safe" if the locking mechanism failed in the…
Owen
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28
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4 answers
What is the typical touchdown vertical speed of a large airliner?
What is the vertical speed (range) of a Boeing 787 (or any other large commercial aircraft) that should be achieved just before and during touchdown? I'm not interested in the vertical speed during the approach, my question only targets the last 100…
Stefan
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28
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2 answers
What is that device on an Su-27 pilot's helmet?
While watching a YouTube video (2.5hrs), I noticed this device on the top of most Russian Su-27 combat pilot's helmet. A google search only shows it for a Su-27 and MiG-29, but apparently no other aircraft. It was not on any Chinese, Syria, Ukraine…
jwzumwalt
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28
votes
2 answers
Do pilots of airliners and jumbos do a walk around preflight check for every flight?
Do pilots of airliners and jumbos do a walk around preflight check for every flight? How do pilots of large airliners and jumbos do sumping. If its not a requirement because of aircraft design, why not implement the same design attributes to…
securitydude5
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28
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1 answer
At a non-towered airport in the US, what should I do if I hear a medevac flight waiting to take off while I'm turning base?
I'm in the left downwind at my favorite non-towered airport. Just while I'm making the turn to base, I hear a radio call on CTAF: "Such-and-such Traffic, Medevac 123, holding short runway 31." They don't make any requests or say anything else; they…
Tanner Swett
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28
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8 answers
Does a sudden drop of the velocity of the headwind affect the airspeed by lowering it?
I had a discussion about air speeds with one of my instructors recently. He is claiming that there is a sudden drop in the wind velocity as you get closer to the ground (which is absolutely true, due to the wind friction with the ground). However,…
The Fly
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28
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6 answers
What is the smallest manned aircraft with four engines?
What is the smallest (by operating empty mass) quad-engine aircraft that satisfies these conditions?
Current or past airplane
aircraft with fixed wings, not a rotorcraft, not a lighter than air, etc
4 engines, pistons or turbines
fuel as a main…
mins
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28
votes
1 answer
How does a pilot tell passengers to prepare for severe turbulence without causing panic?
At the start of a flight, the pilot of an aircraft often talks about the expected weather on the flight path, and tells passengers if there is to be some turbulence during the flight.
How does a pilot explain that there will be severe turbulence to…
Barney Chambers
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28
votes
4 answers
Why are empty pylons weighed down?
(airplane-pictures.net) Airbus A330 no engine option.
Why are empty pylons weighed down?
The plausible answer is to maintain the correct center of gravity. But why not just load ballast pallets in the forward cargo compartment, like those used on…
user14897
28
votes
7 answers
Can an airline reject a passenger for being overweight?
I have a Cessna 172S and despite having 4 seats in the cabin, I cannot take 3 more passengers besides myself as the pilot with a full tank of fuel due to safety in weight balance issues. As the pilot, I'm 100 lbs overweight. Hypothetically, we can…
0tyranny0poverty
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28
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3 answers
Does the cannon of the A-10 deliver more thrust than the engines do?
The A-10 Warthog is built around a 30 mm cannon that fires depleted uranium rounds, 65 of them per second.
I heard from someone who worked on the flight controls a long time ago, that when the cannon is fired it provides more thrust than the…
Koyovis
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28
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3 answers
Will air traffic control ever ask a plane to not brake hard on a landing?
In another question, somebody asked why an airplane might not deploy thrust reversers on a landing. One of the answers suggested a few options, including:
Depending where the gate was, they may simply have wanted use more of the runway to speed up…
yshavit
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