John S. Denker

See How It Flies

A new spin on the perceptions, procedures, and principles of flight.

Introduction

Readership, Topics, and Objectives

How to Use this Book

1  Energy Awareness and Energy Management

1.1  Total Energy Cannot Change

1.2  Energy Conversion

1.2.1  Converting Speed to Altitude and Back

1.2.2  Energy Per Unit Mass

1.2.3  Converting Fuel to Altitude

1.2.4  Power versus Energy

1.2.5  Drag and the Power Curve --- Introduction

1.2.6  Rates of Energy Conversion

1.3  Effect of Controls on Energy

1.3.1  Power Budget --- Using the Engine

1.3.2  The Effects of the Throttle

1.3.3  The Effects of the Yoke

1.3.4  Sizes of Energy Reservoirs

1.4  Energy Management Strategy

1.5  Summary: Energy Management

2  Angle of Attack Awareness and Angle of Attack Management

2.1  The Importance of Angle of Attack

2.2  Definition of Angle of Attack

2.3  Trim for Angle of Attack!

2.4  Three Contributions to Angle of Attack

2.5  Perceiving Pitch Angle

2.6  Making Changes in Angle of Attack

2.7  Fly with a Light Touch

2.8  Trim Won't Solve All The World's Problems

2.9  Pitch Attitude versus Angle of Attack

2.10  Power plus Attitude does not equal Performance

2.11  Estimating the Relative Wind

2.12  Airspeed Is Related to Angle of Attack

2.12.1  Airspeed versus Coefficient of Lift

2.12.2  Coefficient of Lift versus Angle of Attack

2.12.3  Correcting for Reduced Density

2.12.4  Correcting for Reduced Lift Requirements

2.12.5  Correcting for Increased Lift Requirements

2.12.6  Compute with Calibrated not Indicated Airspeed

2.12.7  Correcting for Slip

2.12.8  Drag and Lift-to-Drag Ratio

2.13  Not Everything Depends on Angle of Attack

2.13.1  Explicit Airspeed Limits

2.13.2  Maneuvering Speed

2.13.3  Overview of Limits and Performance Numbers

2.14  Absolute versus Geometric Angle of Attack

2.15  Summary

3  Airfoils and Airflow

3.1  Flow Patterns Near a Wing

3.2  Pressure Patterns Near a Wing

3.3  Stream Line Curvature

3.4  Bernoulli's Principle

3.4.1  Magnitude

3.4.2  Altimeters; Static versus Stagnation Pressure

3.4.3  Compressibility

3.5  Stall Warning Devices

3.6  Air Is A Fluid, Not A Bunch of Bullets

3.7  Other Fallacies

3.8  Inverted Flight, Cambered vs. Symmetric Airfoils

3.9  Thin Wings

3.10  Circulation

3.10.1  Visualizing the circulation

3.10.2  How Much Circulation? The Kutta Condition

3.10.3  How Much Lift? The Kutta-Zhukovsky Theorem

3.10.4  Quantifying the Circulation

3.11  Mechanically-Induced Circulation

3.12  Lift Requires Circulation & Vortices

3.12.1  Vortices

3.12.2  Wake Turbulence

3.12.3  Induced Drag

3.12.4  Soft-Field Takeoff

3.13  Frost on the Wings

3.14  Consistent (Not Cumulative) Laws of Physics

3.15  Momentum in the Air

3.16  Summary: How a Wing Produces Lift

4  Lift, Thrust, Weight, and Drag

4.1  Definitions

4.2  Balance of Forces

4.3  Forces During a Turn

4.4  Types of Drag

4.5  Coefficients, Forces, and Power

4.6  Induced vs. Parasite Drag

5  Vertical Damping, Roll Damping, and Stalls

5.1  Introduction and Overview

5.2  Vertical Damping

5.2.1  Origins of Vertical Damping

5.2.2  Loss of Vertical Damping

5.3  The Stall

5.3.1  Definition of Stall

5.3.2  Flying Beyond the Stall?

5.4  Roll Damping

5.4.1  Origins of Roll Damping

5.4.2  Loss of Roll Damping

5.4.3  Schemes to Increase Roll Damping

5.5  The Effect of Flaps

5.5.1  Effect on Stalling Speed

5.5.2  Effect on Incidence

5.5.3  Effect on Washout

5.5.4  Effect on Drag

5.5.5  Effect on Trim

5.5.6  Effect on Top Speed

5.6  Summary

6  Angle of Attack Stability, Trim, and Spiral Dives

6.1  The Basic Stability Principle

6.1.1  Center of Mass Too Far Aft

6.1.2  Center of Mass in the Middle

6.1.3  Center of Mass, Lift, and Area

6.1.4  Pitch-Wise Equilibrium

6.1.5  Canards Operate on the Same Principle

6.1.6  Beyond Decalage

6.1.7  Springs and Bobweights

6.1.8  Pitch Damping

6.1.9  Center of Mass Too Far Forward

6.1.10  Other Failure Modes

6.1.11  Practical Considerations

6.1.12  Phugoid Oscillations

6.2  Spiral Dive

6.2.1  Which Way Is Up?

6.2.2  Overview

6.2.3  General Discussion

6.2.4  Recovering From a Spiral Dive

6.2.5  Try It Yourself

6.3  Summary

7  More About Energy and Power

7.1  Introduction

7.2  Making Changes in Airspeed

7.2.1  Front Side of the Power Curve

7.2.2  Back Side of the Power Curve

7.2.3  Right versus Wrong Procedures

7.3  You Can Get Away With A Lot During Cruise

7.4  Let George Do It

7.5  Max Performance using the Power Curve

7.5.1  Best Rate of Climb

7.5.2  Zero Power Available

7.5.3  Best Angle of Climb

7.5.4  Power Depends on Altitude via True Airspeed

7.5.5  Other Power and Altitude Effects

7.5.6  Best Glide: Wind, Downdrafts, etc.

7.5.7  Weight Effects

7.6  Variations in the Power Curve

7.6.1  Power Curve Depends on Aspect Ratio

7.6.2  Sketching the Curve

7.6.3  Some Theory

7.6.4  Power Requirements versus Speed

7.6.5  Power Requirements versus Altitude

7.7  Energy Management Stunts

7.7.1  High-Speed Steep Descent

7.7.2  Low-Speed Steep Descent

7.7.3  Skimming in Ground Effect

7.8  Summary

8  Yaw-Wise Torque Budget

8.1  Overview

8.2  Yaw Stability

8.3  Yaw Damping

8.4  Helical Propwash

8.5  P-Factor

8.5.1  Blade Speed

8.5.2  Blade Angle

8.5.3  Initial Takeoff Roll

8.5.4  Observing P-Factor

8.6  Gyroscopic Precession

8.7  Canted Engine

8.8  Rudder Usage During Rolls

8.8.1  Analysis of a Roll

8.8.2  Designers' Tricks

8.8.3  Transitory Adverse Yaw

8.8.4  Steady Adverse Yaw -- Twisted Lift

8.8.5  Yaw-Wise Inertia

8.8.6  Amount of Rudder Required

8.8.7  Summary: Coordinated Turning Procedures

8.9  Long-Tail Slip

8.10  Boat Turn

8.11  Weathervaning During Taxi

8.12  Asymmetric Thrust

8.13  Yaw-Wise Torque Budget --- Summary

9  Roll-Wise Torque Budget

9.1  Dihedral

9.2  Other Forms of Slip-Roll Coupling

9.3  Roll-Wise Stability

9.4  Differential Wingtip Speed; Overbanking

9.5  Rolling Moment due to Propeller Drag

9.6  Engine Inertia

9.7  Climbing and Descending Turns

9.8  Roll-Wise Torque Budget --- Summary

10  Equilibrium, Stability, and Damping

10.1  Equilibrium

10.2  Stability

10.3  Damping

10.4  Relationship of Stability and Damping

10.5  Oleo-Pneumatic Struts

10.6  Oscillations

10.6.1  Analysis of Dutch Roll

10.6.2  How to Fight Oscillations

11  Slips, Skids, and Snap Rolls

11.1  A Lesson on Snap Rolls

11.2  Intentional Slips

11.3  Skids

11.4  Anticipate Correct Rudder Usage

11.5  Perceiving Slip, Perceiving Coordination

11.5.1  Looking Out the Side

11.5.2  Looking Out the Front

11.5.3  Using the Inclinometer Ball

11.5.4  Using the Seat of Your Pants

11.5.5  Intentional Slips

11.5.6  Slip Angle versus Bank Angle

11.6  Summary

12  Landing

12.1  Planning the Approach

12.1.1  Other Planning Issues

12.1.2  Traffic

12.1.3  Obstacle Clearance

12.2  Judging Left or Right

12.3  Judging High or Low; Rule of Thumb

12.4  Judging Pitch Attitude and Angle of Attack

12.4.1  Use Outside References and Trim

12.4.2  Observe and Control More Than One Thing

12.4.3  Correct for Wind

12.5  Other Perceptions

12.6  Basic Normal Landing

12.6.1  Short Final

12.6.2  Flare

12.6.3  Timing the Flare

12.6.4  Touchdown and Rollout

12.7  High-Performance Landing

12.7.1  Choose the Right Runway

12.7.2  Use the Right Configuration

12.7.3  Touch Down at the Right Point

12.7.4  Touch Down at a Low Speed

12.7.5  Use the Brakes

12.7.6  Summary: High-Performance Landing

12.8  Soft-field Landing

12.9  Crosswind Landing

12.9.1  Basics

12.9.2  Heading Control

12.9.3  Drift Control

12.9.4  Flare and Touchdown

12.9.5  737 Scheme

12.10  Going Around

12.11  Learning to Land the Airplane

12.11.1  Maneuver by Reference to the Edge

12.11.2  Hesitation Takeoff

12.11.3  Practice Maneuvering at Altitude

12.11.4  Practice Flaring and Stalling at Altitude

12.11.5  Practice Flying in the Runway Environment

12.11.6  Learn Soft-Field Procedure First

12.11.7  Nose-High Rollout

12.11.8  Recovering from an Evil Zoom

12.11.9  Salvaging an Imperfect Flare

12.12  Fly with a Light Touch

12.13  Critique Your Own Landings

13  Takeoff

13.1  Simplest Takeoff

13.2  Normal Takeoff

13.3  Obstructed-Field Takeoff

13.4  Soft-Field Takeoff

13.5  Crosswind Technique

13.6  Multi-Engine Takeoff

13.7  Planning and Decisionmaking

13.7.1  Monitoring Takeoff Performance (wrong)

13.7.2  Monitoring Takeoff Performance (right)

13.7.3  Causes of Diminished Power

13.7.4  Plan & Practice Rejected Takeoffs

13.7.5  After Liftoff: Departure Climb

13.8  Other Elements of the Takeoff

13.9  Summary

14  Cross-Country Flying

14.1  Pilotage

14.1.1  Airports Make Good Landmarks

14.1.2  One-Dimensional Landmarks

14.1.3  Choose Distinctive Landmarks

14.1.4  Doglegs

14.1.5  Reality-Based Navigation

14.2  Dead Reckoning

14.2.1  Course

14.2.2  Distance, Time, and Airspeed

14.2.3  Crosswind Correction

14.2.4  The Wind Triangle

14.2.5  Discussion

14.3  Navigating by Instruments

14.3.1  Don't Be a Gauge Junkie

14.3.2  Navigation Systems (Brief Survey)

14.3.3  Intended Heading

14.4  VOR Techniques

14.4.1  Off-Course Distance

14.4.2  Approaching the Station

14.4.3  Progress Along the Course

14.4.4  Twisted VORs

14.5  Combined Techniques

14.6  Staying Un-Lost

14.7  Getting Un-Lost

14.7.1  Basics

14.7.2  When in Doubt, Climb

14.7.3  GPS or LORAN

14.7.4  VOR Cross Radials or VOR/DME

14.7.5  Ask ATC

14.8  Flight Planning

15  Emergency Procedures

15.1  Engine Out Procedures

15.1.1  Emergency Checklist

15.1.2  Configuring for Glide

15.1.3  Return to Airport?

15.1.4  Power-Off Glide Perception and Planning

15.2  Preventing Emergencies

15.2.1  Safety Margins

15.2.2  Fuel Management

15.3  Dealing with Emergencies

16  Flight Maneuvers

16.1  Fundamentals

16.2  Seeing and Avoiding Other Traffic

16.3  Speeding Up and Slowing Down

16.4  Phugoids

16.5  Turns

16.6  Coordination Exercises

16.7  Constant-Heading Slips

16.8  Crabbing Along a Road

16.9  Slipping Along a Road

16.10  Familiarization Exercises; Configuration Changes

16.11  Transitioning to Fast and Complex Aircraft

16.12  Turns around a Point

16.13  Eights Around Pylons

16.14  Chandelles

16.15  Lazy Eights

16.16  Eights on Pylons

16.16.1  Turns on a Pylon

16.16.2  Eights on Pylons

16.17  Changing Headwinds and Tailwinds

16.17.1  Steady Wind

16.17.2  Albatross Effect: Winds that Vary with Altitude

16.17.3  Turning Downwind; Energy Budget

16.17.4  Summary: Changing Headwinds and Tailwinds

16.18  Remarks: Ground Reference Maneuvers

16.18.1  Accounting for the Wind

16.18.2  Entry Strategy

16.18.3  Visual Reference

16.18.4  Checklist

16.19  Slow Flight

16.19.1  Airspeed and Altitude

16.19.2  Yaw and Roll

16.19.3  Procedures and Perceptions

16.20  Stall Practice

16.20.1  Preliminaries

16.20.2  Provoking a Distinct Stall

16.20.3  Stall Recovery

16.20.4  Power-On Stalls

16.20.5  Accelerated Stalls

16.20.6  Evil Zooms

17  Multi-Engine Flying

17.1  Engine Out Scenarios

17.1.1  Takeoff

17.1.2  Climb

17.1.3  Slip String

17.1.4  Coordination

17.1.5  Perception and Initial Response

17.1.6  Yaw Control at Reduced Speeds

17.1.7  Minimum Control Speed --- Definitions

17.1.8  Effect of Altitude, Weight, etc.

17.1.9  Effect of Center of Mass

17.1.10  Effect of Drag (e.g. Landing Gear)

17.1.11  Roll Control

17.1.12  Critical Engine

17.2  Engine Out Procedures

17.2.1  Basic Takeoff Considerations

17.2.2  Balanced Field Length; Takeoff Decision Speed

17.2.3  Procedure: Low Altitude

17.2.4  Procedure: Higher Altitude

17.2.5  Airspeed Management

17.2.6  Engine-Out Go-Arounds

17.2.7  Low-Speed Engine-Out Demonstrations

18  Stalls and Spins

18.1  Stalls: Causes and Effects

18.2  Stalling Part vs. All of the Wing

18.3  Boundary Layers

18.3.1  Separated versus Attached Flow

18.3.2  Laminar versus Turbulent Flow

18.3.3  Boundary Layer Control

18.3.4  Summary

18.4  Coanda Effect, etc.

18.4.1  Tissue-paper Demonstration

18.4.2  Blowing the Boundary Layer

18.4.3  Teaspoon Demonstration

18.4.4  Fallacious Model of Lift Production

18.4.5  Summary

18.5  Spin Entry

18.6  Types of Spin

18.6.1  Spin Modes

18.6.2  Samaras, Flat Spins, and Centrifugal Force

18.6.3  NASA Spin Studies

18.6.4  Effects of Changes in Orientation of Spin

18.7  Recovering from a Spin

18.8  Don't Mess With Spins

19  The Laws of Motion

19.1  Straight-Line Motion

19.2  Sitting in a Rotating Frame

19.3  Moving in a Rotating Frame

19.4  Centrifuges with and without Gravity

19.4.1  The Centrifugal Field is Real

19.4.2  Centrifuge

19.4.3  Centrifuge and Gravity

19.5  Centrifugal Effects in a Turning Airplane

19.6  Angles and Axes

19.6.1  Directions of Rotation: Yaw, Pitch, and Roll

19.6.2  Attitude: Heading, Pitch, Bank

19.6.3  Angle Terminology

19.6.4  Yaw Does Not Commute with Pitch

19.6.5  Yaw Does Not Commute with Bank

19.7  Torque and Moment

19.8  Angular Momentum

19.9  Gyroscopes

19.9.1  Precession

19.9.2  Precession: Which Way and How Much

19.9.3  Inertial Platform

19.10  Gyroscopic Instruments

19.10.1  Heading Indicator

19.10.2  Artificial Horizon

19.10.3  Rate-of-Turn Gyro

20  The Atmosphere

20.1  Circulation Around Fronts and Low Pressure Centers

20.1.1  Flow Around a Low

20.1.2  Fronts and Troughs

20.2  Pressure and Winds Aloft

20.2.1  Thermal Gradient Wind

20.2.2  Altimetry

20.2.3  High Altimeter due to Low Temperature

20.3  Prevailing Winds and Seasonal Winds

20.3.1  Primary Circulation Patterns

20.3.2  Continental / Oceanic Patterns

20.4  Summary

21  Pilot-In-Command Decisionmaking

21.1  Decisionmaking In General

21.2  Decisionmaking during Lessons

21.2.1  Please Act As PIC During Lessons

21.2.2  How's Your Workload?

21.2.3  I've Got It

21.2.4  Hood Work

21.3  Layers of Safety

21.4  Example: Obstacle Clearance

21.5  Flow Pattern

21.6  Checklists

21.7  Personal Minimums

21.8  Skepticism, and Crisp Execution of Plan B

21.9  Leadership and Resource Management

21.10  Learn from the Experience of Others

21.11  Try to Outdo Yourself

Bibliography 

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