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Examining over 100 years of flight automation and the history of the autopilot

Aerotime

The 56 aircraft that participated in the 1914 competition presented a wide range of aviation innovations, ranging from assisted starting mechanisms, automatic carburetors, basic stabilization systems, and many other innovations that purported to benefit aviation safety. These systems continue to be fitted in many current today.

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Tailless Aircraft: How Airplanes Fly Without a Tail

Pilot Institute

A tailless aircraft is a fixed-wing airplane without a horizontal stabilizing surface. With this type of aircraft, the functions of longitudinal stability and control are incorporated into the main wing. A tailless airplane is one where everything needed to fly, like lift, control, and stability, is built into the main wing.

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Everything You Need To Know About Ailerons

Pilot Institute

At first glance, ailerons look like ordinary hinged panels on the wings, but don’t be fooledthey’re important for keeping an aircraft both stable and maneuverable. But theres much more to ailerons than just rolling left or right. Or how do modern airplanes reduce dangerous effects like aileron flutter or adverse yaw?

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Mach Number Explained: What It Is and Why Pilots Use It

Pilot Institute

Why do jet pilots talk about speed in terms of Mach number? Jet aircraft often fly at speeds close to the speed of sound. When you reach around 36,000 feet (11,000 m) near the tropopause, the temperature stabilizes at around -56.5 °C. Early jet pilots found this out while exploring high-speed jet flight.

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Flight Test Files: Grumman F-14 Tomcat

Vintage Aviation News

One of the standout aircraft in Drydens research history is the Grumman F-14 Tomcat, a legendary Navy fighter jet that played a key role in two major research programs at the center. The NACA Test Force at the High-Speed Flight Station in Edwards, California. The white aircraft in the foreground is a Douglas Skyrocket.

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Approachable Excellence

Plane and Pilot

The rich can dream of jets and warbirds. To some extent this was carried out with the Cherokee, though the key design elementuse of a stabilator in place of a conventional elevator and fixed horizontal stabilizeris likely the influence of John Thorp. The rest of us fantasize about swinging a Piper Cherokee.

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The Role of Newton’s Third Law in Aviation

Pilot Institute

The principle is the same whether the aircraft gets thrust from propellers or jet engines. A propeller forces air backward, while a jet engine ignites a mixture of air and fuel to generate hot gases that eject backward. In jet engines, increasing throttle increases the fuel flow, producing more exhaust gases that can be flung backward.