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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? Why don’t they use Indicated Airspeed just like the pilots who fly slower aircraft? Pilots switch to Mach number at high altitudes to avoid inaccuracies in IAS due to compressibility effects. And why should pilots be wary of Mach 1? Here’s why. Here’s why.

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Wingtip Vortices and Wake Turbulence

Pilot Institute

The exhaust coming out of aircraft engines looks pretty dangerous, generating huge amounts of thrust and pushing back tons of hot air. Pilots avoid vortices by maintaining safe separation and adjusting flight paths. The vortices flipped the small jet upside down at least three to five times before the pilots managed to regain control.

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Flight Test Files: The Douglas D-558-2 Skyrocket – Chasing Mach 2

Vintage Aviation News

These stories shine a light on the aircraft and test pilots that pushed the limits of aeronautical knowledge, many of them flying out of the legendary Dryden Flight Research Center (now Armstrong Flight Research Center) at Edwards Air Force Base, California. Research pilot John McKay flew it once in this form on September 17, 1956.

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Tailless Aircraft: How Airplanes Fly Without a Tail

Pilot Institute

Use of Reflex Airfoils Ever notice how many tailless aircraft have wings that curve at the trailing edge? This type of design is a reflex airfoil. The reflexed shape of the airfoil usually causes a positive (nose-up) pitching moment coefficient at its aerodynamic center. Flying wings dont have tails or elevators.

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Mastering Stalls: How to Recognize, Prevent, and Recover Safely

Flight Training Central

Depending on design, airfoils used in general aviation, stall at angles of attack between 16 to 18 degrees. This is because the vertical component of thrust reduces the wing loading, and the propeller slipstream tends to maintain airflow over the center sections of the wings.

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Types of Pilot Licenses Explained (Student, Recreational, Private, Commercial, ATP, and more)

Pilot Institute

Pilots can have multiple licenses. Each license gives a pilot different privileges. Pilots usually start by getting their Private Pilot license and then work towards a commercial pilot license if they are interested in being a pilot as a career. But its a necessary step to obtain higher pilot certification.

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Air pressure and density

Professional Pilot

A lighting the runway with under 1000 ft to go, the pilots breathed a sigh of relief. However, with no room to navigate up the steep glacial valley, the pilots finessed the airplane over the hurdle with no more than 200 ft of clearance. This could help your fellow pilots. Shein holds a comm-inst pilot license.