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Aircraft Fuel Tank
Aircraft fuel tanks are a major component of aircraft fuel systems. They can be classified into internal or external fuel tanks and can be further classified by method of construction or intended use. Safety aspects of aircraft fuel tanks were examined during the investigation of the 1996 TWA Flight 800 in-flight explosion accident. Internal tanks Integral tanks Integral tanks are areas inside the aircraft structure that have been sealed to allow fuel storage. An example of this type is the "wet wing", commonly used in larger aircraft. Since these tanks are part of the aircraft structure, they cannot be removed for service or inspection. Inspection panels must be provided to allow internal inspection, repair, and overall servicing of the tank. Most large transport aircraft use this system to store fuel in the wings, fuselage and empennage of the aircraft.Whitford 2004, p. 153. Rigid removable tanks Rigid removable tanks are installed in a compartment designed to accommodate the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Drag (physics)
In fluid dynamics, drag, sometimes referred to as fluid resistance, is a force acting opposite to the direction of motion of any object moving with respect to a surrounding fluid. This can exist between two fluid layers, two solid surfaces, or between a fluid and a solid surface. Drag forces tend to decrease fluid velocity relative to the solid object in the fluid's path. Unlike other resistive forces, drag force depends on velocity. Drag force is proportional to the relative velocity for low-speed flow and is proportional to the velocity squared for high-speed flow. This distinction between low and high-speed flow is measured by the Reynolds number. Drag is instantaneously related to vorticity dynamics through the Josephson-Anderson relation. Examples Examples of drag include: * Net force, Net Aerodynamic force, aerodynamic or Fluid dynamics, hydrodynamic force: Drag acting opposite to the direction of movement of a solid object such as cars, aircraft, and boat hulls. * Viscou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
National Transportation Safety Board
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is an independent U.S. government investigative agency responsible for civil transportation accident investigation. In this role, the NTSB investigates and reports on aviation accidents and incidents, certain types of highway crashes, ship and marine accidents, pipeline incidents, bridge failures, and railroad accidents. The NTSB is also in charge of investigating cases of hazardous materials releases that occur during transportation. The agency is based in Washington, D.C. It has three regional offices, located in Anchorage, Alaska; Aurora, Colorado; and Federal Way, Washington. The agency also operated a national training center at its Ashburn facility. History The origin of the NTSB was in the Air Commerce Act of 1926, which assigned the United States Department of Commerce responsibility for investigating domestic aviation accidents. Before the NTSB, the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA; at the time the CAA/ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Federal Aviation Administration
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is a Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government agency within the United States Department of Transportation, U.S. Department of Transportation that regulates civil aviation in the United States and surrounding international waters. Its powers include air traffic control, certification of personnel and aircraft, setting standards for airports, and protection of U.S. assets during the launch or re-entry of commercial space vehicles. Powers over neighboring international waters were delegated to the FAA by authority of the International Civil Aviation Organization. The FAA was created in as the Federal Aviation Agency, replacing the Civil Aeronautics Administration (United States), Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA). In 1967, the FAA became part of the newly formed U.S. Department of Transportation and was renamed the Federal Aviation Administration. Major functions The FAA's roles include: *Regulating U.S. co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Sargent Fletcher
Sargent Fletcher is a subsidiary company of Cobham plc. which makes aircraft equipment, including aerial refueling systems, external fuel tanks, and special purpose pods. History Sargent Fletcher was founded as Fletcher Aviation in 1940 and bought by Cobham in 1994. According to a 1991 report the company submitted to regional air quality officials, the company's El Monte chrome-plating plant showed the highest cancer-risk level of any business in the San Gabriel Valley. It was later closed in 2010. Customers The KC-130J was supposed to be equipped with Flight Refuelling Ltd's Mk32B-901E hose-and-drogue units, but operational problems meant that the aircraft went into production using equipment from Sargent Fletcher instead.Navy Expects KC-130J Deliveries Under Revised ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Aircraft Fuel System
An aircraft fuel system allows the crew to pump, manage, and deliver aviation fuel to the propulsion system and auxiliary power unit (APU) of an aircraft. Fuel systems differ greatly due to different performance of the aircraft in which they are installed. A single-engine piston aircraft has a simple fuel system, while a tanker (such as the KC-135) not only manages its own fuel but can also provide fuel to other aircraft.Taylor 1990, p. 164. Fuel is piped through fuel lines to a fuel control valve (usually known as the fuel selector). This valve serves several functions. The first function is to act as a fuel shut-off valve. This is required to provide the crew with a means to prevent fuel reaching the engine in case of an engine fire. The second function is to allow the pilot to choose which tank feeds the engine. Many aircraft have the left tank and right tank selections available to the pilot. Some Cessna airplanes feed only from both tanks; and many have the option to feed ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Elevator (aeronautics)
Elevators are flight control surfaces, usually at the rear of an aircraft, which control the aircraft's flight dynamics, pitch, and therefore the angle of attack and the lift of the wing. The elevators are usually hinged to the tailplane or horizontal stabilizer (aircraft), stabilizer. They may be the only pitch control surface present, and are sometimes located at the front of the aircraft (early airplanes and canard (aeronautics), canards) or integrated into a rear "all-moving tailplane", also called a slab elevator or stabilator. Elevator control effectiveness The elevator is a usable up and down system that controls the plane, horizontal stabilizer usually creates a ''downward'' force which balances the nose down moment (physics), moment created by the wing lift force, which typically applies at a point (the wing center of lift) situated aft of the airplane's center of gravity. The effects of drag (physics), drag and changing the engine thrust may also result in pitch mome ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Fire Fighting Foam
Firefighting foam is a foam used for fire suppression. Its role is to cool the fire and to coat the fuel, preventing its contact with oxygen, thus achieving suppression of the combustion. Firefighting foam was invented by the Moldovan engineer and chemist Aleksandr Loran in 1902.Loran and the fire extinguisher at p-lab.org The s used must produce foam in concentrations of less than 1%. Other components of fire-retardant foams are organic s (e.g., trimethyl- trimethylene glycol and [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Inerting System
An inerting system decreases the probability of combustion of flammable materials stored in a confined space. The most common such system is a fuel tank containing a combustible liquid, such as gasoline, diesel fuel, aviation fuel, jet fuel, or rocket propellant. After being fully filled, and during use, there is a space above the fuel, called the ullage, that contains evaporated fuel mixed with air, which contains the oxygen necessary for combustion. Under the right conditions this mixture can ignite. An inerting system replaces the air with a gas that cannot support combustion, such as nitrogen. Principle of operation Three elements are required to initiate and sustain combustion in the ullage: an ignition source (heat), fuel, and oxygen. Combustion may be prevented by reducing any one of these three elements. In many cases there is no ignition source, e.g. storage tanks. If the presence of an ignition source can not be prevented, as is the case with most tanks that feed fuel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Explosion
An explosion is a rapid expansion in volume of a given amount of matter associated with an extreme outward release of energy, usually with the generation of high temperatures and release of high-pressure gases. Explosions may also be generated by a slower expansion that would normally not be forceful, but is not allowed to expand, so that when whatever is containing the expansion is broken by the pressure that builds as the matter inside tries to expand, the matter expands forcefully. An example of this is a Volcano, volcanic eruption created by the expansion of magma in a magma chamber as it rises to the surface. Supersonic explosions created by high explosives are known as detonations and travel through shock waves. wikt:subsonic, Subsonic explosions are created by low explosives through a slower combustion process known as deflagration. Causes For an explosion to occur, there must be a rapid, forceful expansion of matter. There are numerous ways this can happen, both natura ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Aviation Accidents And Incidents
An aviation accident is an event during aircraft operation that results serious injury, death, or significant destruction. An aviation incident is any operating event that compromises safety but does not escalate into an aviation accident. Preventing both accidents and incidents is the primary goal of aviation safety. One of the earliest recorded aviation accidents occurred on May 10, 1785, when a hot air balloon crashed in Tullamore, County Offaly, Ireland. The resulting fire seriously damaged the town, destroying over 130 homes. The first accident involving a powered aircraft occurred on September 17, 1908, when a Wright Model A crashed at Fort Myer, Virginia, USA. The pilot and co-inventor, Orville Wright, was injured, and the passenger, Signal Corps Lieutenant Thomas Selfridge, was killed. Definitions According to Annex 13 of the Convention on International Civil Aviation, an aviation accident is an occurrence associated with the operation of an aircraft, which ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Supersonic
Supersonic speed is the speed of an object that exceeds the speed of sound (Mach 1). For objects traveling in dry air of a temperature of 20 °C (68 °F) at sea level, this speed is approximately . Speeds greater than five times the speed of sound (Mach 5) are often referred to as hypersonic. Flights during which only some parts of the air surrounding an object, such as the ends of rotor blades, reach supersonic speeds are called transonic. This occurs typically somewhere between Mach 0.8 and Mach 1.2. Sounds are traveling vibrations in the form of pressure waves in an elastic medium. Objects move at supersonic speed when the objects move faster than the speed at which sound propagates through the medium. In gases, sound travels longitudinally at different speeds, mostly depending on the molecular mass and temperature of the gas, and pressure has little effect. Since air temperature and composition varies significantly with altitude, the speed of s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
