Questions tagged [maneuver]
Questions about controlled changes to the flight path or a series thereof.
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How do fighter jets maintain control while wings are perpendicular to airflow direction?
In my understanding, a plane stays stable and "straight", largely because the control surfaces such as the tail fins keep it stable by applying force in the opposite direction of any ...
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Is less right rudder pressure needed for right chandelles
It is said on the Internet and the FAA Airplane Flying handbook that when rolling out from a right chandelle, the yawing moment is to the right, which partially cancelled some of the left turning ...
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Is there an equation to solve for bank angle using load factor and wing loading as variables? If so, what is it?
The problem is that I'm looking for both wing loading and load factor as variables to solve for bank angle and cannot find any equation that represents this. After searching various websites and not ...
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Why do I keep getting different results to an aircraft's turn radius when I plug variables into different calculators and solve on my own?
I'm trying to solve for an aircraft's turn radius at mach 3.17 (2432 mph) and a bank angle of 19.8; however, after using various online calculators and personally solving the equation, I keep getting ...
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How to slow down while maintaining altitude
Is reducing throttle/power already enough? Or do I have to adjust the pitch as well? If so, I suppose pitching up as well? If pitching up is needed as well, is it because as speed decrease, there is ...
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Why does bank angle have no effect on pivotal altitude?
Pivotal altitude is the height for a given ground speed at which the line of sight from the cockpit directly parallel to the lateral axis of the aircraft will remain stationary on an object on the ...
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How to prevent altitude loss or keep flight path angle constant while doing aileron maneuver?
I am trying to perform an aileron roll maneuver for an un-manned aircraft in a simulation. The lateral control architecture is that I am controlling roll rate (stability) with aileron stick and side-...
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Helicopter hammerhead-like maneuver
A response to a previous question indicated, “In a helicopter, aft cyclic (“pitching up” in a plane) will only serve to make the helicopter climb and slow down until it reaches equilibrium in the new ...
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How does a zero g aircraft work?
In upward motion, drag and gravity is in the same direction (both in downward direction). So in this situation G is negative or less than 1 or something else?
In downward motion with thrust greater ...
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Can any aircraft do donuts under their own power without significant damage?
I was reading this question and trying to think of ways to park an aircraft tail-to-terminal without using reverse thrust, and this question popped into my head:
Are there any aircraft that could, ...
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Computing an Energy-Maneuverability (E-M) Diagram for an Aircraft
Computing an Energy-Maneuverability (E-M) Diagram for an Aircraft
The Energy-Maneuverability (E-M) Diagram is a helpful way to show the horizontal turning performance of an aircraft at various speeds.
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Which Provides a Faster Turn - A Horizontal Turn or a Vertical Loop?
I am starting to research this question with respect to WWII aircraft - specifically the FM2 Wildcat, which was considered an excellent dogfighter.
To approximate an "apples to apples" ...
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Are the F-18 movements in the Top Gun: Maverick movie really possible?
Lately, I watched the new movie Top Gun: Maverick. A few times Maverick made some impressive movements when he was getting hunted by another fighter jet. He somehow goes slightly up, brakes and gets ...
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Can TCAS and GPWS work at the same time?
A manoeuvre to avoid a collision with terrain, might put you onto a collision course with traffic above you.
Can TCAS and (E)GPWS work at the same time? Are they coordinating?
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Why is this commercial plane making this manoeuvre?
The plane going in circles above my head for an hour now, what could it be?
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How do water bomber pilots deal with the changing forces and mass when scooping water?
How does a pilot flying the scooping maneuver in a CL415 firefighting plane deal with the changing forces from taking on such a large mass of water (nearly 50% of the plane's own mass) as quickly as ...
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Do fighter jets experience angles of attack greater than stall when initiating a zoom climb?
I was just wondering that the fighter jets like F-16, F-35 and Rafale when they are doing a steady flight at a certain airspeed, try to rotate 90 degrees and aim to obtain a vertical motion, so does ...
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Forward slip dynamics
I am perplexed on the dynamics of the forward slip. I am illustrating here:
The intended ground flight path is axis +y, and the plane is forward slipping by banking right + left rudder.
In order to ...
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How to find Radius of Turn given groundspeed and bank angle? [duplicate]
How to find Radius/Rate of Turn given groundspeed and bank angle?
Is GS/bank angle one of the formulas?
What are the formulas needed for Turns Around a Point?
I'm trying to find a way to explain this ...
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Why do fighters not use thrust burst from under the wings for improved maneuvering?
This is just a postulation upon a few thoughts.
I think it is intuitive to understand that in fighter jets, in a dog-fight scenario, higher turning speed, as in closing the angle between the chasing ...
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How does maneuver g-load affect drag?
High-performance jets can use high-g turns to scrub airspeed and energy (e.g., in run-and-break landing patterns).
What is the relationship between the aggressiveness of a turn and the rate of ...
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Other than fighters, which airplanes can fly straight up?
I would think, for example, all modern fighter jets can maintain 90 degree climbs due to having thrust to weight ratio greater than one.
Are there any other air planes which can do that?
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Are 0g pushovers in a C172 safe/legal?
I see YouTube pilots do it all the time, but I’m wondering how safe this maneuver really is given the fuel is a gravity fed system. Also, is it legal?
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Steep turn: do we need rudder once we rolled into a bank angle?
Say a Cessna 172 is in a cruise level flight and clearing turn is just finished. I barely feel a left-turning tendency during the level flight (Maybe torque and slipstream are less significant).
I ...
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Why do airplanes start descending when we initiate a left turn?
Today I watched a video about the Fly-by-Wire (FBW) system (see below) and at 3:20 there is a left turn initiated in a Cessna 152. Then it is shown that with a left turn (only by ailerons), in ...
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What would be the challenges for a pilot taking off into a headwind of just under the clean stall speed?
If a strong and fairly steady headwind was coming down the runway at just under the stall speed for a clean configuration/weight, what challenges would a pilot face? Or would it be fairly easy? Is ...
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Why does a Thrust Vector Control System increase maneuverability?
So why can a thrust vector control system increase my maximum g-load capacity? Because still n=L/G is relevant and if I can not provide enough lift (pointing up) to counter balance the thrust (...
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Is a forward slip considered a "normal maneuver" under 91.175(c)(1)?
After an instrument approach in IMC, 91.175(c)(1) requires, among other things, that operations below the DH or MDA must allow for a "normal rate of descent using normal maneuvers."
Can ...
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What control surfaces do I need to move to do a roll in a model aircraft?
Figured that this was the better site to ask than drone SE, but if I'm wrong just let me know.
I'm making a spitfire model and was just wondering how do I do a roll? I have elevator, rudder, and two ...
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Roller Coaster Airline
Could an airliner legally (using a common regional jets or less likely airliners) and safely perform acrobatic maneuvers that would otherwise not be permitted for commercial passenger flights. Why? ...
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What is this plane flying in overlapping circles pattern doing?
I have seen this Beechcraft Super King Air coming from France near Valenciennes and flying in circular patterns over a zone of Belgium for 2 days in a row now.
What is it doing, some kind of aerial ...
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How close would another aircraft have to fly to warrant a sudden big altitude drop to avoid collision
This morning I read that mulitple people got (light) physical injuries after a passenger flight had to forcefully drop its altitude quickly in order to avoid collision with a fighter jet. The news ...
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What are the forces present in a coordinated turn?
During straight and level flight, coordinated flight is assumed when there is no net lateral force (no slip or no skid). But this concept totally breaks down when it comes to turning, in a co-...
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Can a plane bank without turning?
Can planes bank without turning, and if so, how is it possible?
A plane's wing is designed to naturally create lift; the explanation for that is that the greater speed of the air moving over the wing ...
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Forces in a slipping turn [duplicate]
I have trouble understanding why the ball (on the turn & slip indicator) falls into the turn e.g. drop to the left when aircraft is rolled left, when in an uncoordinated turn (slipping turn). What ...
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What exactly is a "coordinated" turn?
I am wondering what turn coordination really means and what makes a turn uncoordinated?
I know that when the turn is coordinated, there is no slip and skid, an aircraft is flying a perfect circle ...
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Why did my LGA-ORD flight make an S-shaped turn round the time it was passing a storm?
On a recent United UA1709 flight into Chicago (hit by a heavy storm at the time), I felt a noticeable descent, combined with two wide banks around 1 hour before landing. Looking at the flight path, I ...
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Is there a method for calculating change in V-speeds with a change in weight for a Cessna 172?
For example, what would the rotation speed (Vr) and stall speed (Vs) be at maximum takeoff weight versus flying with a single occupant? (2297 lb vs 1807 lb)
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How to determine the traffic avoidance manuver?
Scenario A: I started the takeoff roll and then noticed another aircraft is crossing the runway in front of me, how could I determine what is the best avoidance maneuver, like full braking to abort ...
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What does it mean to move a single flight control to its full deflection?
It is the speed below which you can move a single flight control one time, to its full deflection, for one axis of airplane rotation only
This is part of the explanation of maneuvering speed.
What ...
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Why did this aircraft do a ‘spiral’ before landing?
There was this WizzAir flight two days ago, from BUD to PMI, and right before landing it did a ‘spiral’ like maneuver. I’ve attached a screenshot.
Why did it do that? It looks strange.
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Why limit the bank angle to 10° when passing through FL300 on a B737-800?
When passing thought FL300, we are instructed to set the bank angle limiter on the MCP to 10°.
I know one of the reasons for this is that we are thrust limited so maneuver capability decreases.
Are ...
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What is the Eights on Pylons maneuver intended to demonstrate about a pilot's skillset?
This maneuver has the common requirements such as clearing the area, and it has the unique requirement among maneuvers to determine the pivotal altitude and select appropriately spaced pylons as ...
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Did we get closer to another plane than we were supposed to, or was the pilot just protecting our delicate sensibilities?
Yesterday, April 28, 2019, I was flying on Alaska flight 557 from LAX to PDX.
About an hour into the flight (near the California/Oregon border) I was looking out the window and saw a jet travelling ...
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Why do airplanes bank sharply to the right after air-to-air refueling?
Whenever I see videos on YouTube they bank really sharply to the right after disconnecting from the tanker. Why wouldn't they do a more shallow 30-degree bank?
See this video for reference:
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What is the difference between a forward slip and a side slip?
I am having a hard time understanding what differentiates the two types of slip. I understand that in a forward slip, the longitudinal axis is tilted with respect to the flight path, whereas in a side ...
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Is an aileron roll easier, opposite the rotation of the propeller?
We all know helicopters have tail rotors because they would spin out of control thanks to Newton's third law.
That got me thinking, would a single propeller plane have an easier time doing an aileron ...
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Why does elevator input move the turn coordinator ball in steep turns?
When practicing steep turns, I'm running into an unusual phenomenon. If the airplane is losing altitude in coordinated flight and I apply aft stick pressure to pitch up and correct, I notice that the ...
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What is the derivation of 15 and 11.3 used for estimating pivotal altitude?
Pivotal Altitude Explained: Teaching eights on pylons the easy way at AOPA repeats a common formula for pivotal altitude.
To estimate pivotal altitude, square the groundspeed and then divide by 15 ...
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What G forces does a pilot perceive in a "1 G" barrel roll? [duplicate]
This is a follow on to an earlier discussion about pilot perception of G forces compared with actual aerodynamic loads on an airframe. Years ago, the Boeing 707 prototype famously did not one, but ...
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