37
votes
Accepted
Why are there still fighter pilots in cockpits?
That's a great way to make a fighter jet even more fantastically expensive while being less effective.
One obvious problem is latency. 1000 miles is about a 10 millisecond round-trip delay alone even ...
- 15.5k
22
votes
Why are there still fighter pilots in cockpits?
1. Demand
The problem isn't just that fighters are manned. It's also the concept of aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat that's getting less relevant.
After Vietnam and Yom Kippur (1970s),...
- 26.9k
13
votes
Why are there still fighter pilots in cockpits?
The USAF already knows how to do this. The QF series of Full Scale Aerial Targets (FSAT). Ex-front line jets, converted to remote control. Key word there - Target.
They've been doing it for decades. ...
- 8,654
12
votes
Accepted
With existing tech and knowledge of meteorology, can aircraft be designed to reliably improve their range or loiter using updrafts to gain altitude?
Thermals are finite. This means they have a useful diameter which is smaller than the diameter of the smallest circle most airplanes can fly. The wing loading of a heavy (= full ballast tanks) glider ...
- 232k
7
votes
Finding longitude/latitude of a aircraft
No, it is not possible with that information.
The information you gave is not related to position at all. (It could be pitching, rolling, and yawing at the equator, the North pole, or anywhere in ...
- 26.1k
7
votes
Why are there still fighter pilots in cockpits?
Put simply: Elon Musk is a big bag of wind.
On a more serious note, he’s done a number of good things in been involved with a number of projects, but his ability to predict the future with new ...
- 73.7k
7
votes
Why are there still fighter pilots in cockpits?
I don't think you've established that 'keeping pilots out of harms way' solves a problem that needs solving. Most modern fighter aircraft losses have been outside of combat, and the pilot has survived ...
- 193
6
votes
Portable VTOL Startup
15 minutes is not very long in flying, and that level of endurance would only be acceptable for a motorglider.
You want an hour at minimum, and that still only makes it an amusement device. Electric ...
- 131k
6
votes
Finding longitude/latitude of a aircraft
You don't have the required data to determine your position relatively to the ground (lat, lon). It's pure physics, nothing related to aviation in particular.
Ground velocity integration
To solve your ...
- 73.2k
6
votes
With existing tech and knowledge of meteorology, can aircraft be designed to reliably improve their range or loiter using updrafts to gain altitude?
You should not forget the infrared mongolfiers. This system was invented by French Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (national spatial studies center) in 1977. It can fly between 18000 and 28000 ...
- 221
5
votes
With existing tech and knowledge of meteorology, can aircraft be designed to reliably improve their range or loiter using updrafts to gain altitude?
Yes it is certainly possible to extend flight times almost indefinitely by using atmospheric lift, but there is a trade off between duration and other factors such as a flight plan and movement of ...
- 1,712
4
votes
What would the effect be of flap deployment on a UAV such as the Reaper or Predator?
the climb performance is usually worse with flaps extended
That depends which parameter needs to be maximized. If you want to climb as steeply as possible, flaps will definitely help. If, however, ...
- 232k
4
votes
Why are there still fighter pilots in cockpits?
The pilot is flying an old design.
Elon Musk said that in 2010. The F-35 program started around 1997 and became operational around 2012. The J-20 program started around 2008 and became operational ...
- 3,323
3
votes
How I determine numerically the pitch rate of an aircraft?
You need to do a static maneuverability analysis. This involves knowing the size of the control surfaces, calculating their effectiveness (which is not easy), some knowledge of the moments of inertia ...
- 11.4k
3
votes
Has putting car tires over wings ever been used to protect the aircraft from airborne attack?
This sounds like an attempt at disruptive coloration.
The use of car tires likely has no significance beyond the fact that military bases tend to have a lot of tires in them which can be repurposed in ...
- 3,323
3
votes
How to calculate the amount of differential cable delay between a four port directional antenna and a single port Omni directional antenna in TCAS II?
Cable delay is identical on each of the 4 cables connected to the Directional antenna. In the ACSS system, the 4 cables are the same length and the delays ARE NOT additive. (Please forgive me for ...
- 41
3
votes
What are the key differentiating factors between the flight control systems employed in unmanned drones and those utilized in piloted aerial vehicles?
The primary difference is liability, which drives a chain of other items.
There is an expectation of the various parties involved in approving, licensing and insuring aircraft that there is a clearly ...
- 1,729
2
votes
Have there been any cases of collision/airprox of small drones with manned aircraft?
Obviously, as time goes on, there will be more incidents.
Here, from 2021, a drone and a police helicopter in Los Angeles.
A Los Angeles man pleaded guilty Thursday to a misdemeanor count after his ...
- 8,654
2
votes
Telling an unmanned aircraft from its flight path
I am not sure where people are obtaining the A/C type from this, but, judging from th Ed flight path and SX-AEN’s previous flights, it appears to be a training aircraft based out of Philippi, Greece, ...
- 73.7k
2
votes
Accepted
Practically, what should a pilot do to safely transit a UAS Operating NOTAM area when they must go through it?
This is an issue that pilots will encounter more frequently in the future than in the past. For example, the Academy of Model Aeronautics (AMA) has negotiated a process with the FAA that allows ...
- 22.6k
2
votes
Why are there still fighter pilots in cockpits?
A very good 8K video display provides only 33.18 megapixel resolution when the "native resolution" of the human eye is commonly cited as 576 Mp. Not all this information is processed by ...
- 12.1k
2
votes
Why are there still fighter pilots in cockpits?
The answer is that this is being investigated. Check out Red 6, and what they are doing. Initially, they are investigating the concept to see if it might be a way to train new fighter pilots using a ...
- 6,004
2
votes
What is the feasibility of using drones that can fly at 360kmh as anti aircraft?
360 km/h is 200 knots, which is above the V1 for airliners. That makes it more feasible to chase an airliner on takeoff to try and get sucked into its engine, than to just hope it runs into a slow ...
- 26.9k
1
vote
Accepted
What is the feasibility of using drones that can fly at 360kmh as anti aircraft?
360 km/h is far too slow to intercept an attack plane.
A cheap slow drone might be effective against a slow-flying low altitude aircraft. Even a drunk person with a rock can disable an aircraft.
- 3,323
1
vote
Hexacopter Vn diagram/ flight envelope/ operational envelope
Vn diagrams for multicopters are a bit pointless. A normal flight envelope is used to convey to the pilot where the limits are and why they are at that specific point. This is often important, as you ...
- 3,655
1
vote
Why are there still fighter pilots in cockpits?
Because all the sensors in the world are trickable by electronic jamming.
Organic eyes and reflex are immune to electromagnetic interference.
More point Once digital doodads are hacked with Virus, ...
- 129
1
vote
Accepted
Can a tail-sitter drone like the XFY-1 Pogo aircraft have any advantage over a classic quadrocopter
Intuitively, less rotors is better because of the reduced tip vortices for the overall rotor disc area. Contra-rotating rotors tend to balance out torque, which is good, and the lower rotor may ...
- 1,712
1
vote
How to calculate the Traffic Advisory (TA) range limit above the maximum altitude limit (take 16000 ft) of an aircraft?
It does not factor in. Why would it? The lower aircraft does not know the higher aircraft's intentions, and an aircraft passing 200 feet above is definitely a threat. The higher aircraft does not know ...
- 15.5k
1
vote
Telling an unmanned aircraft from its flight path
In general, you cannot distinguish manned from unmanned aircraft based on the flight path or sound. The best way to distinguish them is to identify the aircraft type, either visually or via a flight ...
- 55.9k
1
vote
Accepted
Are there equations to match power required to mass for rotorcraft?
The simplest way is using the momentum theory, by which the thrust $T$ generated by a rotor is:
$ T = k\sqrt[3]{2 \rho A P^2} $
where $A$ is the rotor area, $\rho$ is the density and $P$ the power ...
- 11.9k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible