AvFacts - Aviation knowledge without limits

The jet engine revolutionized air travel in the 1950s, and since then jet engines have only gotten more reliable, more efficient, and more powerful. This is due in part to the switch from turbojets to turbofans. In this episode, I discuss what turbojets and turbofans are, and the important differences between them.

What was in auto engines 50 years ago, is in piston aircraft engines today. It’s not always true but it certainly feels true often. Only in the last 30 years or so has carburetion been supplanted by fuel injection in aircraft engines. In this episode I will introduce you to the purpose of carburetors, what they do and how they work, and talk about a few different types of carburetors.

Flights of military aircraft always fly in formation. Flying in formation offers significant tactical advantages when in a combat area, and helps maintain cohesion of the flight when not. Learn about how military aircraft fly in formation, the different types of formations used, and how they deal with contingencies.

Low-frequency radio ranges are a simple form of instrument navigation that hasn’t been around since the 1970s. And while it’s comparatively primitive today, it was revolutionary in the 1920s, demonstrating that for the first time airplanes could be navigated by instruments alone. Learn about how LRR stations worked, and how LRR approaches were charted and flown.

Ice is nice in cold drinks but can be a real hazard to airplanes. When supercooled water droplets freeze and create ice on the wings, an aircraft can suffer loss of lift and control. Learn about where and why ice forms, and why it’s such a big deal to the pilots who fly through it (and try to avoid it).

Bombing has come a long way from its primitive origins. Today, computers help pilots put bombs exactly where they want them. In this episode I cover some of the different ways that pilots “pickle,” or drop their bombs, and how the HUD and the fire control radar help them, even when dropping dumb bombs.

Aircraft that fly high and fast deal with a whole range of aerodynamic issues that lower and slower planes never see. They stem from the shape of the aircraft, the properties of the air at high altitude, and shockwaves caused by approaching the speed of sound. In this episode, I discuss high-altitude, high-speed aerodynamics, including Mach tuck, coffin corner, and Dutch roll.

In aviation, airspeed is life. But it’s also not simple — there are lots of different kinds of airspeed, from indicated airspeed to calibrated airspeed to true airspeed and more. In this episode, I cover the different types of airspeeds, what they all mean, and why they’re important.

Bombs are getting smarter every day. In the 1960s, we got the laser-guided bomb, marking the end of the era of indiscriminate bombing of targets. Today we have GPS-guided bombs too, as well as hybrid guidance systems. In this episode, I’ll cover some details of laser- and GPS-guided weapons; how they work, tactics, and shortcomings.

This is part 6 of a 6-part series on transoceanic flights. Transoceanic flights date back to Charles Lindbergh’s famous Spirit of St. Louis flight in 1927, but today the world is quite different, with numerous procedures and rules to keep us safe as we fly across the ocean. In part 6, I cover gross navigational errors (GNEs), some of the procedures used in the cockpit to mitigate risk, and strategic lateral offsets, or SLOP.

This is part 5 of a 6-part series on transoceanic flights. Transoceanic flights date back to Charles Lindbergh’s famous Spirit of St. Louis flight in 1927, but today the world is quite different, with numerous procedures and rules to keep us safe as we fly across the ocean. In part 5, I cover performance-based requirements, including required navigation, communication, and surveillance performance; and some of the technologies we use to achieve those requirements.

This is part 4 of a 6-part series on transoceanic flights. Transoceanic flights date back to Charles Lindbergh’s famous Spirit of St. Louis flight in 1927, but today the world is quite different, with numerous procedures and rules to keep us safe as we fly across the ocean. In part 4, I cover extended operations, or ETOPS, and how pilots plan flights with the ability to divert to airports halfway across the ocean.

This is part 3 of a 6-part series on transoceanic flights. Transoceanic flights date back to Charles Lindbergh’s famous Spirit of St. Louis flight in 1927, but today the world is quite different, with numerous procedures and rules to keep us safe as we fly across the ocean. In part 3, I cover organized track systems, including the busiest oceanic airspace in the world, the North Atlantic, and its North Atlantic Tracks (NATs).

This is part 2 of a 6-part series on transoceanic flights. Transoceanic flights date back to Charles Lindbergh’s famous Spirit of St. Louis flight in 1927, but today the world is quite different, with numerous procedures and rules to keep us safe as we fly across the ocean. In part 2, I cover high-frequency radio, and how it’s used to send messages over the horizon, and selective calling, or SELCAL.

This is part 1 of a 6-part series on transoceanic flights. Transoceanic flights date back to Charles Lindbergh’s famous Spirit of St. Louis flight in 1927, but today the world is quite different, with numerous procedures and rules to keep us safe as we fly across the ocean. In part 1, I cover oceanic flight plans, including how they're received; and voice position reporting.

The most important number in cross-country gliding is “speed to fly.” Speed to fly is a complex topic, that involves thermals, headwinds and tailwinds, glider performance, and much more. On this episode I cover the basics of cross-country flying and racing in gliders, and introduce you to Paul MacReady’s theory of efficient glider flight.

Primitive forms of aerial refueling have been around since the 1920s; since then, it has matured into a complex but effective procedure for getting gas from one aircraft to another. In this episode, I look at the different kinds of aerial refueling, when it’s used, and some things pilots have to be aware of to do it successfully.

The US airspace system is undergoing massive changes in the wake of RNAV and GPS. Learn about the high-altitude redesign (HAR), non-restrictive routing (NRR), RNAV routes, and other projects underway to redesign the highways in the sky.

One of the symptoms of hypoxia is decreased judgment and decision-making ability — not good for pilots. It can sneak up on you slowly, and by the time you realize it’s happening, you're too impaired to do anything about it. So pilots have a lot of different ways to ensure their brain is getting the oxygen it needs, even at high altitudes. Today I talk about hypoxia, the different types of hypoxia and its signs and symptoms, and the different ways pilots have of receiving supplemental oxygen.

This is the first of a series covering how pilots defend against incoming missiles. In this episode, I will discuss how pilots use geometry and the limitations of radar to defend against radar-guided missiles. In the next part, we’ll look at countermeasures (chaff and flares).