John S. Denker
See How It Flies
A new spin on the
perceptions, procedures,
and principles of flight.
Contents
Introduction
Readership, Topics, and Goals
How to Use this Book
Non-Goals
Acknowledgments
1 Energy Awareness and Energy Management
1.1 Energy Cannot Be Created or Destroyed
1.2 Energy Conversion
1.2.1 Converting Speed to Altitude and Back
1.2.2 Energy Per Unit Mass
1.2.3 Converting Fuel to Altitude
1.2.4 Power versus Energy
1.2.5 Drag and the Power Curve — Introduction
1.2.6 Rates of Energy Conversion
1.3 Effect of Controls on Energy
1.3.1 Power Budget — Using the Engine
1.3.2 The Effects of the Throttle
1.3.3 The Effects of the Yoke
1.3.4 Sizes of Energy Reservoirs
1.4 Energy Management Strategy
1.5 Summary: Energy Management
2 Angle of Attack Awareness and Angle of Attack Management
2.1 The Importance of Angle of Attack
2.2 Definition of Angle of Attack
2.3 Trim for Angle of Attack!
2.4 Three Contributions to Angle of Attack
2.5 Perceiving Pitch Angle
2.6 Making Changes in Angle of Attack
2.7 Fly with a Light Touch
2.8 Trim Won’t Solve All The World’s Problems
2.9 Pitch Attitude versus Angle of Attack
2.10 Power plus Attitude does not equal Performance
2.11 Estimating the Relative Wind
2.12 Airspeed Is Related to Angle of Attack
2.12.1 Airspeed versus Coefficient of Lift
2.12.2 Coefficient of Lift versus Angle of Attack
2.12.3 Correcting for Reduced Density
2.12.4 Correcting for Reduced Lift Requirements
2.12.5 Correcting for Increased Lift Requirements
2.12.6 Compute with Calibrated not Indicated Airspeed
2.12.7 Correcting for Slip
2.12.8 Drag and Lift-to-Drag Ratio
2.13 Not Everything Depends on Angle of Attack
2.13.1 Explicit Airspeed Limits
2.13.2 Maneuvering Speed
2.13.3 Overview of Limits and Performance Numbers
2.14 Absolute versus Geometric Angle of Attack
2.15 Summary
3 Airfoils and Airflow
3.1 Flow Patterns Near a Wing
3.2 Pressure Patterns Near a Wing
3.3 Stream Line Curvature
3.4 Bernoulli’s Principle
3.4.1 Magnitude
3.4.2 Altimeters; Static versus Stagnation Pressure
3.4.3 Compressibility
3.5 Stall Warning Devices
3.6 Air Is A Fluid, Not A Bunch of Bullets
3.7 Other Fallacies
3.8 Inverted Flight, Cambered vs. Symmetric Airfoils
3.9 Thin Wings
3.10 Circulation
3.10.1 Visualizing the circulation
3.10.2 How Much Circulation? The Kutta Condition
3.10.3 How Much Lift? The Kutta-Zhukovsky Theorem
3.10.4 Quantifying the Circulation
3.11 Mechanically-Induced Circulation
3.12 Lift Requires Circulation & Vortices
3.12.1 Vortices
3.12.2 Wake Turbulence
3.12.3 Induced Drag
3.12.4 Soft-Field Takeoff
3.12.5 Bound Vortex
3.13 Frost on the Wings
3.14 Consistent (Not Cumulative) Laws of Physics
3.15 Summary: How a Wing Produces Lift
4 Lift, Thrust, Weight, and Drag
4.1 Definitions
4.2 Balance of Forces
4.3 Forces During a Turn
4.4 Types of Drag
4.5 Coefficients, Forces, and Power
Coefficients
Forces
Powers
4.6 Induced vs. Parasite Drag
5 Vertical Damping, Roll Damping, and Stalls
5.1 Introduction and Overview
5.2 Vertical Damping
5.2.1 Origins of Vertical Damping
5.2.2 Loss of Vertical Damping
5.3 The Stall
5.3.1 Definition of Stall
5.3.2 Flying Beyond the Stall?
5.4 Roll Damping
5.4.1 Origins of Roll Damping
5.4.2 Loss of Roll Damping
5.4.3 Schemes to Increase Roll Damping
5.5 The Effect of Flaps
5.5.1 Effect on Stalling Speed
5.5.2 Effect on Incidence
5.5.3 Effect on Washout
5.5.4 Effect on Drag
5.5.5 Effect on Trim
5.5.6 Effect on Top Speed
5.6 Summary
6 Angle of Attack Stability, Trim, and Spiral Dives
6.1 The Basic Stability Principle
6.1.1 Loafing with Leverage
6.1.2 Other Flying Objects Are Not Similar
6.1.3 Center of Mass Too Far Aft
6.1.4 Center of Mass Near the Middle
6.1.5 Center of Mass, Lift, and Area
6.1.6 Pitch-Wise Equilibrium
6.1.7 Canards Operate on the Same Principle
6.1.8 Beyond Decalage
6.1.9 Springs and Bobweights
6.1.10 Long-Tail Pitch Effect
6.1.11 Center of Mass Too Far Forward
6.1.12 Other Failure Modes
6.1.13 Practical Considerations
6.1.14 Phugoid Oscillations
6.2 Spiral Dive
6.2.1 Which Way Is Up?
6.2.2 Overview
6.2.3 General Discussion
6.2.4 Recovering From a Spiral Dive
6.2.5 Try It Yourself
6.3 Summary
7 More About Energy and Power
7.1 Introduction
7.2 Making Changes in Airspeed
7.2.1 Front Side of the Power Curve
7.2.2 Back Side of the Power Curve
7.2.3 Right versus Wrong Procedures
7.3 You Can Get Away With A Lot During Cruise
7.4 Let “George” Do It
7.5 Max Performance using the Power Curve
7.5.1 Calibrated Airspeed versus True Airspeed
7.5.2 Best Rate of Climb
7.5.3 Minimum Level-Flight Speed
7.5.4 Best Angle of Climb
7.5.5 Power Depends on Altitude via True Airspeed
7.5.6 Other Power and Altitude Effects
7.5.7 Best Glide: Wind, Downdrafts, etc.
7.5.8 Weight Effects
7.5.9 Center of Mass Effects
7.6 Variations in the Power Curve
7.6.1 Power Curve Depends on Aspect Ratio
7.6.2 Sketching the Curve
7.6.3 Some Theory
7.6.4 Power Requirements versus Speed
7.6.5 Power Requirements versus Altitude
7.7 Energy Management Stunts
7.7.1 High-Speed Steep Descent
7.7.2 Low-Speed Steep Descent
7.7.3 Skimming in Ground Effect
7.8 Summary
8 Yaw-Wise Torque Budget
8.1 Overview
8.2 Yaw Stability
8.3 Yaw Damping
8.4 Helical Propwash
8.5 P-Factor
8.5.1 Blade Speed
8.5.2 Blade Angle
8.5.3 Initial Takeoff Roll
8.5.4 Observing P-Factor
8.6 Gyroscopic Precession
8.7 Canted Engine
8.8 Yaw-Wise Rotation of Propwash
8.9 Rudder Usage During Rolls
8.9.1 Analysis of a Roll
8.9.2 Designers’ Tricks
8.9.3 Transitory Adverse Yaw
8.9.4 Steady Adverse Yaw – Twisted Lift
8.9.5 Yaw-Wise Inertia
8.9.6 Amount of Rudder Required
8.9.7 Summary: Coordinated Turning Procedures
8.10 Long-Tail Slip
8.11 Boat Turn
8.12 Weathervaning During Taxi
8.13 Asymmetric Thrust
8.14 Yaw-Wise Torque Budget — Summary
9 Roll-Wise Torque Budget
9.1 Dihedral
9.2 Other Forms of Slip-Roll Coupling
9.3 Roll-Wise Stability
9.4 Differential Wingtip Speed; Overbanking
9.5 Rolling Moment due to Propeller Drag
9.6 Engine Inertia
9.7 Climbing and Descending Turns
9.8 Roll-Wise Torque Budget — Summary
10 Equilibrium, Stability, and Damping
10.1 Equilibrium
10.2 Stability
10.3 Damping
10.4 Relationship of Stability and Damping
10.5 Oleo-Pneumatic Struts
10.6 Oscillations
10.6.1 Analysis of Dutch Roll
10.6.2 How to Fight Oscillations
10.7 Stability and Controllability
11 Slips, Skids, and Snap Rolls
11.1 A Lesson on Snap Rolls
11.2 Perceiving Slip
11.3 Intentional Slips
11.4 Skids
Bottom Rudder: Right vs. Wrong
11.5 Anticipate Correct Rudder Usage
11.6 Perceiving Slip, Perceiving Coordination
11.6.1 Looking Out the Side
11.6.2 Looking Out the Front
11.6.3 Using the Inclinometer Ball
11.6.4 Using the Seat of Your Pants
11.6.5 Intentional Slips
11.6.6 Slip Angle versus Bank Angle
11.7 Summary
12 Landing
12.1 Planning the Approach
12.1.1 Other Planning Issues
12.1.2 Traffic
12.1.3 Obstacle Clearance
12.2 Judging Left or Right
12.3 Judging High or Low; Rule of Thumb
12.4 Judging Pitch Attitude and Angle of Attack
12.4.1 Use Outside References and Trim
12.4.2 Observe and Control More Than One Thing
12.4.3 Correct for Wind
12.5 Other Perceptions
12.6 Basic “Normal” Landing
12.6.1 Short Final
12.6.2 Flare
12.6.3 Timing the Flare
12.6.4 Touchdown and Rollout
12.7 High-Performance Landing
12.7.1 Choose the Right Runway
12.7.2 Use the Right Configuration
12.7.3 Touch Down at the Right Point
12.7.4 Touch Down at a Low Speed
12.7.5 Use the Brakes
12.7.6 Summary: High-Performance Landing
12.8 Soft-field Landing
12.9 Crosswind Landing
12.9.1 Basics
12.9.2 Heading Control
12.9.3 Drift Control
12.9.4 Flare and Touchdown
12.9.5 737 Scheme
12.10 Going Around
12.11 Learning to Land the Airplane
12.11.1 Maneuver by Reference to the Edge
12.11.2 High-Speed Taxiing; Roadrunner Mode
12.11.3 Practice Maneuvering at Altitude
12.11.4 Practice Flaring and Stalling at Altitude
12.11.5 Practice High-Speed Taxiiing
12.11.6 Practice Flying in the Runway Environment
12.11.7 Learn Soft-Field Procedure First
12.11.8 Nose-High Rollout
12.11.9 Recovering from an Evil Zoom
12.11.10 Salvaging an Imperfect Flare
12.12 Fly with a Light Touch
12.13 Critique Your Own Landings
13 Takeoff
13.1 Simplest Takeoff
13.2 Normal Takeoff
13.3 Obstructed-Field Takeoff
Skimming versus Wheelbarrowing or Flap-Popping
13.4 Soft-Field Takeoff
13.5 Crosswind Technique
13.6 Multi-Engine Takeoff
13.7 Planning and Decisionmaking
13.7.1 Monitoring Takeoff Performance (wrong)
13.7.2 Monitoring Takeoff Performance (right)
13.7.3 Causes of Diminished Power
13.7.4 Plan & Practice Rejected Takeoffs
13.7.5 After Liftoff: Departure Climb
13.8 Other Elements of the Takeoff
13.9 Summary
14 Cross-Country Flying
14.1 Pilotage
14.1.1 Airports Make Good Landmarks
14.1.2 Choose Distinctive Landmarks
14.1.3 Doglegs
14.1.4 Reality-Based Navigation
14.2 Dead Reckoning
14.2.1 Course
14.2.2 Distance, Time, and Airspeed
14.2.3 Crosswind Correction
14.2.4 The Wind Triangle
14.2.5 Discussion
14.3 Navigating by Instruments
14.3.1 Don’t Be a Gauge Junkie
14.3.2 Navigation Systems (Brief Survey)
14.3.3 Intended Heading
14.4 VOR Techniques
14.4.1 Off-Course Distance
14.4.2 Approaching the Station
14.4.3 Progress Along the Course
14.4.4 Twisted VORs
14.5 Combined Techniques
14.6 Staying Un-Lost
14.7 Getting Un-Lost
14.7.1 Basics
14.7.2 When in Doubt, Climb
14.7.3 GPS or LORAN
14.7.4 VOR Cross Radials or VOR/DME
14.7.5 Ask ATC
14.8 Flight Planning
15 Emergency Procedures
15.1 Engine Out Procedures
15.1.1 Emergency Checklist
15.1.2 Lower the Nose
15.1.3 Configuring for Glide
15.1.4 Return to Airport?
15.1.5 Power-Off Glide Perception and Planning
15.2 Preventing Emergencies
15.2.1 Safety Margins
15.2.2 Fuel Management
15.3 Dealing with Emergencies
16 Flight Maneuvers
16.1 Fundamentals
16.2 Seeing and Avoiding Other Traffic
16.3 Speeding Up and Slowing Down
16.4 Phugoids
16.5 Turns
16.6 Coordination Exercises
16.7 Constant-Heading Slips
16.8 Crabbing Along a Road
16.9 Slipping Along a Road
16.10 Familiarization Exercises; Configuration Changes
16.11 Transitioning to Fast and Complex Aircraft
16.12 Turns around a Point
16.13 Eights Around Pylons
16.14 Chandelles
16.15 Lazy Eights
16.16 Eights and Turns on Pylons
16.16.1 Preliminaries
16.16.2 Turns on a Pylon
16.16.3 Eights on Pylons
16.17 Changing Headwinds and Tailwinds
16.17.1 Steady Wind
16.17.2 Albatross Effect: Winds that Vary with Altitude
16.17.3 Windshear on Approach and Departure
16.17.4 Turning Downwind; Energy Budget
16.17.5 Section Summary: Headwinds and Tailwinds
16.18 Ground Reference Strategy
16.18.1 Accounting for the Wind
16.18.2 Entry Strategy
16.18.3 Visual Reference
16.18.4 Checklist
16.19 Slow Flight
16.19.1 Airspeed and Altitude
16.19.2 Yaw and Roll
16.19.3 Procedures and Perceptions
16.20 Stall Practice
16.20.1 Preliminaries
16.20.2 Provoking a Distinct Stall
16.20.3 Stall Recovery
16.20.4 Power-On Stalls
16.20.5 Accelerated Stalls
16.20.6 Evil Zooms
16.21 Recovering from Inverted Attitude
17 Multi-Engine Flying
17.1 Engine Out Scenarios
17.1.1 Takeoff
17.1.2 Climb
17.1.3 Coordination
17.1.4 Perception and Initial Response
17.1.5 Yaw Control at Reduced Speeds
17.1.6 Minimum Control Speed — Definitions
17.1.7 Effect of Altitude, Weight, etc.
17.1.8 Effect of Center of Mass
17.1.9 Effect of Drag (e.g. Landing Gear)
17.1.10 Roll Control
17.1.11 Critical Engine
17.2 Engine Out Procedures
17.2.1 Basic Takeoff Considerations
17.2.2 Balanced Field Length; Takeoff Decision Speed
17.2.3 Procedure: Low Altitude
17.2.4 Procedure: Higher Altitude
17.2.5 Airspeed Management
17.2.6 Engine-Out Go-Arounds
17.2.7 Low-Speed Engine-Out Demonstrations
18 Stalls and Spins
18.1 Stalls: Causes and Effects
18.2 Stalling Part vs. All of the Wing
18.3 Boundary Layers
18.3.1 Separated versus Attached Flow
18.3.2 Laminar versus Turbulent Flow
18.3.3 Boundary Layer Control
18.3.4 Recap: Turbulence and Boundary Layers
18.4 Coanda Effect, etc.
18.4.1 Tissue-paper Demonstration
18.4.2 Blowing the Boundary Layer
18.4.3 Teaspoon Demonstration
18.4.4 Fallacious Model of Lift Production
18.4.5 Fact versus Fallacy
18.5 Spin Entry
18.6 Types of Spin
18.6.1 Spin Modes
18.6.2 Samaras, Flat Spins, and Centrifugal Force
18.6.3 NASA Spin Studies
18.6.4 Effects of Changes in Orientation of Spin
18.7 Recovering from a Spin
18.8 Don’t Mess With Spins
19 The Laws of Motion
19.1 Straight-Line Motion
19.1.1 First Law
19.1.2 Second Law
19.1.3 Third Law
19.1.4 Two Notions of Acceleration
19.1.5 Force is Not Motion
19.2 Momentum in the Air
19.3 Sitting in a Rotating Frame
19.4 Moving in a Rotating Frame
Magnitude of the Effect
19.5 Centrifuges with and without Gravity
19.5.1 The Centrifugal Field is as Real as Gravity
19.5.2 Centrifuge
19.5.3 Centrifuge and Gravity
19.6 Centrifugal Effects in a Turning Airplane
19.7 Angles and Rotations
19.7.1 Directions of Rotation: Yaw, Pitch, and Roll
19.7.2 Attitude: Heading, Pitch, Bank
19.7.3 Angle Terminology
19.7.4 Yaw Does Not Commute with Pitch
19.7.5 Yaw Does Not Commute with Bank
19.8 Torque and Moment
19.9 Angular Momentum
19.10 Gyroscopes
19.10.1 Precession
19.10.2 Precession: Which Way and How Much
19.10.3 Inertial Platform
19.11 Gyroscopic Instruments
19.11.1 Heading Indicator
19.11.2 Artificial Horizon
19.11.3 Rate-of-Turn Gyro
20 The Atmosphere
20.1 Circulation Around Fronts and Low Pressure Centers
20.1.1 Flow Around a Low
20.1.2 Fronts and Troughs
20.2 Pressure and Winds Aloft
20.2.1 Thermal Gradient Wind
20.2.2 Altimetry
20.2.3 Altimeter Errors
20.2.4 High Altimeter due to Low Temperature
20.3 Prevailing Winds and Seasonal Winds
20.3.1 Primary Circulation Patterns
20.3.2 Continental / Oceanic Patterns
20.4 Summary
21 Pilot-In-Command Decisionmaking
21.1 Decisionmaking In General
21.2 Decisionmaking during Lessons
21.2.1 Please Act As PIC During Lessons
21.2.2 How’s Your Workload?
21.2.3 I’ve Got It
21.2.4 Hood Work
21.3 Layers of Safety
21.4 Example: Obstacle Clearance
21.5 Flow Pattern
21.6 Checklists
21.7 Personal Minimums
21.8 Skepticism; Crisp Execution of Plan B
21.9 Leadership and Resource Management
21.10 Learn from the Experience of Others
21.11 Try to Outdo Yourself
22 Bibliography
23 About the Book, etc.
23.1 About the Book
23.2 About the Web Site
23.3 Configuring and Troubleshooting your Browser
23.4 Notice — Instructions — Terms of Sale
About the Author
Index