Glossary
-
- ace
- a pilot who has shot down 5
enemy pilots or more in a wartime situation
- aileron
- A movable, hinged panel along
the rear edge of each airplane wing. Ailerons swivel up or down.
They always swivel in opposite directions. If one aileron is up,
the other is down. Operating the ailerons makes the airplane roll
to one side or the other.
- airflow
- the movement of air over and
under a surface, such as a wing
- airfoil
- the special curved shape of an
airplane wing or helicopter rotor blade. The airfoil shape
generates an upward force called lift.
- airliner
- a large airplane designed
specifically to carry passengers
- air presssure
- The pushing force exerted on
an object caused by the weight of all the air above it. Air
pressure is greatest on the ground, at the lowest part of the
atmosphere. Air thins out and its pressure drops with increasing
height.
- airship
- An aircraft that rises into
the air because it is lighter than air. An airship is constructed
from a metal frame containing bags filled with hydrogen or helium
gas. The pilot flies the craft from a gondola attached to the
bottom of an airship.
- altitude
- an aircraft's height above sea
level
- aviator
- the operator or pilot of an
airplane
- biplane
- An aircraft with two pairs of
wings, one pair above the other. Biplanes were popular until the
1930s.
- blimp
- a soft, lighter-than-air
flying craft
- bomber
- An aircraft designed to carry
bombs.
- bomb rack
- A frame that holds bombs
inside a bomber aircraft's bomb bay.
- canopy
- The clear, curved cover over
an an aircraft's cockpit. The canopy is usually made from a tough
plastic.
- ceiling
- An aircraft's ceiling is the
maximum height at which it can fly safely.
- cockpit
- The compartment at the front
of an aircraft where the pilot and copilot sit. All of the flight
controls are located in the cockpit.
- console
- The panel in front of the
containing the instruments used when flying
- cowling
- a removable outer cover that
is used to protect an engine
- cradle
- part of an early Wright
brothers' airplane where the pilot laid and from where he steered
the aircraft.
- cruise missile
- a very accurate flying bomb.
After it is fired from a ship or dropped from an airplane, a
cruise missile flies under the power of its own jet engine. It
steers itself toward the target with pinpoint accuracy by
comparing its view of the ground via a built-in video camera with
a map stored in its computer memory.
- cruising speed
- an aircraft's cruising speed
is the speed at which it normally flies
- cylinder
- one of the chambers inside a
piston engine where fuel and air are compressed and burned to
provide power
- dogfight
- a battle in the air at close
quarters between fighter planes. The planes twist and turn in the
air at great speeds in an attempt to train their guns on each
other
- drag
- a force caused by air
resistance that acts to slow an aircraft down
- elevator
- a movable hinged panel along
the back edge of an aircrafts tailplane. When both strips swivel
up, the aircraft tilts tail-down and vice-versa
- fighter
- an airplane designed for
air-to-air combat
- flap
- movable section at the back of
a wing extended backward to create more lift at takeoff and before
landing
- flight deck
- the part at the front of an
aircraft ,larger than a cockpit, where the pilot and other crew
sit
- fuselage
- the body of an aircraft
running from nose to tail. The fuselage contains the cockpit or
flight deck, the cargo hold, and the passenger compartment
- glider
- an aircraft without an engine.
Gliders are towed into the air by a powered aircraft or by a
towline attached to a winch on the ground, and soar higher on
rising currents of air
- gondola
- the crew compartment that
hangs underneath an airship
- hub
- the central part of a wheel or
propeller
- hydraulic
- powered by the pressure of oil
forced through pipes by a pump
- jet
engine
- an engine that uses a jet of
gases to push an aircraft through the air. The jet is produced by
sucking air into the front of the engine compressing it and mixing
it with burning fuel
- leading edge
- the front of a wing, tail fin,
or tailplane
- lift
- the upward force on the bottom
of the wing created by the airflow passing over it
- Mach numbers
- to measure the speed of a
supersonic aircraft Mach numbers are used because the speed of
sound is not the same everywhere in the atmosphere. Mach 1 is the
speeed of sound
- monoplane
- an aircraft with a single pair
of wings
- navigator
- a crew member whose job was to
plot an aircraft's course on long flights. After WW II ,
navigation aids using radio and radar enabled pilots to keep their
crafts on course, and so navigators were no longer needed.
- outrigger wheel
- a small at or near the end of
an aircraft's wing, used to steady the aircraft and stop its wings
from touching the ground
- piston engine
- An engine, similar to a car
engine, that works by burning gas inside cylinders. Hot gases push
a piston down the cylinder to generate power to turn a
propeller.
- pitch
- one of three ways an aircraft
can move. The other two are roll and yaw. Using the elevators to
tip the aircraft's nose up or down causes a change in pitch
- pod
- smoothly-shaped section shaped
to contain an aircraft part, typically an engine, guns, electronic
equipment, and cameras
- pressure suit
- pilots of high-flying
fighters, bombers, and spyplanes wear a pressure suits. It
inflates automatically like a balloon when the aircraft turns
sharply, to stop blood from draining away from the pilot's head
into the legs.
- prototype
- the first to be built of a new
type of aircraft. Prototypes are test-flown to test flying
characteristics
- pusher prop
- a rear-mounted propellor that
pushes an aircraft along
- retractable
undercarriage
- landing legs and wheels of an
aircraft which are designed to fold away into the fuselage or
wings in flight
- ridge lift
- air current blowing up the
side of a hill. Gliders use this type of rising air to keep
aloft
- roll
- side-to-side rocking motion of
an aircraft, controlled by the ailerons mounted on the
wings
- pressurized
- when something is raised to a
higher pressure than normal
- propeller
- a set of thin angled blades
attached to a central hub. When the hub spins, the angled blades
push air backwards which forces the aircraft forward
- radar
- a device used to detect the
position of objects by measuring the echo of radio signals beamed
at them
- radome
- a dome-shaped cover amde from
a material through which radio waves can pass used to protect
radar equipment
- rib
- the parts of a wings frame
that run from the front of the wing to the back
- rotor
- the rotating blades of a
helicopter
- rudder
- a swiveling panel in an
aircraft's vertical tailfin turning the rudder swings the tail
left or right
- sight
- a device used by the crew to
aim guns or bombs at their targets
- slat
- a panel that extends from the
front of the wing to make the wing bigger and produce more
lift
- sonic boom
- when an aircraft flies at the
speed of sound the air in front of it is compressed so muchthat it
forms into a shock wave that travels out through the air and even
reaches the ground. As the shock wave passes by people hear it as
a double bang known as a sonic boom.
- solo
- a lone person's flight
- sortie
- a mission flown by a military
aircraft
- spar
- part of the frame inside a
wing that supports the wings weight. Spars are long tubes or beams
that lie along the length of the wing from tip to tip
- spoiler
- a panel in the wingf which can
be raised to spoil a wing s airflow to slow an aircraft down and
increase its rate of descent during landing
- stealth aircraft
- a stealth aircraft is designed
so that it is difficult to be detected by radar by reflecting
radio waves away from their source.
- supersonic
- faster than the speed of
sound
- tail fin
- the vertical part of an
aircraft's tailplane
- taxiing
- an aircraft is taxiing when it
is moving along the ground under its own power
- thrust
- the force produced by an
engine that pushes an aircraft along
- torque
- twisting or turning caused by
the rotation of blades such as in a helicopter
- Trans-Atlantic
- across the Atlantic
Ocean
- undercarriage
- an aircrafts wheel-also known
as landing gear
- wing-warping
- the Wright brothers used
wing-warping to steer their airplane. The pilot pulled wires to
bend the wingtips and change the airflow over the wings
- yaw
- one of the three ways in which
an aircraft can move. This is done by turning the rudder so the
aircrafts nose will turn or yaw
- zeppelin
- a rigid, lighter-than-air
flying craft
-
Aviation Through The
Ages
A 1998 ThinkQuest Junior
Entry
by Patrick T., Charlie B., and
Sam L.
Sixth Grade
Columbian Elementary
School
Omaha Public Schools
- Omaha, Nebraska
Contents