Pilot's Life Blog

MARCH 15, 2024

Most Crucial Aircraft Components, From the Flight Crew to the Cockpit, Are in the Fuselage The body of an airplane is known as the fuselage. Pilots navigate the airplane forward in glass cockpits, which are located just over the aircraft’s nose. This long, metal tube connects all the main components of an airplane.

Horizontal Stabilizer 52

Horizontal Stabilizer Aileron Air Traffic Control Lift 52

Fear of Landing

SEPTEMBER 20, 2024

Flying in clouds of cold and warm fronts can lead to very small supercooled water droplets which build up as rime ice on the parts of the aircraft exposed to the wind: probes, antennas, and the leading edges of the wings and tail. During the conversation with the controller, there was the sound of a single chime on the cockpit voice recorder.

Knot 104

Knot Approach Descent Weather 104

Pilot Institute

NOVEMBER 1, 2024

And ice doesn’t just make things slippery, it messes with the airflow over the wings, cuts down on lift, and ramps up drag. Remember that wings, propeller blades, and tail surfaces are airfoil-shaped. This leads to a serious loss of lift and an increase in drag. If you don’t act quickly, you’ll soon feel its effects.

Pitot Tube 52

Pitot Tube Drag Lift Airfoil 52

Fear of Landing

MARCH 22, 2024

Gradually used to replace metals on parts of aircraft tails, wings, engines, cowlings, and parts of the fuselage, composites reduce overall aircraft weight and improve operational efficiency. Glass cockpits are in use on commercial, military, and general aviation aircraft, and on NASA’s space shuttle fleet.

Wind Shear 52

Wind Shear Airfoil Drag Airline 52

Pilot Institute

FEBRUARY 20, 2025

The pilot is able to control the aircrafts roll by turning the control yoke or sidestick in the cockpit. The problem is that the aileron can only be deflected to a point after which the drag becomes significant. Most of the ailerons mass lies behind the hinge, making it tail-heavy. This phenomenon is called adverse yaw.

Aileron 90

Aileron Weight-Shift-Control Rudder Longitudinal Axis 90

Air Facts

JULY 1, 2024

After all the preliminaries, and in full command of the cockpit, we, my instructor and I, took off on a simulated flight from Teterboro, New Jersey enroute to Norfolk, Virginia (short flight) at 15,000 feet. He was in his forties when we flew together in his V-tail Bonanza. I hastily agreed. The Power Jockey. I did not touch the flaps.

Knot 97

Knot Approach Pilot Runway 97

Plane and Pilot

FEBRUARY 20, 2025

Right after takeoff, you throw a grappling hook at the end of a short rope out of the cockpit. Its connected, along with a safety weak link, to the tail of the airplane. With skill (and some luck) the hook catches, the plane roars up to not drag the fabric along the ground, and the whole assembly is hoisted into the air.

Drag 71

Drag Airplanes Pilot Rudder 71

Vintage Aviation News

JANUARY 14, 2025

However, since Convair was also developing the XF-92 delta wing prototype for a future Air Force interceptor, the design team at Convair, led by Ernest Stout, proposed a new delta wing aircraft with retractable hydro-skis for takeoffs and landings, a watertight hull, and a single delta tail.

Cockpit 98

Cockpit Flight Deck Drag Stability 98

Vintage Aviation News

DECEMBER 26, 2024

Air Force, in the cockpit of Convair F-106A Delta Dart 56-0467, at Edwards AFB, December 15, 1959, following his world speed record. Flying against Captain Tom Curtis, the two “Sixes” engaged in a “vertical rolling scissors” maneuver at 38,000 feet (11,600 meters), trying to get behind the other’s tail.

Pitot Tube 59

Pitot Tube Ground Effect Drag Pilot 59

Ask the Pilot

MARCH 13, 2025

I don’t which part irks me more: the boring typeface, the blank bottom, or the tail emblem, which is a neutered version of the one it replaces. Then we have the tail. GRADE: D-minus MINTY FRESH JetBlues livery features a grab bag of different tail patterns. Where do we start? Do we have any idea what this means?

Tail 99

Tail Airline Airlines Runway 99

Vintage Aviation News

FEBRUARY 16, 2025

While the Martin Model 123 had open cockpits for a pilot, nose gunner/bombardier, and rear gunner, it was envisioned that these could be enclosed later in development. Indonesian locals survey the tail of Martin 139WH s/n M-531 shortly after its rediscovery. Th prototype of the Maartin B-10, the Martin XB-907, in flight.

Cockpit 69

Cockpit Tail Pilot Drag 69

Vintage Aviation News

APRIL 26, 2024

Photo copyright Russell Munson] On April 26th, 1964 a radial-powered biplane with wings and tail in Champion Yellow and Stearman Vermillion-painted fuselage took off from an airfield near Lumberton, NC. “The steel fuselage frame, tail surfaces, and landing gear have been repaired as needed, media blasted, and primed.

Airplanes 105

Airplanes Aileron Tail Hangar 105

Plane and Pilot

DECEMBER 2, 2024

I move to the cockpit in search of a warmer spot and share some of the pilots’ candy. I’ll walk home if I have to, after that,” I hear someone say from the cockpit. He is beaming as he exits the cockpit. They were counted as they loaded up and sat between each other’s legs, facing the tail. Air Force C-130.

Airplanes 96

Airplanes Pilot Cockpit Tail 96

Vintage Aviation News

AUGUST 22, 2024

We strapped into the cockpit, completed routine checks and procedures, started the engines, and taxied to the end of the runway. Load’s” relatively safe haven high in the tail section left him hanging upside down on steel-wire control cables, emulating a tree sloth. I was dragging tail.

Weight-Shift-Control 52

Weight-Shift-Control Tail Cargo Airplanes 52

Vintage Aviation News

AUGUST 29, 2024

MiGs on your tail! All cockpit gauges confirmed critical systems were humming and happy. It felt like we were dragging an 18-wheeler truck! Functioning exactly as designed, those flat-plate boards sticking into the airstream were creating beaucoup drag, battling against the J-79s’ thrust. Four o’clock!” Break right!

Drag 52

Drag Thrust Pilot Rudder 52

Plane and Pilot

JANUARY 7, 2025

Originally used as a trainer in World War II, the Stearman features a tandem, open cockpit with forgiving, yet challenging flight characteristics. Top that off with modern avionics, a roomy, comfortable cockpit, and its overall charm, Carbon Cubs are built for comfort and adventure. Thirty years ago, I got to fly Serial No.

Airplanes 98

Airplanes Tail Pilot Jet 98

Aerotime

MARCH 27, 2025

Following D-Day, as the war began to tail off, Yeager returned to fly combat missions, as Eisenhower yielded to Yaeger’s demands. These helped to minimize drag and ensure aerodynamic efficiency at high speeds. Nevertheless, Yeager remonstrated this point with Supreme Allied Commander General Dwight D. Eisenhower himself.

Pilot 281

Pilot Airplanes Drag Thrust 281

Plane and Pilot

OCTOBER 3, 2024

True, a slightly higher aspect ratio wing was desired, which in turn required a larger vertical tail and thus a little extra mass, but the size, approximately 20% larger than a Widgeon, was set. The airfoil is a Harry Riblett shape, giving modernized flow separation on the leading edge for a soft stall yet with good lift and drag performance.

Airplanes 77

Airplanes Rudder Knot Aileron 77

Vintage Aviation News

JUNE 24, 2024

Once the aircraft came to a halt, the pilot climbed out of the cockpit and waded to shore with the assistance of tourists who didn’t continue to film with their smartphones. Once the aircraft was dragged to a nearby parking lot, it was lifted into the air by a mobile crane lowered onto a flatbed trailer and driven back to Titusville.

Drag 111

Drag Lift Tail Pilot 111

Plane and Pilot

DECEMBER 16, 2024

Planespotters note the F2’s separate ailerons and flaps, conventional tail. Out back, theres an entirely new tail. Theres an unusual duck tail between the two elevator halves that provides a measure of anti-stall behavior. You’ll note a change in drag with final flaps accompanied by a mild pitch change.

Airplanes 98

Airplanes Rudder Aileron Crosswind 98

Vintage Aviation News

AUGUST 26, 2024

Soon after emerging from the cockpit, Lt. B-24D 41-23908 Hill AFB 19Mar2024 Veronico with restored Martin 250CE turret and tail turret as recovered from Alaska. Though the forward fuselage and wings were able to be reused, there were not nearly enough parts from the tail to reconstruct an intact section of the aircraft.

Weather 124

Weather Tail Drag Ceiling 124

Vintage Aviation News

FEBRUARY 7, 2025

The Antonov A-7, the most successful Soviet combat glider of the Great Patriotic War (Soviet Air Force photo) However, one less than successful design by Oleg Antonov was the Antonov A-40, which paired a T-60 light tank with a disposable set of biplane wings and a twin-boom tail to be towed into the air and glide to the battlefield.

Cargo 52

Cargo Tail Drag Cockpit 52