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Today in Aviation History: Loss of USS Macon

Vintage Aviation News

Though the German Zeppelins were inflated with hydrogen, which was a more readily available and lighter lifting gas, it was flammable when mixed with oxygen, which doomed many a Zeppelin to a fiery end. While flying high over West Texas, the sun heated and expanded the helium lifting gas, forcing the Macon to rise up.

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Airline Pilots Are the Most Scrutinized Profession

Air Facts

These maneuvers include an engine failure on takeoff, loss of lift on the wing during departure, en route, and approach, crosswind landings, wind shear scenarios, engine inoperative landings, low visibility landings, crash landings and evacuation.

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Types of Thunderstorms in Aviation: From Simple to Severe

Pilot Institute

Thunderstorms create turbulence, wind shear, and icing risks for aircraft. Lifting movement of moist air. Squall line thunderstorms have the potential for severe weather conditions, including strong straight-line winds, microbursts, wind shear, and flooding. What are Thunderstorms? Some might seem harmless.

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Turbulence

Air Facts

The eddies mixing with the vertical motion of the heat generating lift of the heated air makes for discomfort. The up motion of the lift vector from the surface temperatures, and the perpendicular wind vectors pushing the heated air along, make for a dynamism in space. As we turned back, the wind shear hit.

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Recognising NASA Technology on Modern Airliners

Fear of Landing

Airborne Wind Shear Detection During the 1980s and 1990s, NASA led a comprehensive research program to identify the characteristics of dangerous wind shear and validated technologies that can predict its severity while in flight.

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Are Dry Microbursts Really An Invisible Trap? – Responding to Reactions

Chess In the Air

Most western pilots have patiently worked such lift for an hour or more while waiting for conditions to improve near their destination airport. Considering the delay in the AWOS reporting, it may also be helpful to proactively use the radio to ask anyone on the ground for the current winds (e.g. the local FBO).

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Aviation Weather 101: What Makes Microbursts So Dangerous?

Pilot Institute

The pilots fought to recover, but the wind shear was too strong. Key Takeaways Microbursts can cause severe wind shear and downdrafts. It is the most severe type of wind shear. Theyre a form of low-level wind shear, which is a rapid shift in wind speed or direction near the ground.