You Can Fly!

WELCOME TO MIT!

Instructors: Sameera Ponda and Kostas Speridakos

Plan:

•Who we are, how we learned to fly

•How you can learn to fly, what certifications might be of interest to you

•How we started traveling the skies in winged flying machines

•How we make lift

•10-minute break

•Flight simulator demonstration

•Paper airplane contest!!!

•QUESTIONS!!!

How do I Become a Pilot?

• Pilot training is regulated by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)

• Rules are provided in the Federal Aviation Regulations (FARs)

• You can start your pilot training by contacting an FAA certificated flight instructor (CFI) at any flight school:– Fixed Base Operators (FBOs) located at most airports– FAR Part 141 Schools– FAR Part 61 Schools– Freelance CFIs

• Ground schools are available at most FBOs

Private Pilot Certificate

• Ground School / FAA Knowledge Test

• 3rd Class Medical / Student Pilot Certificate– Needed to solo– Must be at least 16 years old

• To get a private pilot certificate you must be at least 17 years old.

• Must have at least 40 hours of flight time:– At least 20 dual (with a certificated flight instructor)– At least 10 solo

• Must pass a practical test or “checkride.”

Private Pilot Certificate (cont’d)

• The 40 hours of flight time should include:

– 20 hours of dual flight time (with a CFI)• 3 hours of Cross Country Flight Training• 3 hours of Simulated Instrument Training• 3 hours of Night Training

– 1 Night Cross-Country Flight (100 nm)– 10 landings to a full stop

– 10 hours of solo flight time• 5 hours of Cross Country Flying

– 150 nm cross country with landings at 3 separate airports

• 3 takeoffs and landings to a full stop at a controlled airport

Additional Ratings and Training

• Aerobatic Training– Aileron roll– Snap roll– Loop– Spin– Etc …

• High-performance Checkout– > 200 horsepower engine

• Complex Airplane Checkout– Retractable landing gear– Controllable-pitch propeller

Additional Ratings and Training

• Instrument Rating– Operate under instrument

flight rules (IFR)– 40 hours of instrument time– Knowledge test– Practical test

• Multi-Engine Rating– Training– Practical Test

Additional Ratings and Training

• Seaplane Rating– Training– Practical Test

• Helicopter Rating– 40 hours of flight time

• 20 hours dual

• 10 hours solo

– Practical test

Additional Ratings and Training

• Glider Rating– 40 hours of flight time

• 3 hours of flight training

• 10 solo flights

• Lighter-than-air / Balloon Rating– 10 hours of flight training

• 6 training flights

– Practical test

Additional Pilot Certificates

• Commercial Pilot Certificate:

– 250 total hours of flight time• 100 hours of pilot-in-command time• 50 hours of cross country time• 10 hours of flight training in an airplane with retractable

landing gear and controllable pitch propeller

– Knowledge test

– Practical test

Additional Pilot Certificates

• Certificated Flight Instructor:– Training– 2 Knowledge tests– Practical test

• Airline Transport Pilot Certificate:– At least 23 years old– 1500 hours of flight time

• 250 hours of pilot-in-command time• 500 hours cross country• 100 hours of night flight• 75 hours of instrument flight

– Knowledge test– Practical test

Careers in Aviation

• Flight Instructing

• Airlines

• Corporate Aviation

• Military Aviation

• U.S. Coast Guard Aviation

• Aerial Application (agricultural)

• And lots more!

How it all Began•Who: Orville and Wilbur Wright, brothers and bicycle mechanics

•What: the Wrights were not the first to fly, but they designed, built, and flew the first manned, powered, controlled airplane

•When: late 1890’s

•Where: Dayton, OH and Kitty Hawk, NC

1899

1902

1903

The 1903 Flyer

First flight by the numbers: December 17th, 1903 / 12 seconds / 120 feet / pilot: Orville Wright

Aerodynamic

Experiments

…and Aerodynamic Analysis Today

Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD):

Modern Wind Tunnels:

…and now…

…how does one make lift?...

…why does one need lift?...

“The Four Forces”

•Newton’s First Law of Motion says that a body at rest will remain at rest and a body in motion will remain in motion unless acted upon by some external force

•Therefore, for an airplane to keep flying “straight-and-level,” thrust must balance drag and lift must balance weight

•What if you need to climb? Descend? What is the relationship between the lift and weight forces?

Bernoulli Equation•General concept: the total pressure of air flowing around an airfoil is equal to the sum of its static and dynamic pressures

•Formula: ptotal = pstatic + ½ ρv2 = constant!•Upper surface of wing:

•more curved than the lower surface (has a “camber”), so:

•air here has a greater length to travel in the same amount of time as the air on the underside of the wing, so:

•air on upper surface has a greater speed, so:

•air on upper surface has a lower static pressure •Since air wants to move from high pressure to low pressure, the high-pressure air under the wing wants to move to the lower-pressure air above the wing•This “pushing” up on the wing produces lift

Inclined Plane Effect•Newton’s Third Law

•for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction

•EXAMPLE: push against a wall

•your hand provides the same force to the wall as the wall provides to your hand

•neither the wall nor you accelerate because there is a balance of equal and opposite forces

-F F

•An airfoil is basically a streamlined inclined plane•Air flows around the wing:

•due to the cross-sectional shape of the wing, air moving around the wing is pushed down•because a force is placed on the air particles by the wing, an equal and opposite force is placed by all of the air particles on the wing•the sum of all of these forces pushes the wing up and creates lift

Inclined Plane Effect (cont’d.)

http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/K-12/airplane/foil2.html

Airflow Visualization