Airtimes

Hi,
I would like to know whats meant by beam in an airplane. see the below news,
http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1149513

it seems tata is going to manufacture beams in boeing planes. so can anyone tell whats a beam? please give links to some pictures.

thanks,
Jayanth.

A beam is a structural member that takes bending load. On an aircraft we have longerons which are beams that run down the fuselage of the aircraft. We also have spars which are beams that run down the wings and other airfoils on the aircraft. these will include flying controls such as elevators and ailerons as these are airfoils as well.

Hope this helps

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each weighing two pounds a piece, but they are all flying in the airplane, will the airplane weight 2000 pounds more

Yes – the force of their wings to keep them flying is reflected in the weight of the airplane

Technorati Tags: Airplane Weight, Seagulls, Two Pounds, Wings

when the jets pulls g’s the vapor should come out everywhere and the sound is great like real life

like real life? no matter how good a game, its still a game, not life.

FSX has some great free addon planes with vapor when you pull Gs, good cockpit panels and sounds but you will have to find it all on the internet.

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I saw a TV report that the possible cause, that made the plane crash in the recent tragedy in Buffalo- New York , is the formation of ice on its wing (or fuselage) . How is this happening and is the quantity of the forming ice so big that it causes the fall of the plane?

Some of these answers are getting ridiculous (and yet they still get thumbs-ups). The primary threat of ice buildup as far as stall is concerned is that it disrupts the smooth flow of air over a wing causing the sudden loss of lift. People need to stop talking about the weight of the ice, as that’s like complaining about the weight of the tiger standing on you while he gnaws on your throat.

Christopher H has it backwards: lift is generated by the shape of a wing because air travels faster over the top of the wing. The higher velocity over the wing results in a lower pressure, and lift is basically the suction over the top of the wing. It is essential that the amount of turbulence in the flow over the wing be controlled: a little bit of turbulence in the boundary layer helps it stick to the wing longer, but if you get into large scale turbulent flow, it becomes separated from the top of the wing. This fully turbulent flow swirls chaotically over the wing and the low pressure distribution that created the suction (lift) is just gone.

A CNN reporter said the plane would roll toward the side where the ice was "heavier," but that’s not what causes the roll. This "tripping up" of flow is kind of a fuzzy process, and it is not likely to occur at the exact same time on both wings. One wing will then probably stall first and the plane will roll toward that side since the wing isn’t lifting anymore.

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I read that commercial airplanes have weights made out of Depleted uranium (same stuff used to blow through tanks in wars) so if the plane crashed could it throw radioactive particles everywhere.

Commercial planes don’t carry any weights made of depleted uranium or any other radioactive substance. (Even if they did, a crash wouldn’t necessarily "throw radioactive particles everywhere".) airplanes are made as light as possible to save fuel. The fuel needed to fly even a couple of pounds of extra weight over the life of the aircraft can add up to significant reduction in profits. Some airlines take this so seriously that they strip the paint off the fuselage and wings and use a minimal color scheme for their corporate logos. Although some small, single-engine planes use steel counterweights on some control surfaces, the same effect can be achieved with aerodynamic balancing, eliminating the need for weights. The control surfaces on large commercial aircraft are operated by electric jackscrews and hydraulic pistons. These mechanisms are so powerful that they don’t need counterweights.

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I need 6 features that we might see in the future (on airplanes) and so far I have thought of solar panels. I also need a picture, part of a picture, or a description of the plane’s looks. But please help as much as you can for the 6 features because I want this to be better than anyone else’s!

the 787 was going to have a shark fin tail and generally raked back features
but in the end boeing decided on the conventional tail
here is a pic of the shark fin tail
http://media.photobucket.com/image/787%20shark%20fin/Thorben81/7E7Dreamliner_1.jpg
no telling if future aircraft may use the design

another big concept that’s been around since around 2004 is the blended wing concept
http://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2009-04/planes-trains-and-sueprsonic-spaceships
but it hasn’t yet taken shape partly because of dwindling air travel and airbus’ negative experience with the A380 which can only land at the few airports equipped for it.

New seat and cabin concepts are also emerging for first class and coach. Some really nice designs that increases comfort and room, without reducing passenger capacity by more than a few seats. Unfortunately, airlines won’t be pulling aircraft off flights for a few days just to install these for your comfort.
one possible design already being implemented by Delta:
http://www.popsci.com/files/imagecache/article_image_large/files/articles/cozy2.jpg

other features will be less visible from the outside. I’m talking about possible better winglets, more efficient wings, more efficient engines, and other not-so-visible implementations that will improve one aspect or other of the flight.

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, each weighing two pounds a piece, but they were all flying in the airplane, would the airplane weigh 2000 pounds more?

It would weigh the additional 2k lbs.

I’m assuming that the cabin is mostly sealed.

So when the birds are flying, they are flapping their wings which exerts a downward force of 2 lbs to keep them in the air. That 2 lbs of downward force in the air will get translated into additional weight of the plane.

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Ok im doing a report on airplanes from the small ones to the airliner jets and was wondering what exactly it means when a plane stalls. Also are there different type of stalls, and do pilots stall on purpose? And finally can you recover from a stall once it happens?

A stall is when the angle of attack, the angle at which the wings meet the onrushing air, is exceeded and the wings lose lift causing the plane to drop. The angle of attack at which this happens can vary depending upon the airspeed. Sufficient flow of air must continue over the wings to maintain lift. A stall can occur very basically speaking when one of two things may happen:
Too steep an angle of attack with insufficient flow of air over the wings causing a stall or
Insufficient airspeed at any angle, again not enough airflow over the wings.
A stall can be easily recovered from providing you have sufficient space between you and anything hard underneath you (like ground).
Pilots are trained to induce stalls thereby learning to recover from them.

Technorati Tags: Airflow, airplanes, Airspeed, Angle Of Attack, Ground Pilots, jets, Sufficient Space, Wings

The wings keep it from crashing down. As the aircraft moves through the air, the wings move forward through the air as well. They are tilted slightly upward with respect to the oncoming air, and this causes the air above the wings to be pulled sharply downward as the wings pass. Behind the wings, there’s a wide swath of air moving downward called the downwash. The wings exert a lot of force to pull all this air down into the downwash, and that produces an equal and opposite force that tries to push the wings (and the aircraft to which they are attached) upward. That force is called lift, and it supports the airplane.

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1)gravitational pull
2)exhaust gases pushing against the atmosphere
3)air pressure on the wings
4)exhaust gases pushing against the engine

4

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