General topics on how do airplanes fly?

What happens in the incident of radio failure in a Cessna 172?

Radio failure is an incident that could happen during flight. If the airplane is flying in a controlled airspace where the Air Traffic Control (ATC) is in charge of the traffic in the airspace, a certain procedure should be followed as follows:

a) The pilot should continue concentrating on flying the airplane and should not panic
b) The pilot should maintain terrain clearance throughout all procedures
c) The transponder (we talked about in earlier post) should be switched to code 7600
d) The pilot should try alternate the secondary published ATS frequencies for the sector or unit he     should be in communication with
e) Check the airplane communications equipment and the radio electric circuits
f) Listen to ATIS (automated transmission information system) if possible
g) Turn on Landing Lights, beacons, and strobe lights
h) If a mobile phone is available in the aircraft, attempt to establish telephone communications wit the ATC.
i) To carefully join the airport traffic circuit as per the published procedure (usually from the runway side that is in use), pass by the ATC and rock the wings
j) Wait for light signals form the ATC for instructions (light signals are discussed in earlier post)

Please remember, that radio failure certain actions in the procedure differ from airport to another, and pilots should familiarize them selves with these procedures prior to conducting the flight.

General topics on how do airplanes fly?

Some facts about flights.

Many of us wonder what happens when something or incident takes place in a flight. I will share with you some of these questions that you may have.

1) What happens if someone tried to open the door of an airplane?

In big jetliners, and before takeoff, we hear the command "Door to automatic and cross check". Passengers assume the cabin crew are being told to lock the doors. In fact, the instructions is to put the inflatable evacuation slides on to automatic, so they shoot out if the door is open.

In practice, plane doors do not need to be locked because once airborne its virtually impossible to open them. That is partly because of the unusual way they swing, inwards first and the outwards, and the fact that the cabin air pressure is so much higher than the surrounding air pressure. Usually and airplane flying at 41,000 feet is pressurized as if it is at 6,000 feet. 

As a result, as the climbs,the cabin air pressure pushes the doors outwards, sealing it into place. The higher the plane flies, the stronger the seal become. So strong that it would be impossible for anyone to open it. But please do not try. 

2) Why does the cup of tea or coffee tastes funny in a flight?

A proper cup of tee of coffee is made with water that has been heated to 100 degrees Celsius. The temperature at which it boils on the ground. Unfortunate, in the reduced pressure environment of an aircraft cabin, the boiling point of water lowered to around 90 degrees Celsius, which means that the brewing process is unsatisfactory. For the same reason, you can not have a decent cup of coffee or tea in the mountains.

3) What happens if the airplane was hit by lightning?

It is important to note that no modern airplane has been brought down by turbulence, although passengers have been injured or even killed, either because they were not wearing seat belts and hit their heads on the ceiling or because heavy luggage fell out of the over head lockers.

Turbulence is caused by sudden change, either in the temperature or wind direction, in the outside air and is entirely normal. As for the lightning, pilots are able to avoid most storms and around them or above them with the help of the on-board whether radar.

But if the airplane flies through a thunderstorm for some reason, do not worry. The safest place to be in an electrical storm is inside a metal cage or tube, such as an airplane. Theoretically, a correct strike could knock out the plane's electrics, but that is why all the airlines have built-in lightning protection systems that defend against any electrical build-up, aviation's equivalent of lightning rod on a church tower.

General topics on how do airplanes fly?

Airplane registration

In order for a civil airplane to be permitted to fly, it must be registered with a unique alphanumeric string that identifies it, similar to car registration. According to the Convention on International Aviation all airplanes must be registered with the national aviation authorities. 

Every airplane must have a proof of registration which comes in the form of registration certificate, and it required to have a registration plate displayed somewhere visible inside the cockpit.

Each country has its identification letter prior to the alphanumeric registration mark, for example USA is identified with letter N, while Lebanon is identified with the letters OD, France with the letter F, and UAE with A6.

To know more about the registration number and country codes, please visit wikipidia at: 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aircraft_registration

General topics on how do airplanes fly?

Lights in a flight

Lights play a very important roll in providing and exchanging information between airplanes and Air Traffic Controls (ATC). Lights are considered an effective way of communications to avoid collisions and to have safe conduct of flying.

Lights are used by airplanes, the runway, the taxiways and at the ATC.

Lights on an airplane.

On an airplane, there is a red flashing beacon, which indicates that the aircraft is in operations and it is usually located at the top of the tail or the rudder.

At end of the fuselage of the aircraft, there is a white light (usually flashing). Also white flashing lights are available at the tip of both wings. These white lights are considered anti-collision lights.

On the tip of the left side wing, also called "port wing", there is a red light. On the tip of the right side wing, also called "star board wing", there is a green light. From a distance, the pilot call tell weather the aircraft is flying towards or away from him by seeing and determine the side and the color of the light. If the green light is on the left hand side, this means the aircraft is flying towards him, and thus has to be prepared to avoid collision.

Just above the nose wheel and on the leading edge of the wing, there are taxi/landing lights which are used to see and be seen during night operations.

Please refer to the picture below.

Lights on the runway and the taxiway.

Lights on the runway are usually used during the night, however they are also used during the day and especially when the weather is poor. Lights used on the runway and the taxiway, used to indicate the boundaries of the way and to give other information like not in use, no entry and other information.

The lights on the side of the runway are the PAPI or the VASI which help the pilot determine his approach glide slope and will show weather he is high or low. Also these lights provide the pilot with information on the center-line of the runway.

The Lights colors use are, ample, red, and green.

There are some other visual aids used to help color blind pilots to know and determine the information that these lights provide. Please refer to the picture below.

Lights at the ATC

In case of radio failure, lights flashing system is used by the ATC operators to communicate between the them and the pilot. The information will be transmitted by flashing lights with green, white and red colors so the pilot can follow certain instruction to act upon. Please see picture below.