Military Museum Limited Edition Pilot Watch***Aviation Knowledge *** Fountain/Space Pens

There are several methods of navigation used by pilots to find their way from place to place on this earth of ours.

...1. Pilotage -- navigation by reference only to landmarks.
...2. Dead reckoning -- navigation by use of predetermined vectors of wind and true airspeed and precalculated heading, groundspeed and estimated time of arrival.
...3. Radio navigation -- navigation by use of radio aids, that is, navigation signals broadcast by radio station on the ground or from satellites.
...4. Celestial navigation -- navigation by measuring angles to heavenly bodies such as sun, moon or stars to determine position on the earth.
...5. Inertial navigation -- navigation by self-contained airborne gyroscopic equipment or electronic computers that provide a continuous display of position.

The most pilots use these various methods of navigation in combination...

Coordinated Universal Time (UTC)

In order to have a uinversal standard time for reference at any point on the earth, it has been eastablished and is known as Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). UTC is also refered to as Z time. UTC replaces GMT which was the universal accepted standard for the measurement of time until December 1985.

Air traffic control and meteorological facilities in both Canada and the United States operate on UTC, or Z time, not local time. a pilot flying on a long cross country flight would be wise to adjust his personal wrist watch to UTC and refer to it when radioing position reports. Such a precaution will eliminate any change of error in reporting time since it is often most difficult to determine extactly when one zone (which, to add to the confusion, might be on local daylight saving time) end and another begins. To be one hour in error when reporting to an air traffic control unit could have seriours consequences.

Why is UTC used as the acronym for Coordinated Universal Time instead of CUT?
In 1970 the Coordinated Universal Time system was devised by an international advisory group of technical experts within the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). The ITU felt it was best to designate a single abbreviation for use in all languages in order to minimize confusion. Since unanimous agreement could not be achieved on using either the English word order - CUT, or the French word order - TUC, the acronym UTC was chosen as a compromise.

This UTC has been shown with UTC scale on the dail ring of our Heroic Pilot 9025 and Aviatrix 6030 watches for pilots.

Aviation Joke - "Only one engine left"

A 747 was halfway across the atlantic when the captain got on the loud speaker. "Attention, passengers. We have lost one of our engines, but we can certainly reach London with the three we have left. Unfortunately, we will arrive an hour late as a result."

Shortly thereafter, the passengers hear the captain's voice again, "Guess what, folks. We just lost our third engine, but please be assured we can fly with only one. We will now arrive in London three hours late." At this point, one passenger become furious. "For Pete's sake," he shouted, "If we lose another engine, we'll be up here all night!

Earliest Helicopter

The first recorded model helicopter was designed by the Chinese. During the 4th century BC, children fixed feathers to the top of small round sticks. As well as this principle, a toy named Bamboo Dragonfly in early Formosa which is consisted of a bamboo propellers and a bamboo round stick per Fig. 1 which look like a dragonfly. As they spun the stick between the palms of their hands the bamboo propellers, angled slightly to catch the breeze, rotated in the manner of a modern propeller, lifting the primitive helicopters into the air.

....... .... Fig.1

The first helicopter patent to be granted by the British Patent Office was awarded to Henry Bright in 1859. Comprising two contra-rotating co-axial two -bladed rotors mounted on a vertical shaft per Fig.2, it was subsequently adopted by numerous 20th- century pioneers.

..... Fig.2

Largest Aircraft - Hindenburg

Hindenburg still holds the record as the largest aircraft ever to fly, A size comparison of the Hindenburg with mutiple 3 length of a 747. The Titanic is only 78 feet longer than the Hindenburg at 882 feet long per Fig. 3. To read more detail about Hindenburg at http://www.ciderpresspottery.com/ZLA/greatzeps/german/Hindenburg.html

Fig. 3 A size comparison of Hindenburg with 747 and Titanic.

The Statistics of LZ-129 Hindenburg as Length: 804 feet/245.06 meters, Diameter: 135 feet/41.15 meters, gas Volume: 7,063,000 cu. feet/211,890 cu. meters, Engines: Four 1200 hp Mercedes Benz engines, Maximum Speed: 84.4 mph/135 km/h, Lifting Gas Type: Hydrogen.

Fig. 4

Uufortunately, this German Zeppelin LZ 129 Hindenburg caught fire see Fig.4 and was utterly destroyed in less than one minute while approaching a mooring mast at Lakehurst Naval Air Station in New Jersey on May 6, 1937, at 18:25 local time. Of the 97 people on board, 13 passengers and 22 crew-members were killed. One member of the ground crew also died, bringing the death toll to 36.

Fastest Aircraft - Hypersonic X (X-43A)

Guinness World Records recognized NASA's X-43A cramjet with a new world speed record for a jet-powered aircraft - Mach 9.6, or nearly 7,000 mph. The X-43A set the new mark and broke its own world record on its third and final flight on Nov. 16, 2004. It is compared with other well known aircrafts such as Concorde at Mach 2.05, F16 Fighting Falcon at Mach 2, Boeing 747 at max Mach 0.92. "Mach Number" was named after the Austrian physicist Ernst Mach. Mach 1 is the speed of sound, which is approximately 760 miles per hour. The revolutionary "scramjet" aircraft then burned its engine for around 11 seconds during the flight over the Pacific Ocean.s

SR-71 Blackbird

The SR-71 Blackbird is the fastest aircraft in the world to take off under its own power. Developed for the USAF as reconnaissance aircraft more than 30 years ago, SR-71s are still the world's fastest and highest-flying production aircraft. The aircraft can fly more than Mach 3 for cruising more than one hour.

Lightest Aircraft

The paraglider is the lightest aircraft in the world. It is foot launched which means we don`t need wheels to take off or land. Using state of the art fabrics they combine the security of a parachute with modern wing design to produce an aircraft that is very easy to launch, fly and land. It is totally flexible and the entire aircraft fits in a backpack.

The Paragliders came from a design in the 60s, when engineers were attempting to create an aircraft to recuperate space capsules. Paragliding and hangliding were born from this need to have a steerable parachute. Since then, the difference between these parachutes and paragliders has grown.

Paraglider

Smallest Jet

The BD-5J is a single seat home built kit aircraft that was introduced in the early 1970s by Bede Aircraft. Few kits were completed due to the company's bankruptcy in the mid 1970s due to the failure to deliver reliable engines.

The aircraft used a Microturbo TRS-18 turbojet engine which was manufactured in France and in the U.S. under license from Microturbo. The BD-5J holds the Guinness world record for smallest jet propelled aircraft.

The specification as Primary Fuction: Recretion, Engines/Thrust: 1-326 lbs, Weight Empty: 432 lbs, Max. Weight: 860 lbs, Fuel Capacity: 36 gals, Height: 5'7", Length: 12'5", Wing Span: 17", Stall Speed: 67 mph, Cruise Speed: 240 mph, Max. Speed: 300 mph, Innitial Climb: 2,400 fpm, Takeoff Distance: 1,800 feet, landing Distance: 1,000 feet, Ceiling: 26,000 feet, Range: 400 miles, Year Deployed: 1977.

BD-5J

Cute Biplane

The Guiness Book of World Records credits the Bumble Bee II as the world's smallest biplane. Unfortunately on the day of its first flight, after making several passes at a height of about 400 feet, the aircraft's engine quit. The plane was completely destroyed in the resulting crash. Starr, the pilot, was seriously injured, but eventually fully recovered from his injuries.

Although the Bumble Bee II was lost, the original Bumble Bee is on display at the Pima Air & Space Museum in Tuscon, AZ.

Specifications as;
Primary Function: Recreation, Crew: one, Engine: 85 hp, Weight Empty: 396 lbs, Max. Weight: 574 lbs, Cruise Speed: 133 mph, Max. Speed: 190 mph, Climb Rate: 4,500 fpm, Ceiling: 14,000 feet, Rang: n/a, First Flight: 5/8/88

Original Bumble Bee II

Cute Fighter
The world's smallest jet fighter. The McDonnell XF-85 Goblin was designed to be launched from a bomber, intercept enemy fighters, and return to the bomber using a hook and trapeze. It would then fold its wings and be lifted back into the bomb bay. It had no landing gear, but could use a steel skid under the fuse- lage and small runners on its wing tips for emergency landings.

Test pilots reported the XF-85 as stable, easy to fly, and able to recover well from spins. However they found that due to turbulence from the mother ship it was difficult to hook up to the bomber's trapeze. The test program was cancelled with the advent of mid-air refueling. So there only two were built.

McDonnell XF-85 Goblin

The Specifications as Primary Function: Fighter/escort. Crew: one. Length: 14'10". Wingspan: 21'1". Wingapan Folded: 5'. Height: 8'4". Weight Empty: 4,550 lbs. Combat Speed: 581 mph. Max. Speed: 664 mph. Climb Speed: 12,500 fpm. Ceiling: 48,000 feet. Range: 773 miles. Machine Guns: 4-.50 cal. First Flight: 8/12/48.

Tell your friend about this Cute Fighter www.koonysun.com/avi_knowledge.htm#CuteFighter

Unusual Looking Aircraft

The Vought XF5U/V-173 was an experimental fighter aircraft designed for carrier use by the U. S. Navy prior to World War Two.

The unusual configuration of the aircraft was designed to minimize drag, increasing top speed, yet with the ability to take off and land at very low speeds. Initial tests of the aircraft were somewhat promising, but the U. S. Navy scrapped the project on March 17, 1947.

Jet propelled aircraft were seen as the future direction that the U. S. Navy wanted to enter at that time.

XF5U above aircraft carrier

V73 front view

XF5U side view

The specifications of XF5U are Primary function: experimental, crew: one, Engines: 2 - R 1,350 hp each, Length: 28'7", Wingspan: 32'6", Weight empt: 13,107 lbs, Max weight: 18,770 lbs, Machine guns: 6 - 0.50 cal, Ordnance: 2,000 lbs, Cruise speed: 175 mph, Max. speed: 425 mph, Climp rate: 720 fpm, Ceiling: 34,500 feet, Range: 1,050 miles, Fist flight: November 23, 1942.

The above picture is a front coverpage of POPULAR MECHANICS MAGAZINE issued in July 1930's. you may see the dream future airplane in that time.

Please compare this dream airplane with XF5U which they are very similar each other.

Concorde Cockpit Video

It is highly recommended to view this historically great supersonic jumbo airbus. We would appreciate Mr. November Zoulou that he authorized us to use his movie of Concorde flight AF001( from New York to Paris on October 14, 2002) in our Aviation Knowledge. His own website is www.labougeotte.com in Franch language. We would thank to him "Merci beaucoup, Monsieur November Zoulou". Come on, let's go on board right now and ENTER Concorde Cockpit.
Telling this movie to your friends would be appreciated.

Did you know ???
(These questions were come from AOPA PILOT magazine 2000 issues.)
.... See answer on the bottom page of Aero Collection Show .

1. Why did pilot of yore wear white silk scarves ?

2. All blimps and Zeppelines are airships and dirigibles. true or false ?

3. What is the Goldfish Club ?

4. Every nation has sovereign control of its airspace, but to what altitude does this sovereignty extend ?

5. Why do pilots of airplanes with radial engines turn the propellers by hand before the fist flight of the day ?

6. The temperature of 100LL avgas in a truck sitting in the sun on a hot day is 77 degrees F. instead of using this fuel, a pilot uses fuel pumped from an underground tank where the fuel temperature is 32 degrees F. by approximately what percentage does this extend the range of the aircraft ?

7. Under what circumstance should a pilot start an engine with the fuel value in the Off position ?

8. Why is a taildragger more unstable during ground operations then an airplane with tricycle landing gear ?

9. A flying automobile has been the dream of many aircraft designers. Although many have been built and certified by the FAA or its predecessor, the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA). True or False ?

10. The Concorde supersonic transport has wing flaps. True or Flalse ?

11. The diesel engine, which might have future applications in general aviation, was invented by Rudolf Diesel. True or False ?

12. An Englishman departed Montreal in a glider (not a motorglider) and flew it across the Atlantic Ocean to southern England. True or False ?

13. In terms of the number of aircraft shot down, who is the greatest ace of all time ? (An ace must have shot down at least five.

14. For what aeronautical purpose was the tower atop the Empire State Building ( picture1 , pix2 , pix3 , pix4 , pix5 , pix6 ) originally intended ?

15. During World War II, American paratroopers were advised to yell when leaping from their airplanes to relieve pressure on their ears and lessen nervous tension. Why was it popular to yell the word "Geronimo" ?

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