1.
Lockheed F-104 Starfighter
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The Lockheed F-104 Starfighter is a single-engine, supersonic interceptor aircraft which later became widely used as an attack aircraft. It was originally developed by Lockheed for the United States Air Force, but became used by US Allies around the world. One of the Century Series of fighter aircraft, it was operated by the air forces of more than a dozen nations from 1958 to 2004. Its design team was led by Kelly Johnson, who went on to lead or contribute to the development of the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird, the F-104 set numerous world records, including both airspeed and altitude records. The poor safety record of the Starfighter also brought the aircraft into the public eye, Fighter ace Erich Hartmann was forced to retire from the Luftwaffe due to his outspoken opposition to selection of the F-104. The ultimate production version of the model was the F-104S, an all-weather interceptor designed by Aeritalia for the Italian Air Force. An advanced F-104 with a wing, known as the CL-1200 Lancer, was considered. In 2018 a privately owned Starfighter is scheduled to launch a group of small cubesat satellites into low orbit by carrying the rocket aloft. Clarence Kelly Johnson, the engineer at Lockheeds Skunk Works, visited Korea in December 1951. At the time, the U. S. pilots were confronting the MiG-15 with North American F-86 Sabres, the pilots requested a small and simple aircraft with excellent performance. Armed with this information, Johnson immediately started the design of such an aircraft on his return to the United States. In March, his team was assembled, they studied several designs, ranging from small designs at 8,000 lb. The engine chosen was the new General Electric J79, an engine of dramatically improved performance in comparison with contemporary designs, the small L-246 design powered by a single J79 remained essentially identical to the L-083 Starfighter as eventually delivered. The design was presented to the Air Force in November 1952, although all were interesting, Lockheed had an insurmountable lead, and was granted a development contract in March 1953 for two prototypes, these were given the designation XF-104. Work progressed quickly, with a ready for inspection at the end of April. Meanwhile, the J79 engine was not ready, both prototypes were designed to use the Wright J65 engine, a licensed-built version of the Armstrong Siddeley Sapphire. The first prototype was completed by early 1954 and first flew on 4 March at Edwards AFB, the total time from contract to first flight was less than a year. When the USAF revealed the existence of the XF-104, they gave a vague description of it
2.
Lift (force)
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A fluid flowing past the surface of a body exerts a force on it. Lift is the component of force that is perpendicular to the oncoming flow direction. It contrasts with the force, which is the component of the surface force parallel to the flow direction. If the fluid is air, the force is called an aerodynamic force, in water, it is called a hydrodynamic force. Lift is also exploited in the world, and even in the plant world by the seeds of certain trees. When an aircraft is flying straight and level most of the lift opposes gravity, however, when an aircraft is climbing, descending, or banking in a turn the lift is tilted with respect to the vertical. Lift may also be entirely downwards in some aerobatic manoeuvres, or on the wing on a racing car, in this last case, the term downforce is often used. Lift may also be horizontal, for instance on a sail on a sailboat. Aerodynamic lift is distinguished from other kinds of lift in fluids, Aerodynamic lift requires relative motion of the fluid which distinguishes it from aerostatic lift or buoyancy lift as used by balloons, blimps, and dirigibles. An airfoil is a shape that is capable of generating significantly more lift than drag. A flat plate can generate lift, but not as much as a streamlined airfoil, there are several ways to explain how an airfoil generates lift. Some are more complicated or more rigorous than others, some have been shown to be incorrect. For example, there are based directly on Newton’s laws of motion. Either can be used to explain lift, an airfoil generates lift by exerting a downward force on the air as it flows past. According to Newtons third law, the air must exert an equal and opposite force on the airfoil, the air flow changes direction as it passes the airfoil and follows a path that is curved downward. According to Newtons second law, this change in flow direction requires a force applied to the air by the airfoil. Then, according to Newtons third law, the air must exert a force on the airfoil. The overall result is that a force, the lift, is generated opposite to the directional change
3.
Takeoff
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Takeoff is the phase of flight in which an aerospace vehicle or animal goes from the ground to flying in the air. For aircraft that take off horizontally, this usually involves starting with a transition from moving along the ground on a runway, for balloons, helicopters and some specialized fixed-wing aircraft, no runway is needed. Takeoff is the opposite of landing, for light aircraft, usually full power is used during takeoff. Large transport category aircraft may use a power for takeoff. In some emergency cases, the power used can then be increased to increase the aircrafts performance, before takeoff, the engines, particularly piston engines, are routinely run up at high power to check for engine-related problems. The aircraft is permitted to accelerate to rotation speed, the nose is raised to a nominal 5°–15° nose up pitch attitude to increase lift from the wings and effect liftoff. For most aircraft, attempting a takeoff without a pitch-up would require cruise speeds while still on the runway, fixed-wing aircraft designed for high-speed operation have difficulty generating enough lift at the low speeds encountered during takeoff. These are deployed from the wing before takeoff, and retracted during the climb and they can also be deployed at other times, such as before landing. The speeds needed for takeoff are relative to the motion of the air, a headwind will reduce the ground speed needed for takeoff, as there is a greater flow of air over the wings. Typical takeoff air speeds for jetliners are in the 130–155 knot range, light aircraft, such as a Cessna 150, take off at around 55 knots. Ultralights have even lower takeoff speeds, for a given aircraft, the takeoff speed is usually dependent on the aircraft weight, the heavier the weight, the greater the speed needed. Some aircraft are designed for short takeoff and landing, which they achieve by becoming airborne at very low speeds. The takeoff speed required varies with air density, aircraft weight, lift coefficient. Air density is affected by such as field elevation and air temperature. Operations with transport category aircraft employ the concept of the takeoff V-Speeds, V1, VR, below V1, in case of critical failures, the takeoff should be aborted, above V1 the pilot continues the takeoff and returns for landing. After the co-pilot calls V1, he/she will call VR or rotate, the VR for transport category aircraft is calculated such as to allow the aircraft to reach the regulatory screen height at V2 with one engine failed. This speed must be maintained after a failure to meet performance targets for rate of climb. In a single-engine or light aircraft, the pilot calculates the length of runway required to take off and clear any obstacles
4.
Landing
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Landing is the last part of a flight, where a flying animal, aircraft, or spacecraft returns to the ground. When the flying object returns to water, the process is called alighting, although it is commonly called landing, a normal aircraft flight would include several parts of flight including taxi, takeoff, climb, cruise, descent and landing. Aircraft usually land at an airport on a runway or helicopter landing pad, generally constructed of asphalt concrete, concrete. Aircraft equipped with pontoons or with a boat hull-shaped fuselage are able to land on water, aircraft also sometimes use skis to land on snow or ice. To land, the airspeed and the rate of descent are reduced such that the object descends at a low rate to allow for a gentle touch down. Landing is accomplished by slowing down and descending to the runway and this speed reduction is accomplished by reducing thrust and/or inducing a greater amount of drag using flaps, landing gear or speed brakes. When a fixed-wing aircraft approaches the ground, the pilot will move the column back to execute a flare or round-out. This increases the angle of attack, the stall warning is often heard just before landing, indicating that this speed and altitude have been reached. The result is very light touch down, the airspeed and attitude of the plane are adjusted for landing. The airspeed is kept well above stall speed and at a constant rate of descent, a flare is performed just before landing, and the descent rate is significantly reduced, causing a light touch down. Upon touchdown, spoilers are deployed to reduce the lift and transfer the aircrafts weight to its wheels. Reverse thrust is used by jet aircraft to help slow down just after touch-down. Some propeller-driven airplanes also have this feature, where the blades of the propeller are re-angled to push air forward instead of using the beta range. Factors such as crosswind where the pilot will use a crab landing or a slip landing will cause pilots to land slightly faster, required Navigation Performance is being used more and more. Rather than using radio beacons, the airplane uses GPS-navigation for landing using this technique and this translates into a much more fluid ascend, which results in decreased noise, and decreased fuel consumption. The term landing is also applied to people or objects descending to the using a parachute. Some consider these objects to be in a controlled descent instead of actually flying, most parachutes work by capturing air, inducing enough drag that the falling object hits the ground at a relatively slow speed. There are many examples of parachutes in nature, including the seeds of a dandelion, on the other hand, modern ram-air parachutes are essentially inflatable wings that operate in a gliding flight mode
5.
Monarch butterfly
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The monarch butterfly or simply monarch is a milkweed butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. Other common names depending on region include milkweed, common tiger, wanderer and it may be the most familiar North American butterfly, and is considered an iconic pollinator species. The eastern North American monarch population is notable for its annual southward migration from the northern and central United States and southern Canada to Florida. During the fall migration, monarchs cover thousands of miles, with a corresponding multi-generational return north, the western North American population of monarchs west of the Rocky Mountains often migrates to sites in southern California but has been found in overwintering Mexican sites as well. Monarchs were transported to the International Space Station and were bred there, the name monarch may be in honor of King William III of England. The monarch was described by Carl Linnaeus in his Systema Naturae of 1758. In 1780, Jan Krzysztof Kluk used the monarch as the species for a new genus Danaus. Danaus, a great-grandson of Zeus, was a king in Egypt or Libya, who founded Argos, Plexippus was one of the 50 sons of Aegyptus. In Homeric Greek plexippos means one who urges on horses, i. e. rider or charioteer, Linnaeus divided his large genus Papilio, containing all known butterfly species, into what we would now call subgenera. The Danai festivi formed one of the subgenera, containing colorful species, as opposed to the Danai candidi, Linnaeus wrote, Danaorum Candidorum nomina a filiabus Danai Aegypti, Festivorum a filiis mutuatus sunt. There are three species of butterflies, D. plexippus, described by Linnaeus in 1758, is the species known most commonly as the monarch butterfly of North America. Its range actually extends worldwide and can be found in Hawaii, Australia, New Zealand, Spain, D. erippus, the southern monarch, was described by Pieter Cramer in 1775. This species is found in tropical and subtropical latitudes of South America, mainly in Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay, Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, the South American monarch and the North American monarch may have been one species at one time. Some researchers believe the southern monarch separated from the population some 2 mya. Sea levels were higher, and the entire Amazonas lowland was a vast expanse of brackish swamp that offered limited butterfly habitat, D. cleophile, the Jamaican monarch, described by Jean Baptiste Godart in 1819, ranges from Jamaica to Hispaniola. D. p. p. form nivosus, the white monarch commonly found on Oahu, Hawaii, D. p. p. – a color morph lacking some wing vein markings. D. p. nigrippus – as forma, Danais archippus f. nigrippus. D. p. leucogyne − St. Thomas D. p. portoricensis Austin Hobart Clark,1941 − Puerto Rico D. p. tobagi Austin Hobart Clark,1941 − Tobago The percentage of the morph in Oahu is nearing 10%
6.
Bird
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Birds, a subgroup of Reptiles, are the last living examples of Dinosaurs. Birds live worldwide and range in size from the 5 cm bee hummingbird to the 2.75 m ostrich. They rank as the class of tetrapods with the most living species, at ten thousand. Birds are the closest living relatives of crocodilians, the fossil record indicates that birds evolved from feathered ancestors within the theropod group of saurischian dinosaurs. True birds first appeared during the Cretaceous period, around 100 million years ago, Birds, especially those in the southern continents, survived this event and then migrated to other parts of the world while diversifying during periods of global cooling. Primitive bird-like dinosaurs that lie outside class Aves proper, in the broader group Avialae, have been found dating back to the mid-Jurassic period, around 170 million years ago. Birds have wings which are more or less developed depending on the species, the digestive and respiratory systems of birds are also uniquely adapted for flight. Some bird species of aquatic environments, particularly seabirds and some waterbirds, have evolved for swimming. Many species annually migrate great distances, Birds are social, communicating with visual signals, calls, and bird songs, and participating in such social behaviours as cooperative breeding and hunting, flocking, and mobbing of predators. The vast majority of species are socially monogamous, usually for one breeding season at a time, sometimes for years. Other species have breeding systems that are polygynous or, rarely, Birds produce offspring by laying eggs which are fertilised through sexual reproduction. They are usually laid in a nest and incubated by the parents, most birds have an extended period of parental care after hatching. Some birds, such as hens, lay eggs even when not fertilised, songbirds, parrots, and other species are popular as pets. Guano is harvested for use as a fertiliser, Birds prominently figure throughout human culture. About 120–130 species have become extinct due to human activity since the 17th century, human activity threatens about 1,200 bird species with extinction, though efforts are underway to protect them. Recreational birdwatching is an important part of the ecotourism industry, the first classification of birds was developed by Francis Willughby and John Ray in their 1676 volume Ornithologiae. Carl Linnaeus modified that work in 1758 to devise the taxonomic classification system currently in use, Birds are categorised as the biological class Aves in Linnaean taxonomy. Phylogenetic taxonomy places Aves in the dinosaur clade Theropoda, Aves and a sister group, the clade Crocodilia, contain the only living representatives of the reptile clade Archosauria
7.
Cretaceous
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The Cretaceous is a geologic period and system that spans 79 million years from the end of the Jurassic Period 145 million years ago to the beginning of the Paleogene Period 66 Mya. It is the last period of the Mesozoic Era, the Cretaceous Period is usually abbreviated K, for its German translation Kreide. The Cretaceous was a period with a warm climate, resulting in high eustatic sea levels that created numerous shallow inland seas. These oceans and seas were populated with now-extinct marine reptiles, ammonites and rudists, during this time, new groups of mammals and birds, as well as flowering plants, appeared. The Cretaceous ended with a mass extinction, the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, in which many groups, including non-avian dinosaurs, pterosaurs. The end of the Cretaceous is defined by the abrupt Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary, the name Cretaceous was derived from Latin creta, meaning chalk. The Cretaceous is divided into Early and Late Cretaceous epochs, or Lower and Upper Cretaceous series, in older literature the Cretaceous is sometimes divided into three series, Neocomian, Gallic and Senonian. A subdivision in eleven stages, all originating from European stratigraphy, is now used worldwide, in many parts of the world, alternative local subdivisions are still in use. As with other geologic periods, the rock beds of the Cretaceous are well identified. No great extinction or burst of diversity separates the Cretaceous from the Jurassic and this layer has been dated at 66.043 Ma. A140 Ma age for the Jurassic-Cretaceous boundary instead of the usually accepted 145 Ma was proposed in 2014 based on a study of Vaca Muerta Formation in Neuquén Basin. Víctor Ramos, one of the authors of the study proposing the 140 Ma boundary age sees the study as a first step toward formally changing the age in the International Union of Geological Sciences, due to the high sea level there was extensive space for such sedimentation. Because of the young age and great thickness of the system. Chalk is a type characteristic for the Cretaceous. It consists of coccoliths, microscopically small calcite skeletons of coccolithophores, the group is found in England, northern France, the low countries, northern Germany, Denmark and in the subsurface of the southern part of the North Sea. Chalk is not easily consolidated and the Chalk Group still consists of sediments in many places. The group also has other limestones and arenites, among the fossils it contains are sea urchins, belemnites, ammonites and sea reptiles such as Mosasaurus. In southern Europe, the Cretaceous is usually a marine system consisting of competent limestone beds or incompetent marls
8.
Paragliding
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Paragliding is the recreational and competitive adventure sport of flying paragliders, lightweight, free-flying, foot-launched glider aircraft with no rigid primary structure. The pilot sits in a harness suspended below a fabric wing comprising a number of interconnected baffled cells. Wing shape is maintained by the lines, the pressure of air entering vents in the front of the wing. Despite not using an engine, paragliders flight can last many hours and cover many hundreds of kilometers, by skillful exploitation of sources of lift, the pilot may gain height, often climbing to altitudes of a few thousand meters. Jalbert advanced governable gliding parachutes with multi-cells and controls for lateral glide, in 1954, Walter Neumark predicted a time when a glider pilot would be able to launch himself by running over the edge of a cliff or down a slope. Whether on a holiday in Skye or ski-ing in the Alps. In 1961, the French engineer Pierre Lemoigne produced improved parachute designs that led to the Para-Commander, the PC had cutouts at the rear and sides that enabled it to be towed into the air and steered – leading to parasailing/parascending. He filed US Patent 3131894 on January 10,1963, about that same time, David Barish was developing the sail wing for recovery of NASA space capsules – slope soaring was a way of testing out. After tests on Hunter Mountain, New York, in September 1965, authors Patrick Gilligan and Bertrand Dubuis wrote the first flight manual, The Paragliding Manual in 1985, officially coining the word paragliding. These developments were combined in June 1978 by three friends, Jean-Claude Bétemps, André Bohn and Gérard Bosson, from Mieussy, Haute-Savoie, Bohn followed him and glided down to the football pitch in the valley 1000 metres below. From the 1980s, equipment has continued to improve, and the number of paragliding pilots, the first Paragliding World Championship was held in Verbier, Switzerland, in 1987, though the first officially sanctioned FAI World Championship was held in Kössen, Austria, in 1989. Europe has seen the greatest growth in paragliding, with France alone currently registering over 25,000 active pilots, the paraglider wing or canopy is usually what is known in aeronautical engineering as a ram-air airfoil. Such wings comprise two layers of fabric that are connected to supporting material in such a way as to form a row of cells. By leaving most of the open only at the leading edge, incoming air keeps the wing inflated. When inflated, the wings cross-section has the typical teardrop aerofoil shape, modern paraglider wings are made of high-performance non-porous materials such as ripstop polyester or nylon fabric. In some modern paragliders, especially wings, some of the cells of the leading edge are closed to form a cleaner aerodynamic profile. Holes in the internal ribs allow a flow of air from the open cells to these closed cells to inflate them, and also to the wingtips. The pilot is supported underneath the wing by a network of suspension lines and these start with two sets of risers made of short lengths of strong webbing
9.
Hang gliding
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Hang gliding is an air sport or recreational activity in which a pilot flies a light, non-motorized foot-launched heavier-than-air aircraft called a hang glider. Most modern hang gliders are made of an aluminium alloy or composite frame covered with synthetic sailcloth to form a wing, typically the pilot is in a harness suspended from the airframe, and controls the aircraft by shifting body weight in opposition to a control frame. Early hang gliders had a low ratio, so pilots were restricted to gliding down small hills. The Fédération Aéronautique Internationale and national airspace governing organizations control some aspects of hang gliding. Obtaining the safety benefits of being instructed is highly recommended, the earliest forms of gliding had existed in China. By the end of the sixth century A. D. the Chinese had managed to build kites large and it was only a matter of time before someone decided to simply remove the kite strings and see what happened. Most early glider designs did not ensure safe flight, the problem was that early pioneers did not sufficiently understand the underlying principles that made a birds wing work. Starting in the 1880s technical and scientific advancements were made that led to the first truly practical gliders, otto Lilienthal built controllable gliders in the 1890s, with which he could ridge soar. His rigorously documented work influenced later designers, making Lilienthal one of the most influential early aviation pioneers and his aircraft was controlled by weight shift and is similar to a modern hang glider. Hang gliding saw a stiffened flexible wing hang glider in 1904, in 1910 in Breslau, the triangle control frame with hang glider pilot hung behind the triangle in a hang glider, was evident in a gliding clubs activity. In April 1909, a article by Carl S. Volmer Jensen with a biplane hang glider in 1940 called VJ-11 allowed safe three-axis control of a foot-launched hang glider. In 1960-1962 Barry Hill Palmer adapted the flexible wing concept to make foot-launched hang gliders with four different control arrangements, in 1963 Mike Burns adapted the flexible wing to build a towable kite-hang glider he called Skiplane. Since then, the Rogallo wing has been the most used airfoil of hang gliders, there are basically two types of sail materials used in hang glider sails, Woven Polyester Fabrics, and Composite Laminated Fabrics made of some combination of polyester film and polyester fibers. Woven polyester sailcloth is a tight weave of small diameter polyester fibers that has been stabilized by the hot-press impregnation of a polyester resin. The resin impregnation is required to provide resistance to distortion and stretch and this resistance is important in maintaining the aerodynamic shape of the sail. Woven polyester provides the best combination of weight and durability in a sail with the best overall handling qualities. Laminated sail materials using polyester film achieve superior performance by using a stretch material that is better at maintaining sail shape but is still relatively light in weight. In most hang gliders, the control is and has achieved using a horizontal bar held by the pilot, also known as triangle control frame
10.
Ultralight aviation
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Ultralight aviation is the flying of lightweight,1 or 2 seat fixed-wing aircraft. Some countries differentiate between control and conventional 3-axis control aircraft with ailerons, elevator and rudder, calling the former microlight. During the late 1970s and early 1980s, mostly stimulated by the gliding movement. As a result, many aviation authorities set up definitions of lightweight, the resulting aeroplanes are commonly called ultralight aircraft or microlights, although the weight and speed limits differ from country to country. In Europe the sporting definition limits the maximum weight to 450 kg. The definition means that the aircraft has a landing speed. In most affluent countries, microlights or ultralight aircraft now account for a significant percentage of the global civilian-owned aircraft, for instance in Canada in October 2010, the ultralight aircraft fleet made up to 19% of the total civilian aircraft registered. In other countries that do not register ultralight aircraft, like the United States, in countries where there is no specific extra regulation, ultralights are considered regular aircraft and subject to certification requirements for both aircraft and pilot. In Australia, ultralight aircraft and their pilots can either be registered with the Hang Gliding Federation of Australia or Recreational Aviation Australia, in all cases, except for privately built single seat ultralight aeroplanes, microlight aircraft or trikes are regulated by the Civil Aviation Regulations. Other than the very earliest aircraft, all two-seat UK microlights have been required to meet airworthiness standard BCAR Section S, in 2007 SSDR, a sub-category of single seat aircraft was introduced, allowing owners more freedom for modification and experiments. In 2015 the SSDR rules changed, the definition of a single seat microlight was adjusted to effectively de-regulate all single seat microlights for airworthiness purposes. There is no requirement or annual inspection regime for SSDR microlights although pilots who fly them must have a normal microlight licence. In the UK the microlight licence is currently called NPPL, the United States FAAs definition of an ultralight is significantly different from that in most other countries and can lead to some confusion when discussing the topic. The governing regulation in the United States is FAR103 Ultralight Vehicles, in 2004 the FAA introduced the Light-sport aircraft category, which resembles some other countries microlight categories. Ultralight aviation is represented by the United States Ultralight Association, which acts as the US aeroclub representative to the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, there are several categories of aircraft which qualify as ultralights in some countries, Fixed-wing aircraft, traditional airplane-style designs. Weight-shift control trike, use a hang glider-style wing, below which is suspended a three-wheeled carriage which carries the engine and these aircraft are controlled by pushing against a horizontal control bar in roughly the same way as a hang glider pilot flies. Powered parachute, fuselage-mounted engines with parafoil wings, which are wheeled aircraft, powered paraglider, backpack engines with parafoil wings, which are foot-launched. Powered hang glider, motorized foot-launched hang glider harness, helicopter, there are a number of single-seat and two-place helicopters which fall under the microlight categories in countries such as New Zealand
11.
Glider (sailplane)
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A sailplane or glider is a type of glider aircraft used in the sport of gliding. Sailplanes are aerodynamically streamlined and are capable of soaring in rising air, sailplanes benefit from producing the least drag for any given amount of lift, and this is best achieved with long, thin wings, a fully faired narrow cockpit and a slender fuselage. Aircraft with these features are able to climb efficiently in rising air produced by thermals or hills, sailplanes can glide long distances at high speed with a minimum loss of height in between. Gliders have rigid wings and either skids or undercarriage, in contrast hang gliders and paragliders use the pilots feet for the start of the launch and for the landing. These latter types are described in articles, though their differences from sailplanes are covered below. Gliders are usually launched by winch or aerotow, though other methods, auto tow, all sailplanes soar, but some gliders do not soar and are simply engineless aircraft towed by another aircraft to a desired destination and then cast off for landing. Military gliders are only, and are abandoned after landing, having served their purpose. Motor gliders are gliders with engines which can be used for extending a flight and even, in some cases, Some high-performance motor gliders may have an engine-driven retractable propeller which can be used to sustain flight. Other motor gliders have enough thrust to launch themselves before the engine is retracted and are known as self-launching gliders, another type is the self-launching touring motor glider, where the pilot can switch the engine on and off in flight without retracting their propellers. Sir George Cayleys gliders achieved brief wing-borne hops from around 1849, in the 1890s Otto Lilienthal built gliders using weight shift for control. In the early 1900s the Wright Brothers built gliders using movable surfaces for control, in 1903 they successfully added an engine. After World War I gliders were built for sporting purposes in Germany, the sporting use of gliders rapidly evolved in the 1930s and is now their main application. As their performance improved, gliders began to be used for cross-country flying, in 1930, pilot Frank Hawks flew the Texaco Eaglet with tow plane from San Diego to New York over eight days, helping to popularize the activity in the United States. Early gliders had no cockpit and the pilot sat on a seat located just ahead of the wing. These were known as gliders and they were usually launched from the tops of hills. To enable gliders to soar more effectively than primary gliders, the designs minimized drag, gliders now have very smooth, narrow fuselages and very long, narrow wings with a high aspect ratio and winglets. The early gliders were mainly of wood with metal fastenings, stays. Later fuselages made of fabric-covered steel tube were married to wood and fabric wings for lightness, New materials such as carbon-fiber, fiber glass and Kevlar have since been used with computer-aided design to increase performance
12.
Piper PA-28 Cherokee
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The Piper PA-28 Cherokee is a family of light aircraft built by Piper Aircraft and designed for flight training, air taxi, and personal use. The PA-28 family of aircraft are all-metal, unpressurized, single-engine, piston-powered airplanes with low-mounted wings and they have a single door on the copilot side, which is entered by stepping on the wing. The first PA-28 received its type certificate from the Federal Aviation Administration in 1960, current models are the Warrior, Arrow and the Archer TX and LX. The Archer was discontinued in 2009, but with investment from new company ownership, the PA-28 series competes with the high-winged Cessna 172, and the similarly low-winged Grumman American AA-5 series and Beechcraft Musketeer designs. The Piper PA-32 is a larger, six-seat variant of the PA-28, the PA-32R Saratoga variant was in production until 2009. The original Cherokees were the Cherokee 150 and Cherokee 160, which started production in 1961, in 1962, Piper added the Cherokee 180 powered by a 180-horsepower Lycoming O-360 engine. The extra power made it practical to fly with all four seats filled, in 1968, the cockpit was modified to replace the push-pull style engine throttle controls with quadrant levers. In addition, a window was added to each side. Piper continued to expand the line rapidly, in 1963, the company introduced the even more powerful Cherokee 235, which competed favorably with the Cessna 182 Skylane for load-carrying capability. The Cherokee 235 featured a Lycoming O-540 engine derated to 235 horsepower and it included tip tanks of 17-gallon capacity each, bringing the total fuel capacity of the Cherokee 235 to 84 gallons. The aircraft had its fuselage stretched in 1973 giving much more leg room in the rear, the stabilator area was increased as well. In 1973 the marketing name was changed from 235 to Charger, in 1974 it was changed again to Pathfinder. Production of the Pathfinder continued until 1977, there was no 1978 model year. In 1979 the aircraft was given the Piper tapered wing and the name was changed again, in 1964, the company filled in the bottom end of the line with the Cherokee 140, which was designed for training, and initially shipped with only two seats. The PA-28-140 engine was modified shortly after its introduction to produce 150 horsepower. In 1967, Piper introduced the PA-28R-180 Cherokee Arrow and this aircraft featured a constant-speed propeller, retractable landing gear and was powered by a 180-horsepower Lycoming IO-360-B1E engine. A 200-hp version powered by a Lycoming IO-360-C1C was offered as a beginning in 1969 and designated the PA-28R-200. At the time the Arrow was introduced, Piper removed the Cherokee 150, the Arrow II came out in 1972, featuring a five-inch fuselage stretch to increase legroom for the rear-seat passengers
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