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Showing posts from November, 2021

Engine Importance

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Every part of an airplane is needed for an aircraft to take off, however I feel the most critical system in any aircraft is the powerplant.  No matter what without a powerplant all any aircraft would be is a very expensive paper weight.  Depending on the aircraft there may only be one engine and any type of total engine failure could result in aircraft incident and could potentially lead to death.  With modern day airliners most have two engines which losing both motors is very rare.  In a USA Today, they interviewed pilot John Cox, and when asked about total engine failure he responded " It would vary depending upon the wind, but around 100 miles would be a good estimate. Having all engines quit in a modern airplane is extremely rare"(John Cox, 2013). However, if you take a F-16 with a single motor and extremely different aerodynamics compared to an airliner, with total engine failure there is no gliding.  Total engine failure means you have seconds to point the aircraft and

Temperature and Performance

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While in the Air Force I have been to many different places with my AMU and one thing i have always noticed as when out jets would take off at Las Vegas versus taking off at Alaska, they sound like completely different machines.  In 95 degree heat they sounded dull and un-energetic, however on the other hand, in 30 degree temperatures, they scream and sound like a dying animal!  So is it just sound or is the engine actually performing better?   As I was going through our weekly reading I came across chapter 11 which directly relates to aircraft performance.  What reading about density i read the temperature and density directly correlate.  The colder it is the more dense the air is and vise versa with hot air making the air less dense.  This mean that say the engine ideal combustion ratio is 15:1, meaning you need 15 parts air for every 1 part of fuel.  While reading an article it explained " cold air molecules move slower and collide with less energy than hot molecules, causing c

Ethics and Integrity

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  When it comes to ethics in the aviation industry for me is having integrity.  Since I work as an jet engine mechanic i know from first hand experience that you need to be able to do the right thing not matter how unfavorable it may be.  You must have a solid integrity and not be swayed when you know something is wrong.  I have personally argued with my superiors because I knew something was wrong and did not want to sign off on no maintenance action required. I read an article about on linkedin called "3 Huge Reasons Why Integrity is So Important".  The narrator, Marcel Schwantes, tells his story about different jobs he has held and the difficult situations he has been put in where his superiors are telling him to do something that is against his ethics.  In his article he writes " It seems like a lonely place to be for those who do the right thing without the backlash. Yet it sure feels good to live and  work with integrity , and when we become known for this highly v