Turbine Aeroplane Aerodynamics, Structures & Systems

How a turbine aeroplane is controlled about its three axes — ailerons and roll spoilers, elevators, trimmable stabilisers, stabilators and canards, the rudder and rudder limiters, elevons and ruddervators — plus high-lift devices, drag devices, trim tabs, servo tabs and control surface bias.

Balance, anti-balance and spring tabs, mass balance and aerodynamic balance panels, then the boundary-layer devices — wing fences, saw-tooth leading edges, vortex generators and stall wedges — with a revision of high-speed flight: Mach number, shock waves, buffet, area rule and sweepback.

How an airliner's structure is designed, classified, located and built: limit and ultimate loads, the stresses it carries, primary/secondary/tertiary structure, safe-life, fail-safe and damage tolerance, stations and zones, bonding and lightning protection, drains, construction methods, joining, corrosion protection, cleaning and symmetry checks.

The pressurised fuselage and how it is sealed, the attachment of wings, tail, pylons and landing gear, seats and cargo-loading systems, every kind of door and emergency exit with its safety devices, flight-deck windscreens and cabin windows, and airborne towing devices.

How wings, stabilisers, control surfaces and engine nacelles are built and attached: the wing box and integral fuel tanks, gear, pylon, flap and slat attachments, trimmable stabilisers, control-surface construction and static balancing, nacelle cowlings, firewalls, pylons and engine mounts.

Why and how a jet cabin is pressurised and air-conditioned: air supply from engine bleed, APU and ground carts, the air-cycle pack and the vapour-cycle machine, flow, temperature and humidity control, distribution and recirculation, cabin pressure controllers, outflow and safety valves, and every protection and warning device.

The pitot-static system and its instruments, gyroscopic principles and instruments, direct- and remote-reading compasses, stall warning and angle-of-attack systems, the glass cockpit and how other aircraft systems are displayed.

The layout and operation of the avionics a B1 engineer meets every day: autopilot, flight director and autothrottle; VHF, HF, SATCOM, CPDLC, audio, ELT and CVR; VOR, DME, ADF, ILS, MLS, RNAV, FMS, GNSS, transponder, TCAS, weather radar, radio altimeter and inertial systems; ACARS reporting and avionics test equipment.

How a transport aeroplane makes, controls and distributes electrical power: batteries, DC and AC generation, IDGs and variable-frequency generators, generator control and voltage regulation, emergency power from the RAT and inverter, buses and load shedding, TRUs, inverters and transformers, circuit protection and external power.

Everything in the cabin and holds that is not a system: emergency equipment and how much must be carried, seats, belts and harnesses, cabin and equipment layout (the LOPA), furnishings and their fire-safety rules, galleys, lavatories, cargo compartment classes, liners and restraint, and airstairs.

How fires and smoke are detected and put out on a transport aircraft: fire zones, continuous-loop, pneumatic, thermal-switch and smoke detectors, dual-loop logic, fixed Halon systems for engines, APU and cargo holds, the fire handle, discharge indicators, portable extinguishers and system tests.

How the controls of a transport aeroplane are actuated, protected and rigged: cable and rod systems, hydraulic power control units and artificial feel, trim and the trimmable stabiliser, flap and slat drives with asymmetry protection, spoilers and speed brakes, gust locks, yaw dampers, Mach trim, rudder limiters, stall protection, load alleviation, fly-by-wire — and balancing and rigging.

How fuel is stored, fed, moved, measured and protected on a transport aeroplane: tank layout, boost pumps and engine feed, cross-feed and transfer, pressure refuelling and defuelling, quantity indication and warnings, jettison, venting, draining, nitrogen inerting and longitudinal (CG) balance fuel systems.

How a transport aeroplane generates, controls and distributes hydraulic power: multi-system layouts, fluids and their seals, reservoirs, accumulators and filters, engine-driven, electric and air-driven pumps, pressure control valves, indication, servicing, emergency power from the RAT and PTU, and the systems hydraulics drives.

How ice forms on aircraft and why it is dangerous, how it is classified and detected, and every way of fighting it: pneumatic boots, electrical and hot-air de-icing and anti-icing, chemical systems, probe and drain heating — plus windscreen wipers and rain-repellent systems.

Landing gear from the strut to the steering tiller: gear arrangements, oleo-pneumatic shock struts and their servicing, tyres and wheels, normal and emergency extension and retraction, position indication and warnings, multi-disc brakes, antiskid and autobrake, nose-wheel steering, air-ground sensing and tail-strike protection.

Every light on and in the aircraft — navigation, anti-collision, landing, taxi, logo and ice lights, flight-deck, cabin and cargo lighting and the emergency lighting system — then the oxygen systems for crew and passengers: hypoxia, gaseous and chemical sources, storage, charging, distribution, regulation, masks, indication and safety.

The bleed-air (pneumatic) system of a jet — sources, pressure and temperature control, distribution, leak detection and users — the vacuum and pressure systems of light aircraft and high-pressure pneumatic systems, and then potable water, toilet and waste systems, their servicing and the corrosion they cause.

The digital side of a modern airliner: central maintenance computers and BITE, data loading, electronic libraries, printers and structural monitoring; integrated modular avionics and AFDX networks; cabin intercommunication, in-flight entertainment and cabin network servers; and the information systems and network domains behind paperless operations.