Copy of `Aeroplane Monthly - Airplanes glossary`

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Aeroplane Monthly - Airplanes glossary Category: Travel and Transportation > Airplanes Date & country: 14/12/2007, UK Words: 962

Turbulent Flow
Irregular periodic motion of a fluid, such as air. Air flow is said to be turbulent instead of laminar (or smooth) when it breaks away from the surface of an aerofoil.

Turn Indicator
A gyroscopic instrument which registers the deviation of the course of an aeroplane to right or left.

Turnbuckle
A double-ended eyebolt with a left and right-handed thread in the central nut. A turn of the latter draws both bolts together, thus increasing the tension in the rod or wire to which the turnbuckle is attached. Turnbuckles were used profusely on the older wire-braced aeroplane structures.

Turret
The transparent enclosed position of the gunner of a military aeroplane. Most turrets are power-operated, hydraulically, electrically, and both.

Two-stroke
The cycle of operations of an internal-combustion engine which has a power stroke in each cylinder for every revolution of the crankshaft.

Type
Every new design of aeroplane has a distinctive type name (e.g. Tiger Moth) or number (e.g. D.H.82). Many different systems of naming and numbering new types exist.

Typhoon
A cyclonic depression in the China Seas, similar to a hurricane or cyclone.

Under Way
A nautical term adapted to aviation to indicate that an aircraft is gathering or losing momentum immediately before or after flight.

Undercarriage
The main alighting gear of an aeroplane or floatplane. Modern undercarriages are usually retractable to reduce drag.

Unstick
The separation of a seaplane from the water at the end of its take-off run. Sometimes applied to the take-off of a landplane.

Useful Load
The total weight of the crew, fuel, oil and payload of an aeroplane. A preferable term is 'disposable load'.

Valve
A mechanism which may be opened or closed to permit or restrict the passage of a fluid or gas through an orifice.

Variable Datum Boost Control
An automatic boost control which varies progressively with the opening or closing of the throttle of an aero-engine.

Variable-Pitch Propeller
A propeller the angle of whose blades may be varied while it is in rotation.

Vee Engine
An aero-engine with two banks of cylinders arranged in the form of a 'V,' either upright or inverted.

Veering
A clockwise change of wind.

Velocity
Rate of motion along a defined path.

Vent
The central hole in the canopy of a parachute which promotes stability through the escape of superfluous air pressure.

Venturi Tube
A tube made with a gradually reduced cross-section about its centre which speeds up fluid flow through the tube at that point and so produces suction.

Vertical Axis
Is the normal upright axis when the longitudinal and lateral axes of an aeroplane are horizontal.

Viscosity
The stiffness of a fluid, or the converse of fluidity.

Visibility
The distance at which objects may be clearly seen. Fog and haze produce poor visibility.

Volume (lighter-than-air craft)
The capacity or displacement of the envelope of an airship or balloon.

Vortex
A fluid in rotational motion, such as a whirlpool.

Wake
That part of a fluid, such as air, in which the pressure head has been changed by the passage through it of a body, such as an aerofoil.

Warm Front
A body of warm air advancing over a mass of cold air. Being forced upwards, it expands. Its moisture tends to condense in the lower temperatures at height, clouds form and rain is likely to fall.

Warning
Advance notice of the approach of a rapid change in meteorological conditions.

Wash-in
An increase of the angle of incidence of a wing towards the tips.

Wash-out
A decrease of the angle of incidence of a wing towards the tips designed to delay tip stalling.

Water Lines
The lines of a flying-boat, such as keelson and chines, which determine its behaviour when water-borne.

Water Spout
The equivalent of a tornado over water. It is visible because of condensation produced by the lowering of pressure within the core.

Water Tanks
Special model testing tank for ascertaining in advance the probable behaviour of flying-boat hulls when water-borne.

Weather
The state of the atmosphere with reference to climatic conditions.

Wedge
An area of high pressure radiating from an anticyclone, which when plotted as isobars appears as a wedge.

Weight
The relative mass of a body or the relative reaction on a body caused by some attractive force such as gravity.

Wetted Area
In aerodynamics, the total area of an aeroplane or airship exposed to airflow.

Whirlwind
A small region of air revolving rapidly round a low-pressure core and acting for some hundreds of feet up from the ground.

Wind
Air in motion in the atmosphere.

Wind "T"
A horizontal T-shaped marker placed on the surface of an aerodrome to indicate wind direction to the pilots of incoming aeroplanes.

Wind Cone
An indicator of wind strength and direction erected on an aerodrome. It consists of an open-ended fabric sleeve attached to the top of a mast. Also called windsock.

Wind Tunnel
A chamber of tunnel shape in which experiments are made to collect aerodynamic data. A steady stream of air is blown through the tunnel by a large fan at a predetermined speed. This airflow reacts on aerofoil sections or aeroplane models mounted on sensitive balances which measure the force of reaction. Corrections have to be made for scale effect …

Windmill
A term at one time used to describe the action of a propeller when revolving freely under the forward airspeed of an aeroplane but without engine power. Also a colloquial term for the rotor of a gyroplane.

Wing
The main lifting surface of an aeroplane.

Wing Plan
The shape of the wing or wings of an aeroplane as seen from directly above or below.

Wing Section
The form of the cross-section of an aerofoil which determines its aerodynamic characteristics, in particular the lift and drag coefficients and the lift-drag ratio.

Wing Tip
The outboard end of a wing. The shape of wing tips is important aerodynamically and in aircraft recognition.

Wing Tip Float
A buoyant body of streamline shape attached to the wing tips of a flying-boat or single float seaplane to give it lateral stability when waterborne.

Wireless
Nowadays called radio, wireless apparatus is installed in aircraft for sending or receiving signals (through the ether waves) to and from other aircraft or ground stations.

Wiring
A term applied to the electrical circuits of an aeroplane. Electrical apparatus on aircraft is now so complex that servicing is only possible by the use of intricate wiring diagrams and wires of diverse colours on different circuits.

Wood Construction
Wood was mostly used to construct early aeroplanes. Since the early 1920s, metal construction has largely replaced wood construction for aircraft.

Yawing
An unstable side-to-side motion, about the vertical axis of an aeroplane, which may be described as rotary or angular.

Yield Point
The point where material gives way to excessive strain (such as elongation) without any further stress being applied.

Zephyr
A light warm westerly wind in the Mediterranean.

Zoning
The delimitation of areas urrounding an aerodrome to permit freedom of flight for aircraft approaching or leaving.

Zooming
Utilising excessive forward or downward motion of an aeroplane to gain height suddenly by quickly raising the elevators.

C Licence (Ground Engineer)
A licence issued to Ground Engineers for the inspection of aero engines before flight.

C of A
Certificate of Airworthiness.

D.H
de Havilland.

D Licence
A Ground Engineer's licence permitting the holder to inspect and pass as airworthy aero-engines after overhaul.

H-Engine
An aero-engine with its cylinders arranged in two banks, which, with crankshafts between them, represent the form of an 'H' in end view.

W-T
An abbreviation for wireless telegraphy, or radio communication by dots and dashes, as contrasted with wirelessed speech or R/T (radio telephony).

X Engine
An aero-engine with four rows of cylinders forming in end view the letter 'X.'