More newbie Qs

I wish you all a very cheery 2005. You really are a nice set of guys
here (those branding me a terrorist notwithstanding), mostly patient
even at clarifying elementary stuff

Some more Qs, if you don't mind.

1. How does a pilot get to know the distance to the airport that he has
to land in, so that he plans his descent accordingly, in planes that
don't have an onboard computer? Maps I know would give the distance
between two fixed points, but how does he keep track of distance
covered in flight and that sort of thing? To inquire ground stations
such info would be embarrassing, I guess

2. What exactly is a VOR? Sounds like it's a constant all-direction
radio transmission from a fixed point on the airport to help locate
where the airstrip is. If so, does it necessarily have to be from *a*
standard designated point in the airfield, right across all airfields
on earth?

3. If a pilot needs to land at an airport that doesn't have a control
tower, how does he figure its elevation so that he may plan his
descent?

4. When a pilot says, "Give me a vector", what does he actually mean?

5. When pilots use miles in conversations, does it mean the miles we
normally use, or is it always nautical miles?

6. The difference between airspeed and groundspeed is that airspeed is
the net of the plane's speed and opposing windspeed, while groundspeed
is just the plane's speed. Right?

7. What is "density altitude", and how to compute it? If I'm not wrong,
its use is to plan the length of takeoff roll and angle of climb.
Cheers,

Ramapriya

On 30 Dec 2004 02:43:33 -0800, "Ramapriya"
wrote:

1. How does a pilot get to know the distance to the airport that he has
to land in, so that he plans his descent accordingly, in planes that
don't have an onboard computer? Maps I know would give the distance
between two fixed points, but how does he keep track of distance
covered in flight and that sort of thing? To inquire ground stations
such info would be embarrassing, I guess

What do you mean by "onboard computer"? Most airplanes nowadays (even
small single-engine-ones) have GPS receivers, for which the easiest
task is "tell me the distance to airport XYZ". Modern airliners are
equipped with flight management systems. These derive information
about the airplane's position from various sources (ground-based
navaids, inertia, GPS...), so no problem there, too.

If you don't have all those toys, it is likely that you have at least
a VOR receiver (see below), an ADF or a DME. With those you can also
calculate distances to a fix, but that may require some mental math to
be done.

Airplanes without any onboard electronics are normally flown day-VFR
only, so distance calculation can be made by dead reckoning or
pilotage. But if you are unsure you can of course ask a radar
controller for assistance.

2. What exactly is a VOR? Sounds like it's a constant all-direction
radio transmission from a fixed point on the airport to help locate
where the airstrip is. If so, does it necessarily have to be from *a*
standard designated point in the airfield, right across all airfields
on earth?

VORs are not necessarily located on airports. For technical details do
a google search, I am sue you will find better explanations than what
can be given here in text-only-mode.

Basically a VOR receiver in the airplane tells you the bearing from
the station to the airplane. Pilots are talking about so-called
"radials", e.g. if an airplane is on radial 270 of a VOR, its position
is due west of the VOR.

Most VORs are used for enroute navigation, but there are also
instrument approaches relying on VORs. But as VORs used for approaches
can be located anywhere on the field or even be off-airport, minimums
are usually higher than for an ILS approach.

3. If a pilot needs to land at an airport that doesn't have a control
tower, how does he figure its elevation so that he may plan his
descent?

The elevation of an airport is published. And even non-attended
filelds often have automatic weather reporting that provides an
altimeter setting. If not, you can use the altimeter seting from a
nearby airport which is nomally not too far off.

4. When a pilot says, "Give me a vector", what does he actually mean?

He requests heading instructions from a radar controller, for example
to intercept an ILS or to an airport.

5. When pilots use miles in conversations, does it mean the miles we
normally use, or is it always nautical miles?

Pilots are using nautical miles.

6. The difference between airspeed and groundspeed is that airspeed is
the net of the plane's speed and opposing windspeed, while groundspeed
is just the plane's speed. Right?

If a plane would fly at sea level with an airspeed of 100 kts and
there was a headwind of, let's say 50 kts, its groundspeed would be 50
kts. With calm winds, the groundspeed would also be 100 kts.

When flying higher, air- and groundspeed differ even with no wind, as
the air becomes less dense with altitude, so indicated airspeed
decreases.

Look for "indicated" and "true" airspeed in the books you should have
bought by now ;-).

7. What is "density altitude", and how to compute it? If I'm not wrong,
its use is to plan the length of takeoff roll and angle of climb.

Uh, I'll leave that to someone else now...

Regards
Tobias

On Thu, 30 Dec 2004 12:53:14 +0100, Tobias Schnell
wrote:



7. What is "density altitude", and how to compute it? If I'm not wrong,
its use is to plan the length of takeoff roll and angle of climb.

Uh, I'll leave that to someone else now.

set the altimeter subscale to 1013millibars and read off the apparent
height.

it is not used to *plan* the length of the takeoff roll. you takeoff
in whatever distance the aircraft takes to accelerate to a speed
generating adequate lift.
similarly you cant *plan* the angle of climb. you take what you get.

what you get can be predicted. ask your flying instructor.

Stealth Pilot wrote:

set the altimeter subscale to 1013millibars and read off the apparent
height.

Actually, that is pressure altitude. Density altitude is pressure altitude
adjusted for non-standard temperature and pressure.

it is not used to *plan* the length of the takeoff roll. you takeoff
in whatever distance the aircraft takes to accelerate to a speed
generating adequate lift.
similarly you cant *plan* the angle of climb. you take what you get.

what you get can be predicted. ask your flying instructor.

Density altitude is in fact used to figure the takeoff distance required
for a given aircraft at a given weight. When the density altitude is
high you need to carefully plan this out... even allowing for some
extra margin of safety. That's part of flight planning.

kontiki wrote:
Stealth Pilot wrote:

set the altimeter subscale to 1013millibars and read off the
apparent
height.

Actually, that is pressure altitude. Density altitude is pressure
altitude
adjusted for non-standard temperature and pressure.

it is not used to *plan* the length of the takeoff roll. you
takeoff
in whatever distance the aircraft takes to accelerate to a speed
generating adequate lift.
similarly you cant *plan* the angle of climb. you take what you
get.

what you get can be predicted. ask your flying instructor.

Density altitude is in fact used to figure the takeoff distance
required
for a given aircraft at a given weight. When the density altitude is
high you need to carefully plan this out... even allowing for some
extra margin of safety. That's part of flight planning.

I haven't failed to notice that some of my threads have generated
confusion among contributors, with folks disagreeing with each other,
etc.

Is it because I'm unknowingly using terms that are nonstandard, being
not a mainstream aviator?

Ramapriya

Try the link below for a very simple Simulator of Aircraft Navigation
Instruments.
Even experienced pilots can learn a lot from this simulator.
http://www.vrotate.com/VOR/vor.html

Brian
CFIIG/ASEL

Try the link below for a very simple Simulator of Aircraft Navigation
Instruments.
Even experienced pilots can learn a lot from this simulator.
http://www.vrotate.com/VOR/vor.html

Brian
CFIIG/ASEL

When the density altitude is
high you need to carefully plan this out... even allowing for some
extra margin of safety. That's part of flight planning.

I have a simpler trick.
The longest takeoff distance in my POH mentioned is 350mtr (1150ft).
I multiplied this by 2(grass, upslope, etc.) , so anything longer than
700 mtr (2300 ft) is fine.
I know this number, only if I'm going to something shorter I calculate
the whole thing again.

Anyway,

Happy New Year to you all.
Kees

"Ramapriya" wrote in message
ups.com...

kontiki wrote:
Stealth Pilot wrote:

set the altimeter subscale to 1013millibars and read off the
apparent
height.

Actually, that is pressure altitude. Density altitude is pressure
altitude
adjusted for non-standard temperature and pressure.

it is not used to *plan* the length of the takeoff roll. you
takeoff
in whatever distance the aircraft takes to accelerate to a speed
generating adequate lift.
similarly you cant *plan* the angle of climb. you take what you
get.

what you get can be predicted. ask your flying instructor.

Density altitude is in fact used to figure the takeoff distance
required
for a given aircraft at a given weight. When the density altitude is
high you need to carefully plan this out... even allowing for some
extra margin of safety. That's part of flight planning.

I haven't failed to notice that some of my threads have generated
confusion among contributors, with folks disagreeing with each other,
etc.

Is it because I'm unknowingly using terms that are nonstandard, being
not a mainstream aviator?

Ramapriya

I have a question for you, after watching these endless series of
questions, and it's not meant to be hostile in any way; just curious.

The questions you ask on these groups are quite complex, and require
substantial effort to answer by the returning posters. I can't speak for
the rest of the group, but I for one have avoided you because the
questions you are asking are readily available in books and manuals that
you can purchase easily if you take the time and effort to do so.
I have watched as people here have attempted to explain extremely
complicated theory and procedure for you that takes a great deal of
their time to do. Although you seem appreciative of this effort, I am
still left with the feeling that you should be learning these things
through your own effort, not ours! The reason I say this to you is that
I already know what you have noted in this last post, and that is one
reason I haven't taken part in your little learning venture. You are
getting differing opinion and that is quite natural on a newsgroup. Now
you are noting that differing opinion and actually asking people to
rectify it for you.
Don't you think it's time you did some learning on your own?
No offense meant, and for those who wish to deal with you on a daily
basis, I have no problem at all. I just won't offer my assistance to you
for the reasons I've given.
Best of luck
Dudley Henriques
International Fighter Pilots Fellowship
Commercial Pilot/CFI Retired
for email; take out the trash

On 30 Dec 2004 05:15:01 -0800, "Ramapriya"
wrote:


I haven't failed to notice that some of my threads have generated
confusion among contributors, with folks disagreeing with each other,
etc.

Is it because I'm unknowingly using terms that are nonstandard, being
not a mainstream aviator?

no, some of us learnt the stuff a while ago and apply it but dont go
over the basics often enough to not make mistakes when answering.

if you see someone correct a point unanswered then the correction was
probably correct. if you see a battle raging then either both are
incorrect but dont realise it or have misread what was posted and are
shooting blindly from the hip. it is usenet not a research facility
:-)