Aviation for Dummies

Emerging Security Threats When people think about aviation security threats, first thing that comes to mind is the 9/11 incident whereby an aircraft was hijacked mid flight and crashed, causing the death of many. Many fail to recognise that as technology advances, the imminent threats are becoming more innovative and creative. With that, I would like to share more on unmanned aircraft threats, and how they can pose a risk to the aviation industry. Unmanned aircraft such as drones can be used as a surveillance technique to gather data and also hack ground and air systems.  Due to it being relatively small and inexpensive to build in nature, the deployment of the unmanned aircraft system can be discreet and yet pose significant threat to the aviation industry as it can even be used to transport and deploy weapon systems of any nature ( Tomáš et al., 2012 ). Because it is so small, most unmanned aircraft systems may even go undetected by radars which can be extremely dangerous as it p...

What Does The Oil System Do? There are an array of functions that an oil system provides to an engine. The key functions are to provide lubrication to moving parts within the engine, cool down the engine through minimising of friction between those moving parts, transferring of heat away from moving parts, generating a barrier between cylinder walls and and pistons, and lastly transporting contaminants away from the moving parts (FAA, n.d., p7-16). Take for example, the joints in your body. If not properly lubricated (synovial fluid), can lead to stiffness of joints. Drawing comparison from that, if engine rotating parts are not properly lubricated, it can lead to many severe consequences. But, we will dwell more on that later. What Does The Oil System Consists Of? Generally, there are two types of engine oil system. Mainly, a wet sump type which consists of a sump and a pump, and a dry sump type which consists of an oil pump as well, but instead of a sump it has an external oil tank (...

What is density altitude? Density altitude is the height above sea level whereby a given density is obtained in relation to the standard atmosphere. In other words, density altitude can also be known as the pressure altitude adjusted to non standard temperature (Federal Aviation Authority, n.d.).  Why density altitude? To gain a better understanding as to how density altitude affects aircraft performance, we must first understand that temperature decreases at a rate of 3.5 degrees Fahrenheit, or 2 degrees Celsius for every 1000ft (Federal Aviation Authority, n.d.) in our atmosphere. As temperature decreases, density increases due to the air molecules being closer together. Because some airports are located high above mean sea level, the condition at which the airport is situated can affect density altitude. Tentatively, as altitude increases, density increases as well which means better aircraft performance. However, that is not the case after it has been adjusted to local conditio...

What is ethics? According to Merriam Webster(n.d.), ethics is defined as a code of conduct that governs each individual's moral compass. To me, ethics is a baseline for how each individual should behave that does not violate another person's rights. In essence, fairness in everything we do. So how can ethics be applied in the aviation world? The aviation industry is extremely demanding and it can take a toll on the workers within the industry. The ethical concern I want to share about in this post is on working hours. Many a times, management would want to churn out as many aircraft as possible to facilitate flying. Being in the aviation industry, every second an aircraft is grounded is money lost. As maintainers, it is their duty to produce the aircraft and get them flying. When time is of the essence, supervisors may overstep and stretch working hours just to meet datelines without being duly compensated. This will in turn bring out ethical concerns within the workplace. Draw...