Aviation for Dummies

Low-Level Wind Shear Image sourced from Menkor Aviation (n.d.) Winds can be an aircraft's greatest ally, yet also be its greatest nemesis. Have you ever felt like you were on a rocky boat while on board an aircraft prior to landing or during take-off? If you have, what you experienced was a low-level wind shear. According to the FAA (n.d.-a), low-level wind shear are abrupt winds that changes in speed and direction causing the aircraft to experience severe updrafts and downdrafts. In essence, it would feel like a piece of feather being thrown about by the wind in all directions. How Do They Come About? Low-level wind shear happens usually when there is a cold front, when there is a thunderstorm, areas of temperature inversions, or strong upper level winds that are more than 25 knots (FAA, n.d.-a). To add on, it can also be produced by heavy rains from severe thunderstorms which induces downbursts whereby the rain and rain-cooled air drops generate localized vortices which generates...

Roles & Responsibility The main objective of the air traffic controller (ATC) is to direct air traffic within the area of control so as to avoid any collisions between any aircraft operating within the same area (FAA, n.d., p15-7). This is done so as to prevent any mishaps from occurring which could endanger the lives of the people on board the aircraft especially when visibility is low. Besides that, the ATC is also required to provide secondary service or assistance to any aircraft operating within the area of control such as during emergencies unless they are limited by certain factors which deem the service or assistance unable to be rendered (FAA, n.d., p15-7). Local Airport Control Tower Functions  According to OAJ (2020), a local airport control tower provides pilot with instructions and advisories on potential hazards within the area, issue clearance and instructions for take off and landings, accpeting and transferring of any incoming and outgoing flights respectively,...

Wildlife and Their Threat To The Aviation World Airport operation is not something to be trifled with when many mishaps could happen on a daily basis. Foreign object damage (FOD) caused by wildlife - specifically bird strikes, is one factor not to be underestimated which can severely impact the aviation world by causing damage to aircraft and/or engine which is also one of the most common effects of airport operations. According to Dolbeer et al. (2022), birdstrikes have been on a rise since 1990-2021 of up to 5times over the years. In the span of 32 years, there were 259,577 reported birdstrikes, and in 2021 alone, 15,556 cases were reported. Damages can range from a small dent in minor instances to significant lost of aircraft or even engine in extreme cases. Such is the case of the birdstrike that occurred in 2021 whereby a large American bald eagle was ingested into the right engine of an airbus 320, causing a fire within the engine which resulted in an aborted take off (Dolbeer et...

International Airspace We've heard about international waters. What about international airspace? Apparently, just as the land is governed by a state or country, so does the air above it. The law governing international airspace is part of the Chicago convention whereby 54 nations came together in 1944 to establish international agreements on laws governing aviation so that the industry can operate safely and efficiently through close partnerships (ICAO, n.d.). Although this was in efforts to ease tensions between nations during the second world war, nevertheless, it is still of significant importance that clear rules were established equally and fairly for everyone. Despite the many articles established in the Chicago convention, the main area of concern for this blogpost is on the laws governing territorial airspace which is clearly stated in article 1 and 2. It is mentioned in article 1 that states participating in the agreement recognizes that each and every state has full cont...

What Is Human Factors? Image sourced from Human Factors FAA, n.d. In the past when aviation was first introduced, there were many accidents that occur due to a poor understanding of aviation which led to many accidents caused by mechanical failures. As time progressed, technology advanced and humans have a better understanding on aviation. This led to accidents caused by mechanical failures to occur much lesser as compared to accidents due to human factors. Human factors is a way to determine how humans can operate systems and services in aviation safely and efficiently without errors or mishaps (FAA, n.d.-c, p14-3). It is a common understanding that most aviation accidents happen due to human factors at roughly 80% as compared to mechanical failures (FAA, n.d.-c, p14-1). If situations are not arrested in time, it may lead to dire consequences. When discussing about human factors within the aviation industry, the first thing that comes to mind for many is the dirty dozen. Human Factors...