11. Airport

Airport – an area of land or water that Is used, or intended to be used for landing and take-off of aircraft, and includes its buildings and facilities, if any. Airport is a place where planes arrive and leave, consisting of runways.

There are airports in every country. In theory, an aircraft can fly an infinite number of paths through the air from any surface point to any other. In practice, paths of flights lead from airport to airport. As a rule the airport is to be situated not far from the city. If it is a long way to the airport there is special bus service to take passengers from the city to the airport.

Aircraft not only need proper landing and take-off facilities. Moreover, those who use aircraft need services and accommodations which the airport must provide. The modern airport is a complex structure, a centre of most diversified services. Any airport can be divided into main parts: the landing area (RWs and TWs) and the terminal area (aprons, buildings, car parking areas, hangars etc.). OR: airside area – where airplanes can be found; these include RWs, TWs, stands, aprons, etc.) and landside area – include shops, restaurants, car parks and check-in areas (all that is more accessible to the general public).

The number of RWs, their length and location depend on the volume and character of traffic, the prevailing wind directions and other factors.

The RWs and TWs should be arranged so that to prevent delays on landing, taxiing and take off operations.

Aprons are required for aircraft to make final checks prior to departure. The main function of the terminal buildings is to handle departing and arriving passengers and their baggage. In the reception halls at the check-in desks passengers register their tickets, their suitcases are weighed and labeled here too. Baggage check-in facilities utilize conveyors to move baggage without delays.

In the terminal there is an electronic flight information board to list departure and arrival times. If any delay takes place such information is also indicated on the board.

The airport has to maintain a number of supplementary services. There must be an airport clinic, fire brigade, special vehicles and equipment units (water and catering trucks, tow tractors, refuellers, etc.).

Other services include maintenance, overhaul and repair of stationary and mobile equipment, the supply of electricity, water, heat and air conditioning.

Among the airport services are: flight assistance service, air traffic control, airport traffic control, approach control, air route traffic control, radio communications and weather service observation and forecasting.

Nowadays there exist one more pressing problem – that of air piracy. Now every airport has new specific detection systems capable to screen passengers and their baggage, cargo parcels and mail.

12. Aircraft

During those years which have passed since the first aeroplane was built, aviation has enjoyed phenomenal progress. At present aviation influences many aspects of social life.

In the dynamic world of today, aviation provides a rapid transportation link between different population centres. In many places the aeroplane is the only known vehicle for the large-scale movement of passengers and freight over large distances. The airplane has made it possible to patrol forests, to fight their fires, to assess their timber resources and to plan their harvesting. It has made an enormous contribution to the photographing and mapping of the vast territories, to exploring and prospecting for mineral wealth and to studying and assessing the water resources.

As for helicopter, besides its use for passenger transportation, this type of aircraft has proved its value in special applications where vertical take off-landing are required. Helicopters are widely used in search and rescue operations in emergency situations or when some accident occurs.

The main components of aircrafts are as follows:

1. The fuselage is the main body of the airplane and contains the pilot’s compartment (cockpit) and passenger and baggage compartments. The cockpit contains the flight controls and instruments.

2. The wings are the main lifting surfaces which support the aircraft in flight. Aircraft may be divided into monoplanes and biplanes.

3. The tail unit or empennage consist of a vertical stabilizer and rudder and the horizontal stabilizer and elevators to provide necessary stability in flight.

4. The three basic flight control surfaces are the ailerons, the elevators and the rudder.

5. The power plant is the heart of the airplane. There are many types of engines: turboprop, turbojet, turbofan, rocket engines, etc.

6. The landing gear or undercarriage is used during maneuvering of the aircraft on the ground while taxying, taking off and landing. In flight the retractable landing gear is retracted into the wing or the fuselage structure.

How an airplane flies.

To become airborne in the first place, an airplane requires a force that will push it up into the air. This force is known as lift and it is generated by the wings. An airplane moves forward as a result of the force known as thrust, generated by the airplane’s engines. The upper surface of an airplane’s wings are curved and as the airplane accelerates and moves forward along the runway, air passes over the upper and lower surfaces of the wings. The air which moves over the upper surface has to travel further (because of the curvature of these surfaces) and therefore moves faster. The pressure generated by faster moving air is lower than that generated by slower moving air. Thus it is the higher pressure under the wings which creates the lift that eventually takes the airplane into the air. For this to happen aircraft must be moving sufficiently fast so that the difference in air pressure can overcome the gravitational force pushing downwards; that is the airplane’s weight. When an airplane reaches its cruising altitude, lift and weight are acting in equilibrium as are thrust and drag. Drag is the reactionary force created by the movement of the airplane through the air.

Roll – rotation around longitudinal axis (the imaginary line from nose to tail).

Pitch – rotation around the lateral axis (the imaginary line connecting the wingtips).

Yaw – rotation around the vertical axis (the imaginary line running downwards through the centre of gravity of the aircraft).