Aircraft (Aircraft, plane, aeroplane, airplane), refers to the wings and one or more engines, by its own power can fly in the atmosphere of the heavier-than-air aircraft.
The airplane has two most basic characteristics: one is its own density than the air, and it is driven by the power to move forward; the second is the airplane has a fixed wing, the wing provides lift to make the aircraft soaring in the sky. An airplane cannot be called an airplane if it does not have the above characteristics, one or the other is essential. For example: a flying machine it is less dense than air, it is a balloon or blimp; if there is no power plant, can only glide in the air, is called a glider; flying machine wings if not fixed, by the wing rotation to generate lift, is a helicopter or rotorcraft. Thus the precise definition of an airplane is that it is a power-driven, fixed-winged, heavier-than-air aircraft.
In order to make the reader's mind have a clearer understanding of the aircraft, I hereby clarify a few terms that are easily confused. In some newspapers and magazines, you can see "fixed-wing aircraft", "fixed-wing aircraft" and so on, in fact, all refer to the aircraft. However, these terms are not accurate. Because "fixed-wing aircraft" includes airplanes and gliders, while "fixed-wing aircraft" is a repetition of the name, because "aircraft" already includes fixed-wing content. It is also not appropriate to say "helicopter" because helicopters use rotor blades to provide lift, which is a completely different type of aircraft than airplanes.
Classification
Aircraft are not only widely used for civil transportation and scientific research, but also as important weapons in modern military, so they are divided into civil aircraft and military aircraft.
Civilian aircraft, in addition to passenger aircraft and transport aircraft, there are agricultural aircraft, forest protection aircraft, aerial survey aircraft, medical rescue aircraft, tour aircraft, business aircraft, sports aircraft, experimental research aircraft, meteorological aircraft, aerobatic performance aircraft, law enforcement aircraft and so on.
Aircraft can also be classified according to the shape, number and relative position of the components. According to the number of wings, can be divided into monoplane, biplane and multi-wing aircraft. According to the position of the wing relative to the fuselage, can be divided into the lower monoplane, center monoplane and upper monoplane. According to the shape of the wing plane, it can be divided into flat-winged, swept-back, swept-forward and delta-winged airplanes. According to the position of the horizontal tail and the presence or absence of horizontal tail, can be divided into the normal layout of the aircraft (horizontal tail after the wing), duck aircraft (front fuselage equipped with a small airfoil) and tailless airplanes (no horizontal tail); the normal layout of the aircraft have a single pitot, double pitot, multi-pitot, and V-tail and other types of tail. According to the type of propulsion device, it can be divided into propeller aircraft and jet aircraft; according to the type of engine, it can be divided into piston aircraft, turboprop aircraft and jet aircraft; according to the number of engines, it can be divided into single-engine aircraft, twin-engine aircraft and multi-engine aircraft. According to the type of landing gear, can be divided into land aircraft, seaplanes and amphibious aircraft. Can also be classified according to the flight performance of the aircraft: according to the flight speed of the aircraft, can be divided into subsonic aircraft, supersonic aircraft and hypersonic aircraft. According to the range of the aircraft, can be divided into short-range aircraft, medium-range aircraft and long-range aircraft.
Structure
Most airplanes consist of five main parts: wings, fuselage, tail, landing gear, and powerplant.
Wings
The main function of the wings is to provide lift to support the aircraft in the air, as well as to provide some stabilization and maneuvering. Ailerons and flaps are usually installed on the wings. Maneuvering ailerons can make the aircraft roll; lowering flaps can increase the lift coefficient of the wing. In addition, the wing can also be installed on the engine, landing gear and fuel tanks. There are various shapes and numbers of wings. In the early days of underdeveloped aviation technology in order to provide greater lift, the aircraft to biplane or even multi-wing aircraft, but modern aircraft are generally monoplane.
Fuselage
The main function of the fuselage is to carry crew, passengers, weapons, cargo and various equipment; it can also connect other parts of the aircraft such as the tail, wings and engines into a whole. But the flying wing hides the fuselage within the wing.
Tails
Tails include horizontal tails (flat tails) and vertical tails (drogue tails). The horizontal tail consists of fixed horizontal stabilizing surfaces and movable elevators (some models of civil and military aircraft have movable control surfaces throughout the flat tail, with no dedicated elevators). The vertical tail consists of a fixed vertical stabilizer and a movable rudder. The main function of the tail is used to maneuver the aircraft pitch and yaw, as well as to ensure that the aircraft can fly smoothly.
Landing gear
Landing gear, also known as landing gear, is used to support an airplane and enable it to land and park on the ground and other horizontal surfaces. Land aircraft landing gear, generally by the shock-absorbing struts and wheels, in addition to the landing gear with floatation devices and snow takeoff skid landing gear designed for seaplane takeoff and landing. It is used to support the airplane during takeoff and landing skidding, ground taxiing and parking.
Powerplant
The powerplant is used primarily to generate pull or thrust to move the airplane forward. It is also used secondarily to provide electricity for the electrical equipment on the airplane and to provide air for air-conditioning equipment and other air-using equipment.
The power plant of modern aircraft mainly includes two kinds of turbine engines and piston engines, and there are four kinds of widely used power plants: aviation piston engines plus propeller thrusters; turbojet engines; turboprop engines; turbofan engines. With the development of aviation technology, rocket engines, ram engines, atomic energy aviation engines, etc., may also be gradually adopted. Power plant in addition to the engine, but also includes a series of systems to ensure the normal operation of the engine, such as fuel supply system.
Aircraft, in addition to the above five main parts, are equipped with a variety of instruments, communication equipment, pilotage equipment, safety equipment and other equipment.
Manipulators
Modern aircraft cockpit for the pilot to use the flight controls usually include:
The main control device: the cockpit stick or cockpit wheel and rudder stirrups. In some airplanes with teletype control systems, the stick or wheel has been simplified to a joystick located on the pilot's side.
Auxiliary maneuvers: flap handles, leveling buttons, and throttle handles.
With the development of electronics, the form of flight maneuvers has changed radically. In large aircraft, the traditional mechanical control system has been gradually replaced by a more advanced teletype control system, the computer system is fully involved in the flight control system, the pilot's operation is no longer like a direct manipulation of the aircraft action, but more like to give the aircraft to give movement instructions. Due to the use of some of the teletype control system of the aircraft canceled the original stick or the driver's tray and other devices and changed to the side of the stick control, the cockpit space seems to be more than ever more relaxed, so some pilots call this kind of cockpit for "flight office".
The invention of the airplane
In 1903, the Wright Brothers designed and built an airplane that made a successful flight, which was the world's first powered, maneuverable flight of a heavier-than-air aircraft. World War I, the aircraft has been used in combat, when the speed of the aircraft has reached 180 ~ 220 km / h, ceiling 6000 ~ 7000 meters, range 400 ~ 450 km, bomber bomb load 1000 ~ 2000 kg. In the second world war, the speed of the aircraft reached 750 km / h, bomber bomb capacity up to about 10 tons. after the mid-1940s, the engine from the piston to the development of jet, the aircraft flight performance improved significantly. 80's aircraft has more than 30,000 meters of lift, the maximum speed of more than three times the speed of sound, the range of more than 20,000 kilometers, the maximum load capacity of more than 100 tons. tons.
The Wright brothers, inventors of the airplane.
In 1896, the Wright brothers read a newspaper article that Lilienthal of Germany had died in a glider crash. The news shook them so much that the brothers decided to study aerial flight.
The Wright brothers owned a bicycle store at the time. They worked to earn money while researching information about flight. Three years later, they had acquired a great deal of knowledge about aviation and decided to build a glider.
The Wright brothers first observed eagles flying through the air, then drew pictures of them one by one before they began designing the glider. in October 1900, the Wright brothers finally built their first glider and took it to the Kitty Hawk ocean, a remote place far from Dayton, where there were no trees or houses and where the winds were strong enough to make gliders fly. .
The brothers spent a week setting up the glider, first attaching it to a string and flying it like a kite, which worked. It was then tested by Wilbur sitting on it, and although it flew, it was only about 1 meter high.
The next year, the brothers made another glider based on the last one, after many improvements. In the fall of that year, they went back to the Kitty Hawk beach, and when they tested it, it flew as high as 180 meters.
The two brothers were very happy, but not satisfied. They wondered if they could build a machine that could fly without wind power.
The brothers thought about it again and again, and put the information about flight together, and studied it again and again, and could never think of what kind of power to use to carry the spoiled glider and people into the air. One day, a car parked in front of the dealership, the driver asked them to borrow a tool to use. to fix the car's engine. The brothers had the bright idea of whether they could use the car's engine to propel flight.
From then on, the two brothers worked their brains around the engine. They first measured the glider's maximum carrying capacity at 90 kilograms, so they ordered an engine from the factory that was no more than 90 kilograms. But the lightest engine available at the time was 190 kilograms, and the factory couldn't make one that light.
Later, an engineer who made the engine learned of this and promised to help the Wright brothers. After a while, the engineer was able to build a 12-horsepower gasoline engine that weighed only 70 kilograms.
The brothers were so pleased that they soon began researching how to use the engine to propel their glider. After countless trials, they finally put the engine on the glider, but with a propeller on the glider, and the engine drove the propeller to rotate, driving the glider to fly.
In September 1903, the Wright brothers took their engine-equipped flight to the Kitty Hawk beach again for a test flight. Although the flight failed, they learned a lot from the experience. Soon afterward, they made several more test flights, either because of propeller failure, engine trouble, or piloting problems.
The Wright brothers were not discouraged, and they continued to fly. Just then, an inventor named Langley, commissioned by the U.S. government to build an airplane with a gasoline engine, crashed into the sea during a test flight.
The Wright brothers learned of this news, they went to investigate, and from Langley's failure to learn from the lessons learned, gained a lot of experience, they made a rigorous inspection of every part of the aircraft, developed a strict operating regulations, in December 14, 1903, and came to the Kitty Hawk, test flight test.
That afternoon, the brothers first placed on the ground two rails fastened to wood with a certain slope, so that the airplane could glide easily. Next, the airplane they had built was placed on top of the rails.
Finally, it was a question of who would fly first, and the brothers couldn't decide, so they flipped a coin and Wilbur flew first.
Wilbur got on the plane, lying down in the middle of the plane, a moment to start the plane, the engine roared sound, the propeller slowly turned up.
The plane skidded down the slope just three meters before it broke free of the wire knotted behind it and roared into the air.
"It's flying!" Orville exclaimed excitedly.
Before he could say anything, the plane suddenly slowed down and soon fell to the ground. The entire flight took less than four minutes.
Orville rushed forward. Wilbur had jumped out of the fallen plane and the brothers rushed to observe the plane, which was also undamaged.
"What is the problem?" The brothers thought left and right, checking each one. The engine is not a problem, the propeller rotates very well, and the technical operation is completely correct. ...... "Brother, I know the reason!" Orville said with a smile on his face, "We were using the slope to taxi, and the distance was only 3 meters before the plane took off. And that's when the propeller's rotation hadn't reached high speed yet, so it planted itself a little while later." "Right!" Wilbur nodded in agreement, then said, "We can't use the slope to glide to take off, but we have to rely on the power of the propeller to fly up. Tell you what, mount the rails on a level spot and test it again."
They worked for three days straight to relocate the rails on a flat piece of ground again.
At 10 a.m. on Dec. 17, 1903, the sky was low and cloudy, and a cold wind was blowing. Farmers invited by the brothers to watch the flight shivered and urged them to fly faster.
Orville, who was piloting the plane, climbed into the airplane and lay down in the pilot's seat. A moment later, the engines began to roar and the propellers began to turn.
All of a sudden, the plane slid up, rising more than three meters at a time, and then flew horizontally forward.
"It's flying! Fly up!" Several peasants called out happily, and followed Wilbur, chasing after the plane.
The plane flew 30 meters and then landed firmly. Wilbur rushed forward and excitedly jumped on his brother, who had just climbed out of the plane, and cried out with tears in his eyes, "We did it! We did it!"
Forty-five minutes later, Wilbur flew again, reaching a distance of 52 meters, and some time later, Orville flew again, this time for 59 seconds, reaching a distance of 255 meters.
This was the first successful flight in an airplane in the history of mankind, and the Wright brothers told the news to the newspaper, but the newspaper didn't believe in such a thing and refused to publish the news. The Wright brothers didn't care. Continue to improve their airplanes. Soon, the brothers made another airplane that could take two people, and, in the air for more than an hour.
When the news spread, people ran to tell each other, and the U.S. government took it so seriously that it decided to let the Wrights do a test-flight demonstration.
September 10, 1908, the day, the weather is exceptionally sunny, the aircraft flying field surrounded by people watching. People were excited and waiting for the Wright brothers to fly.
Around 10 o'clock, the younger brother Orville piloted their plane, in a cheer, free to fly into the sky, two long wings from the air, just like an eagle spreading its wings to fly.
People could no longer restrain their excitement, head high in the sky, calling the name of the Wright brothers, how many people's dreams finally become a reality.
The plane flew at an altitude of 76 meters for one hour and 14 minutes and carried one brave passenger. When it landed, people gathered from all sides. Soon afterward, the Wright brothers, with government support, started a flying company and a flying school, and from then on, the airplane became another advanced means of transportation.
Inventor
The airplane is one of the most significant scientific and technological achievements made by mankind in the 20th century, and some people rank it as one of the three inventions that had the greatest impact on mankind in the 20th century, together with the television and the computer, and there is a controversy in various countries on who invented the world's earliest airplane:
The French believe that the world's earliest airplane was invented by the Frenchman Clément Adel (Clément Adel). The French believe that the world's first airplane was invented by a Frenchman, Clément Ader, who made a successful test flight in France on October 9, 1890, and is believed by some to have invented the first airplane in history.
Americans believe that the airplane was invented by the Wright brothers (Wilbur and Orville Wright), who successfully flew it on December 17, 1903 in the United States.
Brazilians believe that the Brazilian Alberto Santos-Dumont (Alberto Santos-Dumont) invented the airplane, on October 12, 1906 Santos-Dumont's "14 bis" aircraft successfully flew to 60 meters in the air is the world's first successful powered flight! The first successful powered flight in the world was made by Santos Dumont's "14 bis" airplane on October 12, 1906, at an altitude of 60 meters.
It is generally believed that the Wright Brothers invented the airplane, while some believe it was invented by Clément Adel or Alberto Santos-Dumont.
History
One of the most significant inventions of the twentieth century was the birth of the airplane. Humans have dreamed of flying through space like birds since ancient times. And while the kite, invented by the Chinese more than 2,000 years ago, could not take a man into space, it can certainly be called the granddaddy of airplanes.
There were a pair of brothers in the United States at the turn of the century who made a major contribution to the world's history of airplane development, the Wright brothers. At that time, most people believed that the aircraft rely on their own power of flight is completely impossible, and the Wright brothers do not believe that conclusion, from 1900 to 1902 their brothers to carry out more than 1,000 times gliding test flights,
Finally, in 1903, made the first relies on its own power to carry the manned flight of the aircraft "Aviator" No. 1, and won the "Aviator" award. "In 1903, they built the first self-powered manned airplane, the Aviator 1, and succeeded in the test flight. They were awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor in 1909. In the same year, they founded the Wright Aircraft Company. This was a great success for mankind in the history of airplane development.
In the early days, airplanes used a single engine, which often shut down suddenly during flight. This was always a threat to flight safety.In 1911, the Short brothers in England patented a multiple engine design. Their two-engine system enabled every pilot to fly without fear of dropping the airplane due to engine stops. This was a major advance in aviation safety. The first airplane built under Short's patent was called the "3-2". This name tells us that the airplane was equipped with three propellers and two engines. It also had two sets of flight controls so that both pilots could operate the airplane without changing seats.
On Dec. 17, 1903, the Wright brothers made the first sustained, powered, steerable flight in the airplane they built.
From 1927 to mid-1932, the development of cockpit instruments and pilotage equipment progressed with the application of gyroscopic technology to flight instruments. This rotating flywheel on a gimbaled mount was able to remain oriented in space, and thus became the basis for a variety of navigational instruments that guided pilots to be able to fly in the dark, in rain and snow. At this time there appeared in the aircraft artificial horizon, which can indicate to the pilot the flight altitude of the aircraft; gyro-magnetic compass indicator, engraved with degrees on the compass, can always show the change of course; geomagnetic induction compass, which is not subject to the aircraft often with a large number of ferrous things, and is not subject to vibration and the influence of the earth's magnetic field. These instruments, with a highly sensitive altimeter capable of measuring more than 30 meters above the ground and a turning sideslip meter showing the angular speed of an aircraft's turn, in addition to a radio beam indicating the course of the air, are all means used to guide the pilot as he passes through the ambiguous atmosphere.
Flight simulators, also known as flight simulators, are a way to mimic the flight of an airplane on the ground. 1930, the American Edwin Link invented the first flight simulator and named it "Link Exerciser" after himself, and despite its technical shortcomings, it has embodied the concept of not using real airplanes to safely and economically fly an airplane. Despite its technical shortcomings, it has demonstrated the advantages of repeated emergency maneuvers without the use of a real airplane, safely and economically. Today's current aircraft simulators have been composed of computers, simulated cockpits, motion systems, maneuvering load systems and visual systems. Is the modern aviation research, teaching, testing and other indispensable technical equipment.
December 10, 1910, in France, Paris exhibition, an aircraft crashed during the show. The pilot was thrown out of the burning cabin. However, the airplane attracted a lot of attention. Because it used a new engine. The designer is the pilot himself, he is a Romanian, named Henri Coanda, graduated from the French Higher Technical School. The engine he designed used a 50 horsepower engine with a fan to push the air backward, and an additional booster combustion chamber to increase counterthrust by fully expanding the gas in the tailpipe. This was the earliest jet engine.
In the late 1930s, piston-driven propeller airplanes had reached a maximum speed of 700 kilometers per hour in level flight and were approaching the speed of sound in a dive. The problem of the sound barrier became increasingly prominent. The former Soviet Union, Britain, the United States, Germany, Italy and other countries vigorously carried out research on jet engines. The German designer, Oan was the first to succeed in the development of the new engine. 1934 Oan was awarded a patent for the centrifugal turbojet engine. 1939 August 27 Oan used his engine to make the He-178 jet aircraft.
After the development of the jet engine, scientists went further to make the airplane break the sound barrier, a task that was finally accomplished by the Americans after more than a decade.
On Oct. 14, 1947, in the Sangerfield, California, area, the Bell Company flew a plane that could break the sound barrier. At 10 a.m. a huge B-29 bomber with a small, oddly shaped airplane suspended under its cabin took off. The small plane was named the X-1 rocket plane. the X-1 plane was equipped with four rocket engines with a total thrust of 2,700 kilograms, and the fuel used was dangerous liquid hydrogen and alcohol. When the B-29 bomber lowered it out of the sky, its four rocket engines ignited one after the other with a thunderous sound. When the plane's engines started for 1 minute and 28 seconds, the Mach number reached 1?0 and the plane reached the speed of sound. At this point the X-1 aircraft was almost out of fuel and became even faster, reaching Mach 1?06, which was at an altitude of 13,000 meters. Despite the successful test flight, the record was not recognized because the X-1 aircraft did not take off and lift off under its own power.
The invention of the airplane created a new dissatisfaction in spite of the general benefits. Airplanes need to taxi to take off, and need to build the appropriate runways and airports. This caused a lot of inconvenience, so some people began to explore vehicles that can perform vertical takeoff and landing, commonly known as helicopters.
The world's first practical helicopter was born on September 14, 1939, and it was the VS-300 helicopter developed by American engineer Sikorsky. Sikorsky was originally from Russia, moved to the United States in 1930, he manufactured the VS-300 helicopter, there are 1 pair of main rotor blades and 3 pairs of tail rotor, and later, after many test flights, 3 pairs of tail rotor into a pair of the utility helicopter and thus become the ancestor of modern helicopters.
After the birth of the VS-300 helicopter, the impact is huge, especially from the 1950s, the helicopter manufacturing technology development is rapid. 50 years before the mid-50s, the helicopter's power plant is in the period of the piston engine, and then entered the period of the jet turboshaft. Rotor material structure technology has also gone through several stages; 40's to 50's for the metal wood wing hybrid structure, the mid-50's to mid-60's for the metal structure, the mid-60's to mid-70's for the fiberglass structure, the mid-70's after the development of new composite material structure.
In the 1920s, airplanes began to carry passengers, and at the end of the Second World War, the United States began to convert a large number of transport planes into passenger planes.
Since the 1960s, there have been a number of large transport planes and supersonic transport planes around the world, and the use of turbofan engines has gradually been promoted. The famous ones are An-22 and Il-76 produced by the former Soviet Union; C-141, C-5A and Boeing-747 produced by the United States; and Airbus produced by France. Supersonic transport aircraft are the British and French jointly developed "Concorde" type and the former Soviet Union's Tu-144. however, the development of supersonic passenger aircraft is not optimistic. "Production of the Concorde was halted in the 1980s because of its high price, which jeopardized its effectiveness. The Soviet Tu-144 was discontinued in the 1980s for the same reason.
Since the invention of the airplane, it has become an indispensable means of transportation for modern civilization. It has profoundly changed and influenced people's lives. Thanks to the invention of the airplane, the time for human beings to travel around the world has been greatly shortened. The world's first round-the-world trip was completed in the 16th century. At that time, the Portuguese Magellan led a fleet of ships from Spain, it took 3 years to cross the Atlantic Ocean, the Pacific Ocean, around the world, back to Spain. 19th century, a Frenchman traveled around the world by train for a week, also spent 43 days. After the invention of the airplane, people made another trip around the world in 1949. A B-50 bomber, after four beautiful refuelings, circled the globe in just 94 hours, flying 37,700 kilometers. The strongest of the strong is even stronger. After the introduction of supersonic airplanes, people flew even higher and faster. 1979, the Englishman Pursport flew 36,900 kilometers around the Earth in only 14 hours and 6 minutes. To fly to all corners of the earth in less than a day is not a miracle on earth for human beings living before the 20th century?
Intricate air routes connect the countries of the world, providing both convenient and rapid passenger transportation. As early as the 1920s of this century, air transportation opened regular flights to carry passengers and mail. Today, the air routes are even more well-connected, and at any moment one can see a silver airplane, like a big bird, sweeping through the blue sky. For modern people, it is very common to be in Beijing in the morning and then in another city thousands of kilometers away in the afternoon without any fatigue. Before the 20th century, it was unthinkable. From then on, treacherous mountains and endless oceans were no longer daunting. One silver swallow connects people of different races and colors from different regions. Through constant communication, people sow friendship, convey information, achieve mutual communication, mutual understanding and mutual promotion, *** with the advancement of human civilization.
The invention of the airplane also makes the air transportation industry has been unprecedented development, many for the industrial development of all kinds of raw materials needed to have a new source and channel, greatly reducing the degree of dependence on local natural resources. Especially after the birth of supersonic aircraft, air transportation has become more prosperous. Those who are not suitable for long time transportation of livestock and difficult to long-term preservation of delicious food, but also can take the plane and across the five lakes and all over the world, to the people around the world * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * enjoy. The lychee in Lingnan, which was not easy to taste even for a princess, is now also found in the homes of ordinary people.
When mankind marched into the depths of the earth, airplanes were also widely used in geological exploration. Using airplanes equipped with cameras or a type of electronic device called a Shoran system, people could quickly and accurately map vast areas, including treacherous and inaccessible places. Excellent topographic maps can be made by stitching together photographs taken from the air. This is much simpler and easier than the old ways of mapping. Even the Arctic and Antarctica, which were once the preserve of explorers, are now accessible by air without difficulty.
Of course, airplanes play an even more amazing role in modern warfare. Not only can they be used for reconnaissance and bombing, but they are also extremely good at early warning, anti-submarine and mine clearance. In the Gulf War that broke out in the early 1990s, the great power of the airplane was witnessed for ****. Of course, the military application of aircraft to mankind has also brought about a tragic disaster to the human civilization has produced devastating damage. But the peaceful use of airplanes is the original purpose of mankind's invention of airplanes
.