While VA (Design Maneuvering Speed) is a familiar concept, there’s another airspeed that often takes a backseat but holds immense significance in turbulent skies: VB (Turbulence Penetration Speed). By definition VA represents the maximum speed at which the aircraft can be safely subjected to full and abrupt control movements without exceeding its structural limits. Learning…

Flap Setting for Take-off Flaps are used during takeoff to increase the lift coefficient (CL) of the wings, allowing the aircraft to achieve the necessary lift in available take-off distance with maximum weight/payload. Take-off distance depends on unstick speed and rate of acceleration to that speed. The unstick speed (Vr) is the speed at which…

Appendix 1 of ICAO Annex 11 outlines the guidelines for naming ATS routes, also known as Airways. This article delineates the structure for formulating designators for these vital air navigation routes. ATS route designator can be subdivided in to 3 parts: Basic Designator Prefix (if required) Suffix (if required) – Number of characters required to…

The placement of taxiway edge lights and taxiway centerline lights is crucial for providing clear guidance to pilots while taxiing on the ground. Spacing between taxiway edge lights and taxiway centerline lights can vary depending on factors such as: the curvature of the taxiway, the speed of aircraft expected to use the taxiway, and the…

Estimated Position Uncertainty is a measure of the accuracy or uncertainty associated with the estimated position of an aircraft. For an Airbus A320, EPU typically refers to the uncertainty in the aircraft’s calculated position. This uncertainty can be influenced by various factors including the accuracy of the navigation sensors, environmental conditions, and the quality of…

“GPS PRIMARY” is displayed when Flight Management Guidance System (FMGS) prioritizes GPS as the primary navigation source. Article background: FM uses following positions to navigate in decreasing order of priority: IRS-GPS (GPIRS position) – this is the condition when GPS Primary is displayed on MCDU IRS-DME/DME (Mix IRS and Radio position) IRS-VOR/DME (Mix IRS and…

Static Air Temperature (SAT) and Outside Air Temperature (OAT) Static Air Temperature (SAT), also known as outside air temperature (OAT), represents the temperature of undisturbed air surrounding an aircraft. It is the temperature you would observe if you could suspend a thermometer in the air without any influence from airflow passing over it. It’s crucial…

Super stall, also known as “Deep stall”, is a critical aerodynamic condition that can occur in certain aircraft configurations, particularly in those with a T-tail design. This phenomenon arises when the aircraft’s angle of attack (AOA) is too high, causing the airflow over the wing to disrupt the airflow over horizontal stabilizer. This will reduce…

Before delving further into the article, it’s important to note that there are no color blindness restrictions for private pilots. However, other categories of pilots may face certain limitations, as will be discussed later in the article. Color Blindness Test for Pilots Most people with color vision deficiency, commonly known as color blindness, can still…

Fail-Operational Automatic Landing System: A fail-operational automatic landing system ensures that if part of the system fails during landing, the remaining components can still guide the aircraft safely through the approach, flare, and landing phases automatically. It’s like having a backup plan in place to ensure a smooth touchdown even if something goes wrong with…