aviation. Pilots who choose to operate outside of the regulations, or on the ragged edge, eventually get caught, or even worse, they end up having an accident. Consider the following scenario. Dick is planning to fly the following morning and realizes that his medical certificate has expired. He knows that he will not have time to take a flight physical before his morning flight. Dick thinks to himself “The rules are too restrictive. Why should I spend the time and money on a physical when I will be the only one at risk if I fly tomorrow?” Dick decides to fly the next morning thinking that no harm will come as long as no one finds out that he is flying illegally. He pulls his gyroplane out from the hangar, does the preflight inspection, and is getting ready to start the engine when an FAA inspector walks up and greets him. The FAA inspector is conducting a random inspection and asks to see Dick’s pilot and medical certificates. Dick subjected himself to the hazardous attitude of “antiauthority.” Now, he will be unable to fly, and has invited an exhaustive review of his operation by the FAA. Dick could have prevented this event if had taken the time to think, “Follow the rules. They are usually right.” 22-4 G-1 ABSOLUTE ALTITUDE—The actual distance an object is above the ground. ADVANCING BLADE—The blade moving in the same direction as the helicopter or gyroplane. In rotorcraft that have counterclockwise main rotor blade rotation as viewed from above, the advancing blade is in the right half of the rotor disc area during forward movement. AIRFOIL—Any surface designed to obtain a useful reaction of lift, or negative lift, as it moves through the air. AGONIC LINE—A line along which there is no magnetic variation. AIR DENSITY—The density of the air in terms of mass per unit volume. Dense air has more molecules per unit volume than less dense air. The density of air decreases with altitude above the surface of the earth and with increasing temperature. AIRCRAFT PITCH—When referenced to an aircraft, it is the movement about its lateral, or pitch axis. Movement of the cyclic forward or aft causes the nose of the helicopter or gyroplane to pitch up or down. AIRCRAFT ROLL—Is the movement of the aircraft about its longitudinal axis. Movement of the cyclic right or left causes the helicopter or gyroplane to tilt in that direction. AIRWORTHINESS DIRECTIVE —When an unsafe condition exists with an aircraft, the FAA issues an airworthiness directive to notify concerned parties of the condition and to describe the appropriate corrective action. ALTIMETER—An instrument that indicates flight altitude by sensing pressure changes and displaying altitude in feet or meters. ANGLE OF ATTACK—The angle between the airfoil’s chord line and the relative wind. ANTITORQUE PEDAL—The pedal used to control the pitch of the tail rotor or air diffuser in a NOTAR® system. ANTITORQUE ROTOR—See tail rotor. ARTICULATED ROTOR—A rotor system in which each of the blades is connected to the rotor hub in such a way that it is free to change its pitch angle, and move up and down and fore and aft in its plane of rotation. |