Aviation
Introduction
In this research, I will be writing about general aviation, how a plane works and different factors to do with planes like the four main forces, Communication and Navigation, Take off and Landing and some others.
A question that sounds easy but in theory, it’s not simple at all, “How does a plane fly?” whether it is an Airbus, a glider and any other planes, the forces that acts on a plane are exactly the same. There are four main forces to make a plane fly and they are Lift, Weight, Thrust and Drag.

The Four Forces
As I mention in the introduction, the four forces are Lift, Weight, Thrust and Drag and I will be describing these forces with more details in the following passage.

A plane’s weight, descending towards the ground is balanced by the lift force, which ascends upwards. This is created by a flow of air over the wings. When air travels through the wing of a plane, it is bounce off downwards and all the pressure under the wing is bring in to bounce off the air that makes an opposite force, which is ‘Up’. Drag is the air resistance of all planes as they meet the airflow, and its force acts in the opposite directions.

Thrust is provided by many sources of power, such as a jet engine, or by the energy descend from being carried into the air. Thrust must always balance drag for the plane to fly. (Barnard, 2007).

Communication and Navigation
For many training pilots, radio communication and navigation is one of the most irritating factors of aviation. This is because it’s embarrassing to come across as awkward on the radio and it is also embarrassing if you were lost and you had to communicate even though you don’t want to let people know that you were lost.

As for navigation, at the first time when you have a look at the map for pilots, it is called an aeronautical chart. This map is only designed for the use of aviation and so it is very different from a road map or an atlas. The aeronautical chart is very colourful and is full of strange number, codes and lines.

The international language of aviation is English and therefore, all pilots are required to know how to write and speak English without any problem. Most planes would have on board one or more of this radio called Very High Frequency Radio, pilots called this as ‘VGF’ radio. This radio makes it easy for the pilots to work on, e.g. If there’s a mountain or any kind of obstruction ahead then you won’t be able to talk to the airfield.

Radios comes in used in flight for many different reasons like to communicate instructions of you are a instructor of a cadet or giving advice and the most important one is warnings like air turbulence or bird strikes incoming. When there is an emergency, pilots would say “MAYDAY, MAYDAY, MAYDAY” and then report the problem to the control center. (Barnard, 2007)

Pre Flight Preparation Before flying the plane, there are quite a lot of things you would require to prepare for the flight like the report for weather forecast, a flight plan and the amount of air fuel you need to last the whole journey.

The preparation for the weather forecast is called Meteorological Briefing. This involves finding out the weather forecast and the weather conditions in both departure place and arrival place.

A flight plan is really important for the preparation and you must require a plan every time you fly. The flight plan should be prepared for the route, showing planned levels, minimum safe flight levels, tracks, distances, times, ETAs and fuel requirements and any other information specified by the operator. The fuel should always have an extra an hour or 2 because if the airport is really busy, you would have to wait a long time to park your plan and this will take up the fuel during the wait and so, pilots always add more fuel just in case of anything like this might happen. (Pooley, 2011)

Take Off
Before you leave the departure point and go onto the runway in use, the pilot should always double check that the runway and the other space around the plane are clear. This is really important to check even though if you’ve been told that the runway is clear and to enter the runway.

Some planes are not radio equipped and that means they won’t be able to contact the control tower. Most of the time, pilots may be confused and approach to land from the opposite direction or a diagonal runway. There is also a possible chance when a plane is making an emergency landing and this may appear without warning because whatever the situation is, landing always has right over takeoff.

When turning onto the runway, the pilot would switch on the strobes and landing lights so that the plane is visible and align the aircraft on the center line and select Auto Brake MAX then the captain and the co captain will read out the take off check list and all of the items should be green.

If everything is set, the pilot should gradually set the thrust levers slowly to 50% and when all engines are running steady at 50%. A yellow arrow on the aircraft should appear on the screen for the acceleration. The next step requires the pilot’s full concentration is needed to monitor speed, maintain a reasonable height and the aircraft on the centerline on the monitor.

At 90 knots, the rudder has to be used to keep the aircraft aligned with the centerline as at 100 knots the nose gear steering disconnects from the nose gear.
This is actually the most tricky part of the take off run and in case of an engine failure it is difficult to keep the aircraft aligned with the center line as the airspeed is still to low for an effective rudder and the nose gear steering is disconnected.
This is why much attention has to be paid on the engine gauges at this stage to react as early as possible. At 140 knots smoothly move the side stick backwards to gain a pitch attitude of 8° to avoid tail strike and then to 12-15° (depending on weigh). The Autopilot is available 5 seconds after take off. (Pooley, 2011)

Landing
Landing is one of the most important part of the flight because it is really important to make sure the passengers are safe.

Landing into wind is really helpful because the headwind gives the lowest groundspeed and it also allows the best directional control both in flight and on the ground. If necessary, you should ask the landing chart to confirm that the runway is enough for the conditions and airplane weight. High elevations and high temperatures decrease air density and increase the landing distance required, as does a tailwind component, a downslope or a busy runway.

Completing the pre-landing check by about the mid-point on the downwind leg allows the pilot to concentrate fully on the base turn, approach and landing. A good landing is most likely following a good approach. The pilot should fly an accurate shape and get set up early so he/she are prepared to land. Make a “Downwind” call abeam the take off end of the runway, complete the pre-landing drills and keep a good lookout, both for other aircraft and to check your position relative to the runway.

The turn onto final is a medium descending turn in which the pilot should limit the bank angle to 30 degrees or less, maintaining balance with rudder pressure. The second step is to adjust the bank angle to fall out with the interception of the runway centerline. The next step is to aim to be lined up on final at or above 500 feet so it’s not to low and at a decent height. Then the last step is to maintain airspeed with elevator and gradually climbing down slowly and then touchdown! (Pooley, 2011)

Pilots
All modern aircraft are operated by a two-person crew consisting of a captain and a first officer. Copilots perform just as many takeoffs and landings as captains do, and are fully qualified to operate the plane in all regimes of flight, including emergencies. In fact it’s common in certain abnormal situations for the captain to delegate the hands-on flying duties to the first officer while he runs the checklists, troubleshoots, talks to ATC, etc.

In normal operations pilots take turns at the controls. If a crew is going from New York to Chicago to Seattle, the captain will fly the first leg and the first officer will fly the second. The pilot not flying is still plenty busy with a long list of chores: communicating, programming the FMS and navigational equipment, reading checklists and so forth.

Regardless of who’s driving, the captain has ultimate authority over the flight, and a larger salary to go with it. Captains wear four stripes on their sleeves and epaulets; first officers wear three. Outside North America you’ll notice slightly different designs with stars, crests, or other markings. (Barnard, 2007)