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SeligSIM Assignment 1

15 points

Nathan Tyler Rose

Last edited 38 days ago by Jacob Daniel Sieber.

Overview

Recall the article that Ryan shared in week 2 that summarized the importance of good training paired with good simulation. The article suggested that without proper training and instruction, a pilot can develop bad skills.

Fortunately, SeligSIM, being a university professor’s project, has flight training built right into the home menu. In this assignment, you will be reviewing these videos and creating a short write-up of the technique used before completing the lessons in future SeligSIM assignments.

Tasks

Flight Training Videos

Now that you have SeligSIM installed on your computer, according to

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, you will be able to complete these tasks on your own PC from the comfort of your bed! 🛏️

From the main menu, select the Flight Training option and choose Airplane.

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Flight Training Menu

Flight Training Menu

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Starting from the first lesson, Ground School, watch the videos for each lesson by clicking the Fly button. Complete the questions for each lesson below.

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After the lesson, press the ESC key to return to the Flight Training Menu.

Basic

Lesson 1: Ground School

List and describe each of the main controls

Ailerons: these control roll with control surfaces on the trailing edge of each wing.

Rudder: this controls yaw in the air and steering on the ground with a vertical control surface on the tail.

Throttle: this controls the amount of power.

Elevator: this controls the pitch with a horizontal control surface on the tail.

Lesson 2: Takeoff

What is the first thing to do before moving/taxing the aircraft? Describe this process and describe exactly what you are looking for.

The first thing to do is to test the flight controls and make sure everything is working as it should be. This could prevent major issues in the air and potentially save lives and/or the aircraft.

What control is used to maneuver on the ground?

The rudder is used on the ground for steering.

Outline the process of the takeoff procedure

First, the aircraft is maneuvered to the takeoff area and controls are confirmed to work.

Then, the power is eased in, and rudder is applied to maintain alignment with the runway. It is possible that some right rudder will be involved with single engine types.

Then, a small amount of back elevator is applied to increase pitch.

Finally, the aircraft is transitioned into flight, being careful not to over control the elevator or rudder.

What direction should you take off?

One should always take off into the wind to minimize ground speed for the desired airspeed.

Why does the instructor taxi away from himself first before initiating the takeoff sequence? What can you say about the takeoff point?

The instructor first taxis away from himself in the video because he wanted to go to the X on the runway to takeoff, which appears to be the designated takeoff point. He also likely did this to highlight what controls he was inputting as they related to the movement of the plane. He then spoke about how everything is essentially backwards when the plane is coming toward the pilot. The takeoff point appears to be set in such a way that it allows the pilot with plenty of runway to use if things go wrong, and it makes the best use of the space when things go right. It also seems as though this point is selected such that the aircraft is airborn around the time it reaches abeam the pilot (and later lands around the place where the pilot is standing as well).

How does this differ from the Believer?

This differs from the believer because the believer does not have landing gear, so a hand launch or other such practice will be used. There will be no landing or takeoff roll with the believer, although there will likely still be designated points.

Lesson 3: Turns

Describe the throttle input from takeoff to cruise altitude.

The throttle input begins at full throttle, and this allows the aircraft to have a lift surplus and climb. Once the climb is sufficient, the throttle is brought back to about half power.

What does it mean to pull the aircraft through a turn? Add a diagram showing the aircraft's forces to help illustrate this process.

Pulling the aircraft through the turn is essentially the explanation in simple terms that the elevator is helping to create lift in the horizontal direction. Ailerons are used to roll the aircraft into a turn, and then they are usually somewhat neutralized. The elevator then is used to pitch the aircraft up to create a higher angle of attack on the wings which is needed to maintain altitude in a bank.

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Figure 1: Forces of flight in a turn (AFH)

Figure 1: Forces of flight in a turn (AFH)

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When are you most likely to turn the aircraft the wrong way? That is, when are you most likely to lose your orientation?

One is most likely to lose orientation when in a turn and trying to get out of said turn. People can often add further aileron in the wrong direction and tighten the bank. Also, and time the aircraft is pointing toward the pilot things are unconventionally backward.

How do you plan to combat incorrect orientation?

I plan to combat incorrect orientation by using the simulator a bunch first and foremost. I already have some experience with the simulator from last semester, so it should be a continuation of skills previously learned. Also, I will fly at altitudes high enough that I can save the aircraft in an upset, especially with professorial guidance.

Lesson 4: Self-Recovery

Why fly high?

One should fly high so that problems with orientation and control input can be corrected. Small mistakes turn into big accidents if there is no altitude to solve the problems encountered.

How does the instructor suggest recovering from incorrect attitudes?

The instructor suggests recovering from incorrect attitudes by releasing all control sticks and reducing the power to idle. The aircraft is very positively stable, and it knows how to fly. Relaxing control surfaces will give the pilot a minute to understand the orientation of the aircraft, and it also allows the aircraft to right itself. Panic is the enemy according to the instructor.

Lesson 5: Stall Recovery

What is a stall?

A stall is essentially when the angle of attack (relative wind to chord line) of the wing is too great to produce lift. This happens at the critical angle of attack, and while it often happens when slow, it can also happen at greater airspeeds (accelerated stalls). It is not referring to the engine in aviation.

How can you recognize a stall?

One can recognize a stall by noticing when the nose drops to the ground even though this happens at a time of much back elevator pressure. This means the pilot is commanding a nose up pitch tendency while the aircraft is exhibiting a nose down attitude.

How can you recover from a stall? Describe the process in detail.

One can recover from a stall by first recognizing the stall because to recover one must know they are in a stall in the first place. Secondly, the pilot must break the angle of attack by relaxing the back elevator input and possibly applying nose down, or forward elevator, input. This recovery will usually take altitude to complete, so then the power is increased to minimize altitude loss as the airspeed builds.

What is the improper way to recover a stall?

The improper way to recover from a stall is by keeping the up elevator input in, effectively retaining the aircraft in the stalled condition because the wing never stops exceeding the critical angle of attack. One simply must release the elevator.

Lesson 6: Landings

What is a flair?

A flare is the section of the landing where the pitch is increased rearward so that the main landing gear touches the ground first and a smooth landing is made possible. The flare is essentially the point in the landing approach where the aircraft is very low to the runway and the aircraft is in ground effect, bleeding speed as the angle of attack increases until touch down.

Describe the instructor’s control inputs as he aligns for the landing? Describe the throttle, rudder, aileron, and elevator positions.

The throttle is brought to idle. This is to reduce speed and to allow the aircraft to naturally glide into the flare and landing.

The rudder is generally kept center to control yaw in the approach and eventually the longitudinal alignment of the aircraft to the centerline of the runway.

The ailerons are used to roll the aircraft as needed on the approach and landing, and they may be used if the aircraft is not aligned with the runway laterally.

The elevator is kept approximately neutral in the landing approach, but in the flare and subsequent landing, the elevator is pulled back to exert a pitch up attitude and bleed the speed off for a full stall landing.

How can you tell if you are aligned with the runway centerline? What is a technique that you could use?

One can tell they are aligned with the runway centerline when limited aileron, rudder, and elevator input are needed for the aircraft to glide along the envisioned flight path. Essentially, if the aircraft is gliding on its own and appears to be able to hit the runway without guidance, the proper alignment is achieved. The video was a little bit wishy washy on this aspect of the final approach, but I would imagine mistakes are magnified the closer to the ground the aircraft gets, making corrections easy before the flare begins.

How can you tell if you are on the correct glide slope to touchdown directly in front of you?

One can tell they are on the correct glide slope to touch down directly in front of them by bringing the throttle back to idle and neutralizing the elevator input. This will allow the aircraft to sink at a rate that is natural, and if this angle aligns with the envisioned approach angle leading to a touchdown by the pilot, this is successful.

Lesson 7: Stunts

How do the flight characteristics of this trainer aircraft differ from those of the Believer? That is, in its current configuration, could you perform stunts with the believer?

The flight characteristics of this trainer aircraft differ from those of the believer because this aircraft is small and light while the believer is larger and heavier. The flight characteristics of the believer will likely be more slow, sluggish, and less sudden, which is honestly likely better for a training scenario. I believe the control surfaces compared to the total size of the aircraft are smaller on the believer, which is another reason why inputs may be shown in attitude changes rather slowly and possibly less effectively in the believer. However, both are likely positively stable in most regards.

Furthermore, the believer is a twin engine, so left turning tendencies will likely be less of an issue when compared to the single engine variants. Landings and takeoffs may require different procedures and practices as well because the believer has no landing gear. Lastly, the power may roll on faster from the point of command on the believer because it will have electric motors instead of the gas powered engine seen in the training aircraft from the videos.

You are welcome to watch the remaining stunt videos, but there are no questions on them.

Very well.