This article features NASA's FlyBy Math, a series of six standards-based distance-rate-time investigations in air traffic control. Sixth-grade students--acting as pilots, air traffic controllers, and NASA scientists--conduct an experiment and then use multiple mathematical representations to analyze and solve a problem involving two planes flying…

The intention of this paper is to discuss the advances in thrust engines from the initial development of the J58/SR-71 (JT11D-20) of the U.S. Air Force's SR-71 Blackbird to the development of the RAM and SCRAM engines necessary to propel the new generations of high-flying super-speed aircraft. Engineering complexities suggest that the engines and…

This article explores methodological issues in sonification and sound design arising from the design of helicopter monitoring sounds. Six monitoring sounds (each with 5 levels) were tested for similarity and meaning with 3 different techniques: hierarchical cluster analysis, linkage analysis, and multidimensional scaling. In Experiment 1,…

Friedman profiles Margy Natalie, 47, who has been a certified pilot for as long as she's been teaching. She owns her own airplane--a blue 1950 Ryan Navion B, has attended space camp and lists four airports as her favorite places in the world. She is one of the two public school teachers on full-time loan at the Smithsonian National Air and Space…

Current aeronautical research is highlighted, focusing on tilt rotor aircraft, quiet short-haul jets, HiMAT (Highly Maneuverable Aircraft Technology), pivoting wing aircraft, energy absorption tests, and lightning research. (JN)

Virtual flight can be very entertaining, and computer-based simulators can also be educational, if organized and used correctly. When Berea College decided to find a flight simulator suited to the school's educational goals, the faculty settled on an ANT-18 Link trainer. This article begins with a discussion of Link trainers' history, and then…

Aviation as people know it today is a mature but very young technology as time goes. Considering that the 100th anniversary of flight was celebrated just a few years ago in 2003, millions of people fly from city to city or from nation to nation and across the oceans and around the world effortlessly and economically. Additionally, they have space…

Describes the cost advantages of air transportation over road, rail, and river transportation in many circumstances which prevail today in developing countries. Presents accounts of International Civil Aviation Organization's (ICAO's) efforts supporting civil aviation programs in these countries. (DS)

Describes Africa's efforts to standardize training and develop cooperative training programs in civil aviation. (DS)

Course content guides are provided for the 30 courses in this aviation maintenance technology curriculum approved by the Federal Aviation Administration. Course titles are physics for technicians; aircraft information, regulations, and procedures; aircraft assembly; fundamentals of aircraft electronics; aircraft electrical components; aircraft…

Discusses the development of an airway science program. The program would offer the bachelor's in airway science with five options--airway science, aircraft systems, airway electronics or airway electronics management, and airway computer science. A sample curriculum outline (focusing on the five options) is included. (JN)

For airline pilots, the call of "checklist complete" is officially prescribed talk to claim that the crew's joint conduct of a checklist is over, and the task can be understood as closed. However, very often this call is not the final talk for the task. This paper uses naturally occurring data, transcriptions of pilots interacting on actual…

This report includes three experiment sections. The first experiment tested sensitivity to loss in altitude and demonstrated that: (1) preview effects led to adaptation; (2) sensitivity decreased with higher flow rates; and (3) sensitivity increased with higher optical texture densities and fractional loss. The second and third experiments…

A program description and evaluation for a high school course in aviology is presented. The curriculum, originally taught at the Laboratory School at the University of Florida, was designed to: (1) use aviation as a motivator for science; (2) present an overview of aviation; (3) help students see their role in the future of aviation; (4) provide…

This booklet, one in a series on aviation careers, outlines the variety of careers available for airplane pilots and flight engineers. The first part of the booklet provides general information about careers for pilots and summarizes the information in a table. In the main part of the booklet, the following 11 job categories are outlined: flight…