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1500 questions
98
votes
5 answers
Why is "Affirm / Negative" used instead of "Yes / No"?
Does anyone know why we use Affirm and Negative in RT, rather than Yes and No? I assume it's to prevent confusion with accents and other languages - but Yes and No sound very different to me!
CharlieEGMC
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95
votes
11 answers
Why do fighter jets still have guns/cannons?
I noticed that the "new" F-35 still has a GAU-22/A cannon installed in it -- albeit with only 182 rounds (more with ammo pods).
Why do fighters still have cannons? The day of dogfighting is long over, now it's just fire some missiles and forget. …
RoboKaren
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94
votes
15 answers
Are wings any more efficient at creating lift, versus orienting the engine's thrust downwards?
As I understood from this article, wings on an airplane basically create lift by pushing air down.
Maintaining the lift force expends energy because air needs to be continually accelerated downwards. In the "energy budget" of the airplane, this…
user9037
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93
votes
6 answers
If my parachute fails to open, why should I aim for land rather than water?
I was watching these 'what if' parachute failure videos on YouTube and everywhere they say do not choose water over land. Why should we not choose water and what happens if we land in water?
One such video:
karthikdivi
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90
votes
5 answers
Why does the F-111 sometimes squirt a giant fire plume behind it? (NOT afterburners!)
As seen in multiple pictures:
First, this one, it appears the aircraft is spraying copious amounts of fuel into the exhaust!
Surely this provides no thrust, not in the way an afterburner (which the F-111 has!) does.
Is it perhaps as an alternative…
Bassinator
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90
votes
5 answers
Why do we need to starve the engine before turning it off?
This question is for Piper Tomahawk, but I guess applies to any small aircraft.
Why do we need to use the fuel mixture to starve the engine before turning it off with the key? Why can't we just turn it off with the key like in a car?
Cloud
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89
votes
1 answer
What is this plane flying in overlapping circles pattern doing?
I have seen this Beechcraft Super King Air coming from France near Valenciennes and flying in circular patterns over a zone of Belgium for 2 days in a row now.
What is it doing, some kind of aerial survey ?
DistractedAvFan
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89
votes
6 answers
Why do we still use pilots to fly airplanes?
With the recent advances in drone and remote control technology, why are there still commercial and military pilots?
I understand that there can be some serious tactical advantages to human pilots in military operations, but for patrol and…
Keegan
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86
votes
18 answers
Why haven't quadcopters been scaled up yet?
Why are quadcopters not flown by human pilots yet?
Wouldn't they be more stable and easier to control than helicopters?
ratsimihah
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86
votes
4 answers
Why are Russian cockpit panels painted in turquoise?
Almost all cockpit panels of Russian aircraft types are painted in turquoise, whereas elsewhere the cockpit panels usually exhibit a dark grey color.
As this "rule" seems to be quite prevalent, I am curious as to the reason/origin.
This can be seen…
tssch
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85
votes
15 answers
What is the slowest fixed-wing airplane?
It's easy to find information about the fastest airplanes, in different categories (e.g. X-15, SR-71, the Concorde etc), but what is the slowest one? Which powered, manned airplane is capable of sustained level flight at lowest velocity?
el.pescado - нет войне
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85
votes
11 answers
Do pilots really wear "pilot's watches"?
High-end mechanical wristwatches from Swiss and German manufacturers (e.g. Breitling, Rolex etc.) are often marketed as "pilot's watches", and have chronometer features to supposedly help pilots perform flight-related computations.
While I know next…
user11250
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84
votes
5 answers
If a pilot ejects, what is the autopilot programmed to do?
If a pilot uses their ejector seat during flight, what is the autopilot programmed to do?
As a developer myself, I'd want to build in a way for the plane to try and save itself if possible (to save money) by auto-landing, or at the very least,…
Cloud
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83
votes
1 answer
Why did this FedEx flight (FDX1311) take such an indirect route multiple times?
I was looking at flights from DEN -> MEM, and saw this extra-long route that FDX1311 took last night (9 Aug 2021)
Thinking they were probably just avoiding storms, I scrolled down and saw there were 3 other DEN-MEM flights under that flight number,…
Ziwcam
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81
votes
4 answers
How do civilian pilots and ATC verify that other people on the radio are who they claim to be?
I am interested in authentication - how identity is verified - in civilian aviation radio transmissions. I know that when someone is speaking on the radio he tells his call sign. But is there any other system that verifies the identity of the person…
vasili111
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