Radios in Aviation

Presentation

To see the presentation again, click here.

All images throughout have been taken by myself, Eden Turner, or Mark Skelding (my fantastic instructor!) who have all given permission for the photos, videos and audio to be used.

Questions?

If you have any further questions that haven't been answered, you are more than welcome to email me at lily@hpkns.uk.

Want more?

Trial Flight

When I had my trial flight, I had only just moved to Telford. For most people, their trial flight involves a lot of sightseeing, but for me there wasn't very much of the local area I know.

As a result of this, a large portion of my trial flight became dedicated to exploring the aircraft and what would be upcoming in future lessons. This included demonstrating aerodynamic stalls, a condition where the aircraft is flying slowly, so that lift stops being generated from the wings. This results in the aircraft dropping out of the sky - a dangerous condition! It is important for pilots to practice getting out of this condition.

This video shows that demonstration. When the stall begins, you can hear an alert from the plane. The vertical speed gauge (down and right from the blue and brown gauge) also shows a steep drop.

We recover from this condition by allowing the nose of the plane to drop, speeding us up and recovering lift, then we enter a so-called secondary stall, where we pull the nose back up too soon, putting us back into a stall condition. This is resolved by applying power as well as letting the nose lower again.

There are a number of techniques used for radio navigation (often called radnav) in civil aviation. These are as follows:

  • VOR (VHF Omnidirectional Range): these give directional information between the aircraft's current position and the radio navigation aid.
  • DME (Distance Measuring Equipment): as the name suggests, DMEs give a distance from the aircraft to the radio navigational aid. Often VORs and DMEs are co-located, and are referred to as a VORDME.
  • NDB (Non-Directional Beacon): these give a simple direction from the aircraft to the navigational aid, which is displayed as an arrow on the aircraft's ADF (Automatic Direction Finder).
  • GPS: in the modern day, we also have GPS as a tool. In aviation, it is important to be able to detect if GPS is accurate or not, so it should never be depended on as the sole source of positional information. It is often cross referenced with the other navigational aids available.
  • INS (Inertial Navigation System): Given a calibrated start point, a series of accelerometers, gyroscopes and similar instruments measure how the aircraft has travelled since the start of the flight. These need calibrating before use and can drift during flight, though usually this is only a problem after about six hours. They are often only installed on larger aircraft (particularly commercial).

Each of these technologies works in a slightly different way, and lots of information about each system can be found online.

Practice Emergencies

When flying, it is important to be able to control the aircraft in a number of scenarios. One of the biggest risks to maintaining control is the human factor, particularly in emergencies as the startle response kicks in.

One way we deal with this is by practising for emergencies regularly, which results in a much better understanding of what to do if a real emergency arises.

This is a recording of a practice emergency on the ground at East Midlands Airport:

Audio Transcript

RESCUE3: Practice AGI (Aircraft Ground Incident), Stand 125. Information: 1 vehicle is responding for this exercise, and we'll contact regarding further details.

Short gap

RESCUE3: East Mids Ground, RESCUE3, ready to copy further messages.

East Midlands Ground ATC: RESCUE3, uhhh, practice aircraft ground incident, location is stand 125; aircraft type: Boeing 737; nature of incident: ground power unit attached to aircraft is on fire; persons onboard: not known; dangerous goods: not known.

RESCUE3: Ground, RESCUE3, it's a 737 cargo aircraft, the GPU [is] on fire, no persons, sorry, persons unknown and dangerous goods unknown at this time.

ATC: That's correct.

Short gap

RESCUE3: Ground, RESCUE3 has vacated via Juliett.

ATC: RESCUE3, roger.

Short gap

RESCUE3: Ground, RESCUE3 is now on stand 125, thanks for you help.

ATC: RESCUE3, roger.

Notice in the recording that everything is read-back to ensure accuracy. This is done whilst the vehicle begins to move so as not to delay a response, but is vital to ensure mutual understanding.

Sometimes, it's also something simple with a straighforward solution, and plain English sometimes works better than trying to find the right words!

Audio Transcript

Halfpenny Green ATC: G-MH, do you have a problem?

G-JIMH: I believe so, yea, we'll get back to you in a moment.

Short gap

G-JIMH: And, G-MH, instructor. We're just going to return to the parking area, I think we've got a nose wheel going down.

ATC: Roger, are you happy to taxi it?

G-JIMH: Affirm, G-MH.

ATC: How do you want to do that? Are you coming down Delta, yea?

G-JIMH: Yea, we'll take Delta back to parking. I just want to be cautious.

ATC: Uhh, MH, okay, roger.

In this recording, the phrase "Your Controls" was spoken to confirm handing control over in the cockpit. This wasn't transmitted over the radio, but communication is important inside the cockpit as well!

1058 Words