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About This Quiz
Human beings have been trying to take to the skies since the very beginning of civilization. From stories of the mythic Icarus to Leonardo Da Vinci's real attempts at flying machines, besting gravity and flying high has long kept brilliant minds engaged and curious. Modern technology finally caught up with passion in the 1800s, and once machines could successfully manage even the most basic of flying skills, inventors, engineers and architects began improving those original designs with lightning speed. The Wright Brothers flew, and then myriad types of flying devices followed, all leading up to the modern days of aviation.Â
When it comes to flight, contemporary people live in a renaissance those early inventors could never have imagined. We have helicopters and jets and enormous commercial airplanes that can travel three thousand miles in just a few hours. We have transcontinental flights and private airplanes, all of it thanks to the progressive, brilliant minds of aeronautical pioneers.Â
So how does it all work? If you think you know your way around an airplane, this is the quiz that will help you find out. Test your knowledge of airplane parts and pieces to see if you have what it takes to achieve flying altitude. This is your captain speaking; test yourself today!Â
Empennage
Powerplant
Cockpit
Your pilot and co-pilot are located in the cockpit of the plane for the duration of the flight. This is where the flying mechanisms are located and where your captain will communicate with crew and passengers from via overhead speakers.
Turbine
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Tricycle undercarriage
Slats
Along with the aircraft's flaps, slats are using during takeoff and landing processes to help create extra lift, even at lower speeds. This is because they help produce the extra circulation needed for lift.
Engine cowling
Altimeter
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A pylon
Pylons serve as adaptors of sorts on both commercial and military aircraft. They help to reduce the amount of drag that extra items, such as military weapons, might cause when attached to the plane.
A picket
A wider
A lock
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The empennage
The verticle stabilizer
The horizontal stabilizer
Ailerons
Ailerons are actually parts of the wings and used to help create lift on the wings and move or create airflow. The empennage is the tail section at the back of the plane, and the stabilizers are mounted to it.
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Without losing cabin pressure
Without gaining cabin pressure
Without gaining airspeed
There are four main types of flaps, including the split flap, and they are used to improve the aircraft's lifting ability. When you use a split flap, you can descend quickly without increasing speed/forward momentum.
Without landing gear
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Dorsal fin
Airfoils
Airfoils appear in many different types of machines, including planes. While they may also show up on propellers, they are cross-sections on an aircraft's wings designed to help create downforce.
Artificial horizon
Elevator trim
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The empennage
The tail
The fuselage
The fuselage serves as the main body of the aircraft. It is where the cockpit, passenger seating and cargo storage can be found. Wings can be attached high, middle or low, but always on the fuselage.
The airfoils
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Tricycle gear
There are lots of different types of plane landing gear, and most of them are based on where you're likely to be landing. If it's a land plane, then you don't need to worry about skis or pontoons, which are for snow or water landings.
Pontoons
Conventional tail-wheel gear
Ski-planes
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A truss structure
A truss structure is an older structure design and not used as often as it was, as new designs are more aerodynamic. It did inspire many newer designs, however, and is created with a simple tube-welding method.
A tach structure
A holder
A wingnut
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The ailerons
Hydraulics are used to control many systems in the airplane, including the elevator and the slats. On smaller aircraft, it may even be used to control braking systems. The fuel system, altimeter and artificial horizon do not use hydraulics.
The altimeter
The artificial horizon
The fuel system
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Change pitch
Change roll
There are specific tools and systems used to complete each of these tasks, but the ailerons (which are located on the wing) help to roll the wings from side to side, which aids in balance control.
Generate thrust
Decrease drag
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The tinker tabs
The pylons
The trim tabs
The powerplant is where you'll find your aircraft's engine or engines as well as the electrical system. Depending on the type of aircraft, you may also find a propeller. You will not find trim tabs in the powerplant but rather attached to the elevator.
The powerplant
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Avionics
The ice protection system
The fire protection system
The pressurization and oxygen system
While the pressurization and oxygen systems ensure there is enough oxygen in the cabin to fly at high altitudes without causing harm to passengers, the cabin temperature is maintained by the heating and air conditioning system.
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Nose
Airplanes are most often nose-heavy, and that means it is important to compensate with downward force on the tail to ensure they remain balanced while in the air. This is what the horizontal stabilizer is for.
Tail
Wings
Rudder
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Stabilizer
An aircraft needs six main parts to fly, navigate and land properly. They are the fuselage, wings, stabilizer, rudder, engine (or more than one engine) and the landing gear. Depending on the aircraft, these parts will be slightly different, but you need all six. The other listed parts are from cars.
Regenerative braking system
Fenders
Step bumpers
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The attitude indicator
The attitude indicator, or artificial horizon or gyro horizon, is used to indicate the aircraft's orientation to the Earth's horizon. It is mostly used to help when meteorological conditions shift.
The turn and bank indicator
The airspeed indicator
The vertical speed indicator
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The engine
The Aileron
There are two ailerons on an aircraft and they are located near the rear of the wing where they help to steer or roll the aircraft. They work opposite each other, so when the one is raised up, the other must be lowered down.
The fuel tank
The landing gear
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To help the plane to ascend or descend
Like the name might indicate, elevators on planes are used for going up and down, just like elevators in buildings. The elevator can be found at the tail of the plane and directs the nose to go up or down.
To attach the plane to gear at the gate
To serve as a braking system
To help maintain cruising altitude
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Struts
Hydraulic oil
Verticle stabilizer
The aircraft's struts are part of the landing gear and consist of shock-absorbing springs and hydraulic oil and gasses. Together, they help to make the landing as smooth and comfortable as possible.
Shock absorbers
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Wheels
It may seem a little odd, but most airplane wheels are filled with nitrogen rather than the oxygen you'll find in car tires. There's a good reason for this: Nitrogen pressure doesn't change much with differences in temperature or altitude, unlike air pressure.
Cabin spaces
Cockpits
Cargo holds
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Stabilize the left-right motions of the aircraft
Winglets can be found on the end of the wings, if the aircraft has them, and they serve many useful purposes. They help the plane to fly more quickly and reduce fuel use, which means longer trips without refueling.
Reduce drag
Fly faster
Burn less fuel
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Radio communication
Aircraft have different types of antennas that serve different roles. The long antennas help with radio communication and navigation whereas the shorter antennas are used for high-frequency information and correspondence.
Air traffic control
GPS signals
Position and altitude information
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The flight deck
The flight deck is another term for the cockpit or the area of the plane from which the pilots control the flight. Overhead announcements often use the phrase "flight deck" to indicate where the information is coming from.
Cabin
Cargo hold
Elevator
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The empennage
The slat
The fuselage
The word "fuselage" is derived from a French word that means "spindle-shaped" and is the part of the airplane that connects all the other disparate sections. Here you'll find the main cabin where passengers fly and carry belongings.
The spoiler
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Wings
Spinner
Engine carburetor
Rudder
Yaw occurs when you steer the nose of the aircraft left and right using the rudder, which can be found on the aircraft's tail. This process helps to counteract friction, so the tail follows the follows directly and doesn't slide.
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The engine
The slat
The slats can be found on the wings of the plane, where they help to guide the curve of the wing (or the camber) so there is more lift available, even when flying speeds are lower.
The rudder
The spoiler
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Wheels
Most planes have at least three wheels to aid in the landing process and to make it as smooth and comfortable as possible. Larger planes have more wheels to help support weight and absorb impact.
Cargo holds
Spinners
Rudders
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Vertical speed
Vertical heigh above sea level
The altimeter is the pilot's tool for tracking vertical height above the mean sea level. It is used to help find the right pressure setting and works like a basic barometer, correcting for pressure when ascending or descending.
Pitch altitude
Heading indication
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The airspeed indicator
There usually isn't much difference between indicated airspeed, which is shown on the airspeed indicator in knots and true airspeed, which is corrected for the air pressure and temperature.
The altimeter
The heading indicator
The tachometer
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Laminate windshields
The typical airplane can get very close to the speed of sound, which is why it's important to have thick laminate windshields. When jets go faster than the speed of sound, they create shock waves.
Plexiglass windshields
Split windshield
Triple-pane windshields
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Turning indicator
Heading indicator
Attitude indicator
Vertical speed indicator
While aircraft have changed a lot over the years, there are six main instruments that a pilot will have in their cockpit. These are split into two categories, static (or pitot-static) and gyroscopic, based on the systems to which they are connected.
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The landing gear
The engine
The empennage
Empennage is actually based on the French word "empenner," which literally translates into "to feather an arrow," and thus the empennage (including the stabilizers, rudder and elevator) works to guide the aircraft, like an arrow's feathers.
The propeller
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Spoilers
Wings
The aircraft's wings are a type of airfoil that can connect to the aircraft at the top, middle or lower section of the fuselage, depending on what kind of plane it is. There are many designs and styles.
Engines
Biplanes
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Main wings
The bi (the prefix meaning 'two') in "biplane" is in reference to the plane's double set of wings, stacked atop one another. Biplanes harken back to the early days of aviation and planes with one set of wings are called monoplanes.
Engines
Fuselages
Seats
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The slat
The slats are located on the wings and act almost as a new, smaller wing. They don't actually produce the lift themselves, but their goal is to help create or generate the required circulation that does.
The altimeter
The tricycle undercarriage
Nose radome
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A stroboscopic chamber
A combustion chamber
High-pressure air goes into the combustion chamber or burner. It then sends the air through the nozzle guide vanes and into the turbines. They help with emissions, fuel efficiency and more.
An intake chamber
Turbines
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When you need to make an emergency landing
When you need to fuel mid-flight
When you need to start a large jet engine
An APU (or auxiliary power unit) is a small engine used to help start larger jet engines, which require more power than a starter battery is capable of generating. The battery can start the APU, however, which then starts the larger engine.
When you need to increase altitude
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Forward retracting wheels
Spinner
Hydraulic motors
Flaps
The aircraft's flaps will be found on the wing and can be deflected at an angle up to 45 degrees. When they are deployed, they impact how much lift or drag is impacts the aircraft's movements.
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Spades
Spades are usually located on the lower surface of the aileron, ahead of the hinge, by a lever arm. They help to produce an aerodynamic force, which is why they are often found on acrobatic aircrafts
Drums
Sets
Kicks
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With the pedal
With the steering wheel
With the joystick
When the pilot wants to control the aircraft's ailerons, they will move the joystick along the lateral axis, as the ailerons are used to control the aircraft's movement along the X-axis, or its roll.
With the computer
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You Got:
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