Showing posts with label flight. Show all posts
Showing posts with label flight. Show all posts

November 22 - Fantastic Flyers Day

  Posted on November 22, 2021


This is an update of my post published on November 22, 2010:



On this day in 1899, aviator Wiley Post was born. He got his flying license in 1926—and it was signed by Orville Wright—despite the fact that he wore an eye patch because he'd lost his left eye in an oilfield accident.


Post made some contributions to the world of aviation, aside from being an early flyer. With navigator Harold Gatty, he set a record for around-the-world travel, and he was the first to fly around the world solo. He invented one of the first pressurized suits to wear when he flew around the world, and he did research on jet streams.

Post's pressurized suit

Unfortunately, Post died flying. In 1935 he piloted a small plane with humorist Will Rogers as his passenger. They traveled from Seattle to Alaska safely, despite the fact that the small plane was nose-heavy due to the size of the floats needed for water landings, but on one take-off (at Point Barrow, Alaska), the engine failed and the plane crashed. Both men died instantly.



On this day in 1971, Elgen Long became the first person to fly over both poles in one flight. Long flew around the world, starting and ending at San Francisco, California, and flying over both the North and South Poles.



In that one flight, Long set 15 world records and firsts! He also received worldwide acclaim.


What are jet streams?

Jet streams are fast-moving air currents. They are caused by Earth's rotation, because the air around the equator has to move very quickly to “keep up” with the planet's rotation, but the air at the poles has to move hardly at all. This speed difference makes a difference as the air at higher altitudes “slips” and falls behind the speed of the air below.

The slipped air is affected by temperature differences and differences in water content—and these differences are affected, in turn, by the location of continents and oceans.

The upshot is that some parts of the atmosphere travel faster than other parts.


Jet streams are important in weather prediction and especially in air travel. Flights that can take advantage of the jet streams, which flow from west to east, can travel more quickly than can flights that have to battle against the flow. Also, turbulence is associated with the edges of jet streams.

To learn more about jet streams, check out Kids Ahead. 



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August 19 - National Aviation Day in the U.S. of A.

 Posted on August 19, 2021


This is an update on my post published August 19, 2010:


Celebrated on the birthday of Orville Wright, the first pilot of a successful airplane flight, National Aviation Day is a day meant to encourage people to visit aviation history sites (many small airports feature small but cool museums!), read about aviation, watch videos about aviation and early flight, and so forth.


Learn about lift and other forces of flight...



...make a paper airplane or paper helicopter...



...and do other experiments about flight.




Also on this date:

































Check out my Pinterest boards for:

And here are my Pinterest boards for:




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January 29 - Happy Birthday, Lawrence Hargrave

Posted on January 29, 2021

This is an update of the post published on January 29, 2010:



Born in England in 1850, Lawrence Hargrave immigrated with his family to Australia. A teen when he arrived “down under,” Hargrave eagerly accepted positions on ships and thus helped explore Australia and nearby places.

He failed the test required to graduate from his school and instead became an engineering apprentice; as an engineer he continued to go on exploratory expeditions. Later he settled in Sydney and became an assistant astronomical observer at the Sydney Observatory.

When Hargrave's father died and Hargrave came into his inheritance, he resigned from the observatory position and gave the rest of his life to research work. He invented many devices but never applied for a patent on any of them. He did not need the money, but he also very much believed in the idea of scientists publishing their work for all humankind to elaborate on and benefit from.



Hargrave particularly worked on flying machines and made major contributions in knowledge about flight stability and the shape of wings and propeller blades. He also worked on the rotary engine, and his ideas were used by many early aircraft until around 1920.

Hargrave is most associated with box kites; this invention was used to experiment with lift and drag (he himself went on flights, lifted by his kites), and box kites were later used for weather measurements and were used as the basis for gliders and airplanes.

Hargrave was a very good experimenter and made beautiful models. He certainly contributed to the sum of human knowledge (his main goal) but was more widely respected for his contributions after his death than during his life.





Words of Wisdom

Hargrave said, “The flying machine of the future will not be born fully fledged and capable of a flight for 1000 miles or so. Like everything else it must be evolved gradually. The first difficulty is to get a thing that will fly at all. When this is made, a full description should be published as an aid to others.”

Hargrave might not have guessed at the shape
of aircraft of the future, but he did have a practical
view about how aircraft would evolve, each inventor
standing on the shoulders of those before them.


Wisdom Without Words

Hargrave was once asked to give a lecture, and he admitted that teaching and lecturing were not in his skill set. Indeed, he was known as a man of few words.

Still, Hargrave was too modest—he showed himself very capable of teaching when he spent afternoons working with kids to build and fly box kites. He also donated all of his models to museums, explaining that they were “knowledge without words.”

Celebrate Hargrave

  • Fly a kite.
Maybe even a box kite! Blue Sky Lark has a website with a picture of Hargrave's original design (box kites are 
also called “cellular kites”) and many other forms elaborated from his ideas.


 

  • Build a model. Local hobby shops and toy stores usually sell a variety of models to put together and paint. Or go online for help, such as this website.








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