YOUR NAME UP IN LIGHTS
Where might one find one’s name on an aeronautical chart?
- The FAA is running out of identifiers, and there are a number of additional reporting points listed in the National Flight Data Center which have some fairly common names, such as ROBERTS or JOHNSON.
- at an airport: Many airports have common names, and the odds are actually fairly good that if you have a common name, there is already a public or private airport using it.
- By looking in FAA publication 7350.7G, LOCATION IDENTIFIERS.
- For a $36 fee, the the ATA-100 group of the FAA at 800 Independence Avenue in Washington will send you a CD with every navigational fix, airport identifier, navaid, reporting point, and route, and you can find out.
Answer: C. It’s available free, online, and it will even tell you the latitude and longitude for ‘your’ intersection. If your first, middle, or last name has five letters, - which isn’t at all uncommon - chances are good that you already ‘have’ an intersection. That $36 in choice D gets you a listing of preferred IFR routes (though it is formatted differently than what you see in the A/FD).
SUNBEAMS
Question: Those ethereal rays of light that shine through gaps or breaks in clouds are called
- sunbeams
- crepuscular rays
- diffraction scatter
- there actually is no term
Answer: B. And they’re visible because the sunlight scatters around dust and other particles suspended in the atmosphere.
DISTANT HORIZONS…
Under what circumstances could a glider actually glide to the visual horizon, without the benefit of a tailwind?
- Never. Even a glider with carbon fiber wings and an aspect ratio of extraterrestrial proportions could not approach the necessary glide ratio of 100-to-1 in earth’s atmosphere.
- Using ridge lift, some sailplane pilots have soared well beyond several horizons.
- It might, using magnetohydrodynamics, similar to certain experimental submarines.
- As one ascends, the ratio of horizon distance to absolute altitude actually decreases, and well under 20,000 feet, this value actually approaches the glide ratio of some sailplanes.
Answer: D. From a yes/no standpoint, choice (A) is incorrect (though the statement about L/D not coming near 100 is true). Choice(B) is also quite correct, but not as mathematically elegant, and (C) is nonsense. At about 17,000 feet, the horizon-to-absolute altitude ratio is about 50, and at 25,000 feet, the horizon/height ratio is about 40! (Thinner air actually does nothing to a sailplane’s L/D, and some gliders have gotten quite high. The absolute altitude record for sailplanes is currently about 49,000 feet.)