Hawker445

So for the ground im in we were told to make a list of 10 questions. I made a little quiz. Just want feed back to see if it is as basic as i could get

1. What is Load Factor?
a. The Horizontal Component of lift
b. the ratio of the total airload acting on the airplane to the gross weight of the airplane.
c. Point where all weight is concentrated
d. How strong the airplane is

2. What Is Positive Dynamic stability?
a. The The capability of an airplane to respond to eh pilots control
b. The tendency to return to equilibrium after being disturbed through a series of oscillations
c. The initial tendency of the airplane to remain in a new condition after its equilibrium.

3. What did the fat kid and the see-saw represent? ( i found a explanation of how CG affects stability, and it used a fat kid on a teeter totter)
a. Fat kids need to play too
b. How distribution of C.G will affect stability.
c. Positive Static stability


4. What does the horizontal stabilizer provide?
a. Lateral Stability
b. Longitudinal Stability
c. Vertical Stability

5. Which is a left turning tendency?
a. P-factor
b. Corckscrew effect
c. Torque
d. All of the above

6. What does the Aileron do?
7. What are the 4 forces and axes of flight
8. What is longitudinal stability, and what axes does it follow?
9. What is the Center of lift and where is it located?
10. What Is the purpose of a downward force?


Be advised this is coming from a soon to be new instructor. haha i'm learning. Any tips could help

JamesNoBrakes

A key point of dynamic stability is the tendency over time, I'd probably include that.

Not sure what the fat-kid/see-saw question is asking. It may seem obvious to you, but I'm not sure it serves a purpose. It may not even be technically correct in how it applies to an airplane, I'd have to see it though to be sure.

Question 5 is dogmatic, p-factor is not always a left-turning effect (even in a clock-wise turning prop airplane). I'd get a little more targeted in the question and describe one or more of these in a little more detail to test the knowledge.

What are the 4 forces and axes in flight? Does this mean there are 4 axes too?

8 needs clarification, as you know, people get all tripped up on axes and stability about, give them a chance to not get all screwed up in their head, but still come up with the right answer on their own. The "what axes does it follow" part is what needs some work.

10 is too vague, please get more specific.

You've got the topics and the general ideas, but carefully consider how two people can get totally different ideas about a question, and how those questions need to be as free from different interpretations as possible. Good luck!

Hawker445

Thanks
This is the link I used for that fat kid and seesaw example
Effects of CG on Performance: Fat Kids and Teeter-Totters

I'll just delete the axes part and just leave it as what are the four forces of flight

P factor though is technically a left turning tendency in a nose high attitude. Or should I replace it with the gyroscopic precession? But that is also applied in a nose high attitude.

And for 10. Could I rephrase it to " what purpose does the downward force serve to the HS?

JamesNoBrakes

Well, gyroscopic precession is not a left turning tendency either, both P-factor and gyroscopic precession are only left turning tendencies in certain situations, so just name the situation (takeoff). If you're going to bring in gyroscopic precession, you have to bring in whether it's a conventional or tricycle landing gear airplane, since that factor is completely opposite depending on which one we are using for the example.

What downward force in question 10? Are we talking about reference to a diagram? Weight is a downward force, but so is the lift produced by the horizontal stabilizer, so which one? The way you phrase it, it's difficult to understand what it's in relation to. Are you talking about one of the 4 forces again? If so, then specify. Are you asking "why does the horizontal stabilizer need to produce lift in a downward direction for the aircraft to remain in steady, un-accelerated flight?"

Question 3 just ended up a bit odd, in terms of "what does it represent", I'd suggest asking a bit more targeted question, but I see a bit more where you were coming from.

Fly Boy Knight

Going along with what JamesNoBrakes said before, I would break P-Factor and Gyroscopic Procession into multiple, more targeted questions. I'll do P-factor for example.

You could start with a straight up rote question
What is P-factor (definition)?

Next you could move on to a more targeted understanding question.
Describe how this happens aerodynamically?


Once you cover those, then you can apply it and test correlation by asking about other random situations.
When does P-factor affect us most?
What is the appropriate corrective actions?
If you're flying INVERTED in an aerobatic airplane in a "nose ABOVE the horizon" attitude at relatively slow airspeed (translating into a relatively high "negative" angle of attack, which way would the nose want to yaw?

I would follow this same questioning format when writing questions about tail down-force as well.

I have always disliked fill in the blank questions that test a very broad / involved topic. It implies that the area can be summed up in one concise sentence which, as an aspiring CFI I'm sure you're noticing, this is hardly ever the case even with simple things in aviation.

JamesNoBrakes

Good points for the most part, but this would be a "bewildering" question out of the Aviation Instructor's Handbook IMO. Just leave it at a normal non-inverted airplane and ask the same question otherwise. This would be an "ok" question for a CFI IMO.

To me, it's better to break down the effects of these factors and how to counter them. Make sure the understanding is there, such as torque doesn't cause a yaw, except on the ground, P-factor varies with AOA, power, etc, rapid pitch changes are where gyroscopic effect will come into play, etc. If you get too much into "explain aerodynamically why p-factor causes a yaw", well, you're going to find most instructors can't even describe it correctly (higher resultant velocity vector for the downswinging prop, taking into account the flight path if the airplane (not the upward inclination of the longitudinal axis) and the flight path of the propellor (direction of rotation)), so best to leave that part out of it and focus more on what it DOES and how to COUNTER it IMO.

But yes, I agree with breaking it down more, making it a little simpler (not focusing on so many topics at once). One thing to remember, you'll never teach/test everything to everyone comprehensively everytime. It's about the course of training or the cumulative effect, not any one question