- Industry: Aviation
- Number of terms: 16387
- Number of blossaries: 0
- Company Profile:
Aviation Supplies & Academics, Inc. (ASA) develops and markets aviation supplies, software, and books for pilots, flight instructors, flight engineers, airline professionals, air traffic controllers, flight attendants, aviation technicians and enthusiasts. Established in 1947, ASA also provides ...
A light used by weather observers to measure the height of the bottom of a layer of clouds at night. A beam of light, shone vertically upward, makes a spot of light on the bottom of the cloud.
A theodolite (an instrument used to measure angles), located a known distance away from the light, is used to measure the angle up to the spot of light on the cloud base.
By knowing the distance between the theodolite and the ceiling light and the angle measured by the theodolite, the height of the cloud base can be determined.
Industry:Aviation
A light, silvery-white, malleable, ductile, metallic chemical element. Magnesium’s symbol is Mg, its atomic number is 12, and its atomic weight is 24.312. Magnesium burns with an intense white light, and because of this, it is used for making flares.
Magnesium’s light weight makes it useful as a structural material, but it has disadvantages. It corrodes easily, and vibration causes it to crack.
Industry:Aviation
A light, similar to the landing light, installed on an aircraft in such a way that it illuminates the runway or taxiway when the aircraft is on the ground in its normal attitude for taxiing.
Industry:Aviation
A light-activated silicon controlled rectifier (LASCR). Light falling on the gate-cathode junction triggers the LASCR into conduction.
Industry:Aviation
A lighter-than-air device anchored to the ground with a steel cable. Captive balloons were used in the American Civil War as aerial observation platforms. In both World War I and World War II, captive balloons were used as obstructions to keep low-flying airplanes from bombing and strafing vital ground installations.
Industry:Aviation
A lighter-than-air device that is free to rise in the air. A free balloon is used in weather observations to find the height of the base of the lower layer of clouds. A rubber balloon is filled with helium until it has a specified diameter, and it is released into the air.
The rate of rise of this balloon is known, and the time between its release and its disappearance into the clouds is measured. This time determines the height of the base of the clouds.
Industry:Aviation
A lighting device that produces a brilliant, concentrated beam of light. Spotlights are used for searching an area at night, because they concentrate the light energy in a small area that allows the beam to extend out for a great distance.
Industry:Aviation
A lightly twisted roll or strand of textile material. Fiberglass roving is used in place of fiberglass mat, to reinforce plastic resins molded into certain structural shapes.
Industry:Aviation
A lightweight aerostatic machine, usually spherical in shape and neither powered nor steerable. When the balloon is filled with hot air or with a gas that is lighter than air, it displaces more air than it weighs, and the resulting aerostatic lift causes it to rise.
Industry:Aviation
A lightweight cotton gauze which has no sizing in it. Sizing is a substance, such as starch, used to make a cloth stiff.
Cheesecloth is used as a straining element to remove lumps and contaminants from liquids.
Industry:Aviation
