Private Pilot Flight Training and Instruction Flight Training Article Library | Back To 4VFR.COM Names And What Bell decibel Morse code Doppler frequency change Mach speed of sound Pitot speed tube Venturi suction tube Bernoulli pressure Newton laws of motion Pascal pressure Buys-Ballot wind/pressure Coriolis force Fahrenheit thermometer Celsius metric thermometer Kelvin absolute scale Hertz frequency cycle Kollsman altimeter window Lear ADF Famous Firsts Hugh Robinson, Aviation pioneer invented basic aircraft arresting gear system for carrier landings. First used landing on a ship in San Francisco Bay after takeoff from shore. Seat belts were first adopted in 1913 when W. D. Billingsley was ejected from a Wright seaplane froml1600 AGL. In the 1920's Maj. William C. Ocker and Capt. Carl J. Crane did pioneering work toward instrument flying and developed an instructional curriculum David McCampbells was the first naval aviator to land on an aircraft carrier at night. Chandelle is French from montrer en chandelle, which means climb around a candle. Armed Pilots Pilots carrying mail had to be armed enroute by order of the U.S. Postal Service in the 20s and 30s. Barry Schiff thinks that pilots sit on the left because of ships passing left side to left side. This is not so. The left to left passing of ships came from ancient times when the right side of the ship used a protruding steering oar called a steerboard. The left to left passing protected this particular oar which was also under the captain's direction. Captains to this day have their post and cabins on the right side of ships. The pilot on the left side derived from the need to mount a horse from the left side in order to maintain an effective sword hand while mounting. Cavalry men were the first who were volunteered into becoming pilots. Hence, the left side mounting of aircraft from habit. Hence, left patterns Air pockets Term coined by Charles Willard in 1910. "The air was as full of air pockets, as a Swiss cheese is full of holes." N-numbers An international convention Paris in 1919 assigned the letter N to all U. S aircraft. N was selected because of the Curtiss NC-4 that first flew across the Atlantic. Hop The term `hop' meaning a local flight came from abbreviated log book entries in WW-1 for "high operational patrol". First stall strips were used by Messerschmidt. What is peculiar about the space shuttle orbiter's landing gear? It cannot be retracted. Leonard M. Greene invented the stall warner prior to 1950. First bomb dropped from an aircraft was in 1910 at Tanforan Racetrack near San Francisco. First aircraft carrier takeoff occurred in San Francisco Bay. First pilots license was issued to Glenn in 1911. Prior law was that of gravity. First airmail flight and delivery was between Petaluma and Santa Rosa. Three emergency landings enroute. First gyroscopic attitude indicators were tested on Blimps. Mayday is the English word that sounds just like the second French word of the phrase "venes m'aider", which means "come help me". Hangar--Comes from the French word 'hangar' meaning shed or outhouse Written by Gene Whitt Flight Training Article Library | Back To 4VFR.COM