An excellent worksheet for Aviation MB can be found at meritbadge.com
PDF: http://meritbadge.com/files/mb-pdfs/Aviation.pdf
RTF: http://meritbadge.com/files/mb-docs/Aviation.doc
New requirements for Aviation MB became effective on January 1,
2007. I will be updating this site to incorporate
those changes. Please bear with me while
I try to improve some references while updating.
The USSCOUTS.ORG has Excellent Worksheets with the new requirements:
John “Gator” Wallin has produced an excellent PowerPoint presentation
for the Aviation MB using files found here and adding some neat files of his
own. Here it is for your use. This is a LARGE (1MB) file. All John asks is that you retain his credits
slide: AVIATION MB POWERPOINT
PRESENTATION (1MB FILE)
2007
REQUIREMENTS (please
follow the hyperlinks during this changeover
period)
1. Do the following:
a. Define "aircraft". Describe some kinds and uses of aircraft today. Explain the operation of piston, turboprop, and jet engines.
b.
Point out on a model airplane the forces that
act on an airplane in flight.
c. Explain how an airfoil
generates lift, how the primary control surfaces (ailerons, elevators, and
rudder) affect the airplane’s attitude, and how a propeller produces thrust.
d. Demonstrate how the control surfaces of an airplane are used for takeoff, straight
climb, level turn, climbing turn, descending turn,
straight descent, and landing.
e.
Explain the following: the recreational pilot and
the private
pilot certificates; the instrument
rating.
2. Do TWO of the following:
a. Take a flight in an aircraft with your parent's permission. Record the date, place, type of aircraft, and duration of flight, and report on your impressions of the flight.
b. Under supervision, perform
a preflight inspection of a light airplane.
c. Obtain and
learn how to read an aeronautical chart. Measure a true course on the chart.
Correct it for magnetic variation, compass deviation, and wind drift. Arrive at
a compass heading.
d. Using one
of many flight simulator software packages available for computers. "fly" the course and heading you established in
requirement 2c or another course you have plotted.
e. On a map, mark a route for an imaginary
airline trip to at least three different locations. Start from the commercial
airport nearest your home. From timetables (obtained from agents or online from
a computer, with your parent's permission), decide when you will get to and
leave from all connecting points. Create an aviation flight plan and itinerary
for each destination.
f. Explain the purposes and functions of the various instruments found in a typical single-engine aircraft: attitude indicator, heading indicator, altimeter, airspeed indicator, turn and bank indicator, vertical speed indicator, compass, navigation (GPS and VOR) and communication radios, tachometer, oil pressure gauge, and oil temperature gauge.
g. Create an original poster of an aircraft instrument panel. Include and identify the instruments and radios discussed in requirement 2f.
3.
Do ONE of the following:
a. Build and fly a fuel-driven model airplane. Describe safety rules for building and flying model airplanes Tell safety rules for use of glue, paint, dope, plastics, fuel, and battery pack.
b. Build a model FPG-9. Get others in your troop or patrol to make their own model, then organize a competition to test the precision of flight and landing of the models.
4.
Do ONE of the following:
a.
Visit an airport.
After the visit, report on how the facilities are used, how runways are
numbered, and how runways are determined to be "active."
b.
Visit a Federal Aviation Administration facility—a
control tower, terminal radar control facility, air route traffic control
center, flight service station, or Flight Standards District Office. (Phone
directory listings are under U.S. Government Offices, Transportation
Department, Federal Aviation Administration. Call in
advance.) Report on the operation and your impressions of the facility.
c.
Visit an aviation museum or attend an air show.
Report on your impressions of the museum or show.
5. Find out about three career
opportunities there are in
aviation. Pick one and find out the education, training, and experience
required for this profession. Discuss this with your counselor, and explain why
this profession might interest you.
BSA
Advancement ID#: 25
Pamphlet Revision Date: 2006
Requirements last updated in 2007
OLDER
REQUIREMENTS
1. Do the
following:
a. Define "aircraft". Describe some kinds and uses of aircraft today. Explain the operation of piston, turboprop, and jet engines.
b. Point out on a model airplane the forces that act on an airplane in flight.
c. Explain how an airfoil generates lift, how the
primary control surfaces (ailerons, elevators,
and rudder) affect the airplane’s attitude, and how a propeller
produces thrust.
d. Demonstrate how the control surfaces of an airplane are used for
takeoff, straight climb, level turn, climbing turn,
descending turn, straight descent, and landing.
e. Explain the following: the recreational pilot and the private
pilot certificates; the instrument rating.
f. Find out what job opportunities
there are in aviation. Describe the qualifications and working conditions of
one job in which you are interested. Tell what it offers for reaching your goal
in life.
2. Do TWO of
the following:
a. Take a flight in an aircraft. Record the date, place, type of aircraft, and duration of flight, and report on your impressions of the flight.
b. Visit an airport. After the visit, report on how
the facilities are used, how runways are numbered, and how runways are
determined to be "active."
c. Visit a Federal Aviation Administration facility—a
control tower, terminal radar control facility, air route traffic control
center, flight service station, or Flight Standards District Office. (Phone
directory listings are under U.S. Government Offices, Transportation
Department, Federal Aviation Administration. Call in
advance.) Report on the operation and your impressions of the facility.
d. Visit an aviation museum or attend an air show. Report
on your impressions of the museum or show.
e. Explain the purposes and functions of the various instruments found in a typical single-engine aircraft: attitude indicator, heading indicator, altimeter, airspeed indicator, turn and bank indicator, vertical speed indicator, compass, navigation (GPS and VOR) and communication radios, tachometer, oil pressure gauge, and oil temperature gauge.
f.
Visit an aircraft maintenance shop. Interview a technician and report on
his/her ideas about aircraft maintenance.
g. Create an original poster of an aircraft instrument panel. Include and identify the instruments and radios discussed in requirement 2e.
5. Do TWO
of the following:
d. Interview
a professional or military pilot. Report on what you
learned.
b.
Interview a flight attendant. Report on what you learned.
c.
Interview a certified flight instructor. Report on what
you learned.
d.
Under supervision, perform a preflight inspection of a
light airplane.
e. Obtain and learn how to read an aeronautical chart. Measure a true course on the chart. Correct it for magnetic variation, compass deviation, and wind drift. Arrive at a compass heading.
f. Using one of many flight simulator software packages available for computers, “fly” the course and heading you established in requirement 3e or another course you have plotted.
g. On a map, mark a route for an imaginary airline trip to at least three foreign countries. Start from the commercial airport nearest your home. From timetables (obtained from agents or online from a computer), decide when you will get to and leave from all connecting points.
h. Build and fly a fuel-driven model airplane. Describe safety rules for building and flying model airplanes Tell safety rules for use of glue, paint, dope, plastics, and fuel.
32 Assemble
a poster (or album) of original photographs taken while accomplishing the
requirements.
BSA Advancement
ID#: 25
Pamphlet
Revision Date: 2000
Source:
Boy Scout Requirements, #33215D, revised 2004
"When once you
have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned
skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to
return."
--Attributed to Leonardo da Vinci (Unconfirmed)
I Want to Be a Pilot
I
want to be a pilot when I grow up because it’s fun and easy to do. Pilots don’t need much school,
they just have to learn numbers so they can read the instruments. I guess they should be able to read maps so
they can find their way if they get lost.
Pilots should be brave so they won’t get scarred if it’s foggy and they
can’t see or if a wing or motor falls off they should stay calm so they’ll know
what to do. Pilots have to have good
eyes so they can see through clouds and they can’t be afraid of lighting or
thunder because they are closer to them then we are. The salary pilots make is another thing that
I like. They make more money than they
can spend. This is because most people
think airplane flying is dangerous except pilots don’t because they know how
easy it is. There isn’t much I don’t
like, except girls like pilots and all the stewardesses want to marry them so
they always have to chase them away so they won’t bother them. I hope I don’t get airsick because if I do I
couldn’t be a pilot and would have to go to work.
A Fifth Grader
Define Aircraft
According to Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary, an aircraft is “a
weight-carrying structure for navigation of the air that is supported either by
its own buoyancy or by the dynamic action of the air against its
surfaces.” The Federal Aviation
Administration (FAA) simplifies this definition to “a device that is used or
intended to be used for flight in the air.”
For pilot certification purposes the
FAA divides aircraft in to the following categories: lighter-than-air, glider,
airplane, rotorcraft, and a fairly new category, powered-lift.
Lighter-than-air
The first type of aircraft that flew were lighter-than-air aircraft. They use a light-weight “envelope” to contain
a volume of gas that is lighter than the surrounding air, making the craft
buoyant. Lighter-than-air aircraft are
divided into two classes: balloons and airships. Balloons can be either “hot air” or
gas-filled.
Balloons
Hot air is less dense than cold air,
in other words, you could say it weighs less.
The contained hot air
makes the balloon buoyant.
Normally, the bigger the envelope, the more weight the balloon can carry
aloft. Hot air balloons must carry fuel
to burn in powerful heaters to keep the air in the envelope hot. Their airborne
time is limited by the amount of fuel they can carry. The hot air balloon’s altitude is normally
controlled by how hot the air in the envelope is—the hotter, the higher. Direction of flight is almost totally
dependent on the direction of the wind.
The balloon pilot will use different altitudes to find a desirable wind
current. To make a rapid descent, and
for landings, the pilot will vent the hot air through special openings in the
envelope.
Gas balloons will use a lifting gas
that is lighter than air, such as helium or hydrogen. Most modern day gas balloons will use helium
since hydrogen is extremely flammable.
The French brothers Etienne and Joseph
Montgolfier built the first hot air balloon in
1783. On
The
National Eagle Scout Association and
Order
of the Arrow hot air balloons at the
2001
National Boy Scout Jamboree
The Breitling
Orbiter 3, a gas-filled balloon.
The Orbiter 3 was the first balloon to
circumnavigate the globe non-stop.
You
can find more information on the Orbiter 3 at:
http://www.breitling.com/eng/aero/orbiter/
Airships
An airship is a lighter-than air aircraft that has
propulsion and steering. Airships generally use gas filled envelopes, but there
are a few hot air (thermal) airships around. Airships can be divided into two
classes, rigid and non-rigid hulls.
Rigid hull airships are known as dirigibles or zeppelins. Non-rigid hull airships are called blimps. Dirigibles use separate gas-bags within the
main envelope, or hull. Their hull is
further divided into useful compartments.
The German airships the Graf Zeppelin, and the Hindenburg, were flying
luxury hotels, with staterooms and dining rooms as well as cargo areas within
the hull.
You can see above how large
the Graf Zeppelin was in relation to a 747 and the HMS Titanic. The picture on the left is a cutaway view of
the envelope showing the internal layout.
The lifting-gas would be carried in separate bladders within the
envelope. The picture on the right shows
one of the luxurious dining rooms aboard the Graf Zeppelin
Gliders
Gliders are also referred to as
sailplanes, and the sport of flying sailplanes is referred to as soaring. Sailplanes get their lift by using gravity
as their propulsion. Sailplanes normally
have sleek, long, very efficient wings. Some sailplanes can glide for over 60
miles from an altitude of 1 mile.
Sailplanes use hot air too. Soarers look for thermals, or rising air currents, to help
them gain altitude in order to soar even farther. The world record for distance flown is well
over 1000 miles and sailplanes have climbed to over 50,000 feet. Sailplanes may
be launched from the ground by tow vehicles or winches. Many places use tow aircraft to haul the
sailplane to altitude. Gliders, towed by
C-47 cargo aircraft, were used in World War II to haul troops and equipment
into enemy territory.
Sailplane
over
http://www.ssa.org/AboutGliding.asp
Airplanes
The Wright
Flyer became the first powered, heavier-than-air machine to achieve
controlled, sustained flight with a pilot aboard. Orville Wright flew the 1st
successful flight on
That
first flight lasted all of 12 seconds and covered a distance of 120 feet (less
than the wingspan of some modern airliners). The airplane flew three more times
that day, with Orville and his brother Wilbur trading places as pilot. Wilbur
had the longest flight that day; it was 852 feet and lasted 59 seconds.
Check out this site to see
an organization attempting to duplicate the Wright Flyer for the 100th
anniversary of powered flight: http://www.wrightflyer.org/
Rotorcraft
Rotorcraft can be divided into two classes,
helicopters and gyroplanes.
Gyroplanes
Gyroplanes
have been around for decades. Gyroplanes
are also known as gyrocopters, gyrodynes, autogyros, and autogiros. They were the first rotary wing
aircraft to fly. Gyroplanes look like a
cross between an airplane and a helicopter.
A gyroplane has a fuselage like an airplane, and a propeller like an
airplane to provide the propulsion, but it gets its lift by a rotor similar to
that in a helicopter. Unlike the rotor
in a helicopter, the rotor in an autogyro is not
powered. It is made to spin by
aerodynamic forces. This type of spinning is known as autorotation.
Helicopters
Pictured is an
MH-53J “Pave Low” Helicopter from the 20th Special Operations Squadron
at
Helicopters fly by creating lift with a rotary wing. The helicopter gets its forward movement by tilting its rotor. In order to compensate for the torque created by the main rotor, helicopters use a tail rotor to provide directional stability.
More
information on how helicopters fly along with interesting facts and links can
be found at: http://www.helis.com/howflies/
Powered Lift
Powered-lift
aircraft are capable of taking off and landing like a helicopter, but, once
airborne, its engine nacelles can be rotated to convert the aircraft to an
airplane capable of high-speed, high-altitude flight.
(PLEASE NOTE: The great majority of the following material was found on: http://www.allstar.fiu.edu/. I need to give credit where it is due, and the Aeronautics Learning Laboratory for Science, Technology, and Research (ALLSTAR) at Florida International University is due all the credit. The material on their site is extensive and illustrates many items better than I would be able to do. I have edited some of the text for brevity, clarification, and to fit within the MB requirements.)
The piston engine is also referred to as a “reciprocating-engine” in an aircraft. Some times you may hear it referred to as a “recip”.
RECIPROCATING-ENGINE
OPERATING PRINCIPLES
Because the fuel mixture is burned within the
engine the reciprocating engine is also known as an internal-combustion engine.
To understand how a reciprocating engine works, we must first study its parts
and the functions they perform.
The
seven major parts are:
32 The cylinders
(2)
The pistons
(3)
The connecting rods
(4)
The crankshaft
(5)
The valves
(6)
The spark plugs
(7)
A valve operating mechanism (cam).
Refer
to the relative location of these parts in Figure 6-2.
Engine
Operation.
The cylinder is closed on one end (this is
called the cylinder head), and the piston fits snugly in the cylinder. The
piston wall is grooved to accommodate rings, which fit tightly against the
cylinder wall and help seal the cylinder’s open end so that gases cannot escape
from the combustion chamber. The combustion chamber is the area between the top
of the piston and the head of the cylinder when the piston is at its uppermost
point of travel.
The up-and-down movement of the piston is converted to rotary motion to turn the propeller by the connecting rod and the crankshaft, just as in most automobiles.
Note
the crankshaft, connecting rod, and piston arrangement in Figure 6- 2 and
imagine how the movement of the piston is converted to the rotary motion of the
crankshaft. Note particularly how the connecting rod is joined to the
crankshaft in an offset manner.
The valves at the top of the cylinder open
and close to let in a mixture of fuel and air and to let out, or exhaust,
burned gases from the combustion chamber. A cam geared to the crankshaft opens and
closes the valve. This gearing arrangement ensures that the two valves open and
close at the proper times.
32 The Intake Stroke
The cycle begins with the piston at top
center; as the crankshaft pulls the piston downward, a partial vacuum is
created in the cylinder chamber. The cam arrangement has opened the intake
valve, and the vacuum causes a mixture of fuel and air to be drawn into the
cylinder.
2.
& 3. Compression and Ignition Stroke
As the crankshaft drives the piston upward
in the cylinder, the fuel and air mixture is compressed. The intake valve has
closed, of course, as this upward stroke begins. As the compression stroke is
completed and just before the piston reaches its top position, the compressed
mixture is ignited by the spark plug.
4.
Power Stroke
The very hot gases expand with tremendous
force, driving the piston down and turning the crankshaft. The valves are
closed during this stroke also.
5.
Exhaust Stroke
On the second upward (or outward, according
to the direction the unit is pointed) stroke, the exhaust valve is opened and
the burned gases are forced out by the piston.
At the moment the piston completes the
exhaust stroke, the cycle is started again by the intake stroke. Each piston
within the engine must make four strokes to complete one cycle, and this
complete cycle occurs hundreds of times per minute as the engine runs.
Reciprocating-Engine Horsepower.
Most persons are acquainted with the term
horsepower as applied to automobile and aircraft reciprocating engines. The
term was coined by James Watt, the inventor of the steam engine, who wished to
evaluate the power output of his steam engine. Watt hitched a horse to an
apparatus and determined that the horse
could lift 550 pounds one foot in one second. Thus, one horsepower became the power