Canadian Museum of Flight

Tag: Ask the Mechanic

  • Ask the Mechanic – Weight and Balance

    Ask the Mechanic – Weight and Balance

    Ask the Mechanic – Weight and Balance A subject that pilots study in training is Weight and Balance. It is obvious too much weight will make it difficult for a plane to lift off the ground, but what is the ‘balance’ part of this topic? How does it affect the pilot as he/she loads the…

  • Ask the Mechanic – Piston engine development

    Ask the Mechanic – Piston engine development

    Ask the Mechanic – The history of aircraft piston-engine development The first and most important requirement for an aircraft engine is that it must be reliable. At the end of WWI, the Curtis OX-5 often failed after only 30 hours of operation, but 30 years later, the Wright R-3350s ran for 3,000 hours. Airlines used multiple…

  • Ask the Mechanic – Biplanes

    Ask the mechanic. Why did most old aircraft have upper and lower wings, while others had one? The wings of old aircraft were of very shallow construction and made from cotton stretched over a wooden frame. This made it difficult to get a single wing that had sufficient strength to take the flight and ground…