Weight, Wind
Starting my posting career here with homework help, I guess that is as expected. Im currently doing the performance portion of my ATPL(A) and I've been trying to wrap my head around a few concepts, I'm a fairly low time pilot (1000TT Light AC with about 850 as an instructor) with training from the US converting my licenses in Norway.
As Ive seen, people are not too fond of outright "what is the answer to my question"-threads, so I'll try first, then see how far off I am. Unfortunately, the Oxford book is pretty short on information about this subject, not really giving me what I'm looking for. If there are other databases where I can soak up information like this, tips are appreciated.
An airplane is descending with a constant IAS and zero thrust. What happens to the descent gradient when the OAT increases?
Pretty lost at this one. Safe to say, if this was a climb the answer would be obvious, the low air density would result in worse climb performance. Is it safe to assume that the opposite is true for descent gradient? That the lower air density would result in less parasite drag and therefore allowing me to keep a lower descent gradient in an engine out situation?
An airplane is descending with a constant IAS and zero thrust. What happens to the descent gradient when the airplane reaches a lower altitude?
As my only answer to the last question was as mentioned, I would now assume that due to the air density increasing as we reach lower altitudes, parasite drag would again increase and force a higher descent gradient. From reading about configuration and its effects, it seems that more drag will increase the gradient. But I also want to clarify that this is not due to the pitch down moment often associated with extending flaps and gear.
An airplane is descending with a constant IAS. What happens to the descent path gradient when tailwind is increasing?
I think I got this one, but we'll bring it in anyway, since gradient is directly related to groundspeed, I would assume that a higher ground speed would increase my gradient. Am I underthinking this?
Hopefully this doesnt annoy anyone, as I have atleast tried to come up with a homemade solution to this, feel free to flame my incompetence! (Starting to wonder if I'll even survive the ATPL(A))
EDIT: Thread title is messed up, unfortunately I cant find a way to edit it
Last edited by oddballer; 19th Feb 2015 at 12:43.