Flight Theory – Pilot Rating

Flight Theory. You should know: 

• be able to explain in detail how a wing creates lift, including the relevance of venturi tubes and Bernoulli’s theorem
• be able to define and use terms such as chord line, angle of attack, aspect ratio, centre of pressure, washout
• be able to describe the aerodynamics of the stall
• be able to simply describe factors affecting stability in pitch, roll and yaw · understand the relationship between glide ratio and l/d ratio
• understand the effect of ballast
• be able to name the forces on a glider in steady flight and explain their relationship
• be able to name the various types of drag and explain their causes
• be able to describe the relationship between the induced, parasitic and total drag and airspeed using drag curves
• understand and be able to use a polar curve
• understand the basic working principles of altimeters and variometers
• understand terms such as total energy and airmass in connection with variometers