For airlines that require high amounts of power for their standard set of operations, having a device that provides energy for functions outside of propulsion can be highly beneficial. Common to large aircraft such as commercial airliners, devices such as Auxiliary Power Units (APU) are regularly used for the vehicle to operate autonomously without the aid of a ground power unit, high pressure air start cart, external air conditioning unit, or other various ground support equipment. In this blog, we will discuss the design and operation of auxiliary power units, allowing you to better understand how they augment the operations of various aircraft. Read more >>

Aircraft lighting is a crucial aspect of flight safety, ensuring that pilots and passengers have the ability to see their surroundings to safely move around a cabin, interact with controls, and more. Aircraft cockpit lighting and panel lighting solutions in particular serve an extremely important role, providing pilots visibility to efficiently operate and monitor all aircraft instruments, switches, breakers, and more. In this blog, we will discuss the main aspects of aircraft cockpit lighting, allowing you to better understand how pilots maintain safety and control during low visibility conditions and night operations. Read more >>

Aircraft landing gear can come in a variety of forms, the most common being those that utilize wheels. With a tire and wheel assembly, the entire weight of an aircraft can optimally be supported during takeoff, landing, and taxi procedures. To ensure that even the most massive commercial transporters are supported, wheels are engineered to be extremely strong, yet lightweight. To best understand how the tire and wheel assembly efficiently provides for aircraft ground procedures, one must learn how they are designed and how they function. Read more >>

Preparing for numerous possible weather conditions is a crucial part of flight planning, and it allows for operators to ensure that flight paths can be optimally made using the most efficient and safe routes. Turbulence is one of the most impactful forces on aircraft parts, often accounting for upwards of $100 million annually for the maintenance and efficiency impacts faced by the general aviation sector in the United States alone. To create optimal flight paths while accounting for weather, technology has consistently advanced to increase the capabilities of weather systems for more accurate and real-time forecasting. In this blog, we will discuss the future of weather systems and how upcoming technologies will improve flight planning. Read more >>

A transponder is a wireless communications, monitoring, or control device that picks up and automatically responds to an incoming signal. The term is a contraction of the words transmitter and responder. An aviation transponder has multiple interrogation modes, or formats of pulsed sequences from an interrogating Secondary Surveillance (SSR) or similar system. Multiple modes exist, such as modes 1-5 for military use, and modes A-D for civilian use. In this blog, we will discuss everything you need to know about mode C transponders. Read more >>

While pilots have long relied on electromechanical flight decks and systems in the past, the Electronic Flight Instrument System (EFIS) has quickly grown as a standard for newer models. Rather than feature conventional gauges or dials, the display technology used for the EFIS relies on CRT and LCD screens to group important information together for pilots. As the EFIS continues to grow in use for aircraft, understanding its various components and flight display features can be beneficial to anyone who pilots aircraft or is learning how to fly. Read more >>

Since the advent of flight data recorders, accident investigators have been able to help airline industries and manufacturers discover new ways to increase the safety of flight operations. First introduced in the early 1900s, flight data recorders are electronic devices that are installed within aircraft to record and collect data on many flight parameters and instructions that are sent to aircraft systems. Throughout their history, many improvements have been made to such devices to increase their capabilities and assist in investigations. In this blog, we will discuss the history of the flight data recorder, allowing you to understand how they have been developed over the years and how they are used for accident investigation. Read more >>

An annunciator relay is a device used to indicate dangerous states and operating conditions in control rooms, on control panels, and in mimic diagrams. Annunciator relays feature a robust construction that ensures they are reliable and also suitable for use in harsh ambient conditions. Annunciator relays provide three distinct advantages. For one, their pre-configured messages provide time-saving startup and use. Secondly, their robust mechanical construction ensures reliable and durable use. Finally, individually pre-assembled contact assignments make it available to use in a broad range of applications. There are two types of annunciator relays: semi-automatic and fully automatic. This blog will explain both as well as the most common annunciator designs. Read more >>

While aviation accidents are extremely rare in occurrence, there is always a possibility of an incident happening at some point. As such, it is important that investigators are able to properly understand the events leading up to the accident, as well as secure the data of various avionics and systems. With the flight recorder in flight management system, commonly referred to as a black box, personnel can investigate aircraft accidents during a recovery to analyse what went wrong to further the protection of aircraft for future operations. Read more >>

If you are involved or well versed in the aviation world, you may know the ATA 100 list and the various ATA codes that are included within. As a referencing standard for commercial aircraft documentation, the ATA 100 has been a useful tool for countless pilots, engineers, and aircraft maintenance technicians for a number of years. Although some may be familiar with the list itself, many may not know what ATA stands for, or may be unaware of the contents that it includes. In this blog, we will discuss the history and the included information that the ATA 100 provides for the benefit of all those involved with the aerospace industry. Read more >>