Download Activity 4.1.1 The Science of Flight: The Spirit of Innovation

Activity 4.1.1 The Science of Flight: The Spirit
of Innovation
Milestones in Aviation
1. What was the name of Charles Lindbergh’s single winged airplane for his solo flight across the Atlantic?
2. What was Charles Lindbergh’s biggest problem in his solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean?
3. How long was Charles Lindbergh’s historic flight?
4. One of the most important developments in aerospace mass transportation was the development of the 747
airplane. How does the 747 lift off the ground?
5. When and where was the first jet airplane developed?
6. In a jet engine, _________________ is sucked into the front of a compressor, where _____________ is
injected into the high pressure air, is ignited, and is pushed out the___________________ of the compressor,
moving the plane _____________________.
7. What three unique tricks can a Harrier plane perform?
8. The Harrier can also fly _________________________.
9. What can’t the Harrier do?
10. How many miles per hour is the speed of sound?
11. Who was the first person to break the sound barrier?
12. What is the name of the passenger airplane that flies faster than the speed of sound?
13. How fast does it fly?
14. What strange thing happens to this plane in faster-than-sound flight?
15. What is the speed of the space shuttle?
16. What are the three “phases” of space shuttle flight?
The Future of Flight
17. NASA’s long term goal is for travel in space to be as _________________ as travel across the Atlantic.
However, we are ___________________ away from that.
18. Because space flight is so expensive, NASA has been working on a revolutionary form of high speed
propulsion, called _______________________.
19. It is Mach ________________ or _________________ times the speed of sound.
20. Instead of carrying oxygen to burn with the fuel, a scramjet takes the oxygen from the __________________.
This eliminates much of the _______________ of the oxygen tanks.
21. How many years in the future do they predict manned hypersonic flight will be? ___________.
22. The Astroliner, in theory, eliminates the two solid rocket boosters on the side of the shuttle, and replaces them
with a __________ which will ____________ the Astroliner off the ground and into the air to about 20,000 feet.
23. The workhorse of aviation has been the __________. But it will soon have a rival in the Airbus ____________.
24. It flies the same speed as the 747, but it will hold _____________________ the passengers on ____________
decks.
Project Lead The Way, Inc.
Copyright 2011
GTT – Unit 4 – Lesson 1 – Activity 4.1.1 – The Science of Flight: The Spirit of Innovation – Page 1
25. Is it anticipated that military aircraft will look very different in the future?
26. The most unusual looking and the most expensive airplane in the Americas is the ________ bomber, also
called the ________________ bomber.
27. How far can it go without refueling?
28. Each plane costs more than the ______________________________.
29. Predator is an unmanned air vehicle which is _______________ feet long, weighs
__________________pounds, and can cruise for _____________ hours.
30. It is meant to be a ____________________ plane.
31. The next big innovation in flying efficiency seems to be wings that ________________.
32. Helios is an unpiloted ______________________ powered aircraft controlled from the _______________.
33. The speed of Helios at takeoff and landing is about __________________ miles per hour
34. To what record height did this aircraft fly?
Conclusion
1. Why was the Wright brothers’ flight so significant?
2. How do transportation options affect the way we live, work, play, and travel?
3. What kinds of planes do you think will exist in the future?
4. Why is flying at hypersonic speed so difficult?
Project Lead The Way, Inc.
Copyright 2011
GTT – Unit 4 – Lesson 1 – Activity 4.1.1 – The Science of Flight: The Spirit of Innovation – Page 2