Aircraft Maintenance Engineering

To move an  airplane  through the air, we have to use some kind of  propulsion system  to generate  thrust.  The most widely used form of propulsion system for modern aircraft is the  gas turbine engine. Turbine engines come in a variety of forms. This page shows computer drawings of four different variations of a gas turbine or jet engine. While each of the engines are different, they share some  parts  in common. Each of these engines have a  combustion section  (red), a  compressor (cyan), a  turbine  (magenta) and an  inlet  and a  nozzle  (grey). The compressor, burner, and turbine are called the  core  of the engine, since all gas turbines have these components. The core is also referred to as the  gas generator  since the output of the core is hot exhaust gas. The gas is passed through a nozzle to produce thrust for the turbojet, while it is used to drive the turbine (green) of the turbofan and turboprop engines. Because the compressor and turbine are  linked  by the centra

This is one of those patents that absolutely in no way signifies that the company who files it is working on the thing that the patent is patenting. Because we can assure you, Boeing is  not*   actively developing a laser-triggered fusion powered jet engine . But that doesn’t mean we can’t get excited about it anyway, right? Here’s the basic idea: you’ve got a cavity that’s a sort of hemisphere shape, kind of like the business end of a rocket engine. You toss a pellet of fuel into that cavity, and then lasers blast the fuel pellet, causing it to release a bunch of energy (by exploding, fissioning, fusing, or whatever). That energy pushes against the walls of the cavity, and the cavity moves forward. At the same time, the explosion heats the walls of the cavity, and this heat is harvested to drive the lasers. Pretty awesome, right? Here’s a taste of technical bewonderment  from the patent (which I’ve edited down to remove some of the needlessly redundant patent-babble): The lase

What is a jet engine? A jet engine is a machine that converts energy-rich, liquid fuel into a powerful pushing  force  called thrust. The thrust from one or more engines pushes a plane forward, forcing air past its scientifically shaped wings to create an upward force called lift that powers it into the sky. That, in short, is  how planes work —but how do jet engines work? Jet engines and car engines One way to understand modern jet engines is to compare them with the piston engines used in early airplanes, which are very similar to the ones still used in cars. A  piston engine  (also called a reciprocating engine, because the pistons move back and forth or "reciprocate") makes its power in strong steel "cooking pots" called cylinders. Fuel is squirted into the cylinders with air from the atmosphere. The piston in each cylinder compresses the mixture, raising its temperature so it either ignites spontaneously (in a  diesel engine ) or with help from a sparking

STRUCTRUL CLASSIFICATION- Aircraft structure is divided into three categories for the purposes of assessing damage and the application of repair protocol that are suitable for the structure under consideration. Manufacturer manuals designate which category a structure falls under and the technician is required to repair and maintain that structure in accordance with rules specified for the category under which it falls. The three categories for structure are: primary, secondary and tertiary. Primary structure- Primary structure is any portion of the aircraft structure that, if it fails, on the ground or in flight, would likely cause any of the following: • A loss of control of the aircraft. • Catastrophic structural collapse. • Injury to occupants. • Power unit failure. • Unintentional operation. • Inability to operate a service. Some examples of primary structure are wings spars, engine mounts, fuselage frames, and main floor structural members. Within the prima