Air Legislation - Essay Example

Air legislation can be defined as the air laws overriding Air Transport, Air Navigation, and the Maintenance of Civil Aircraft and its equipment to the required minimum Airworthiness standards provided by the country’s laws. Air legislation involves numerous requirements and regulations. Requirements are the standards applied in civil aircraft and do not have to be accepted by Parliament. Regulations are the air laws that are appropriate to civil aircraft and must be approved by Parliament. The role of these laws is to ensure there is proper regulation of indoor air quality for human health protection by governing the air pollution emission from human sources into the atmosphere.

The center of gravity of an aircraft is its central imaginary point where it would balance when suspended. This point is important because it helps to determine an aircraft’s elevator effectiveness and stability and has an effect on the aircraft’s performance. For a successful flight, the center of gravity should always fall within the stated limits provided by the aircraft’s manufacturer. These limits are the stated lateral and longitudinal limits where the center of gravity of an aircraft must be situated during flight and is indicated in the aircraft’s manual. A change in the aircraft’s forward center of gravity increases the stability and the aircraft behaves as if it is heavier. This makes the aircraft resist movement from outside forces. With the forward movement of the center of gravity, the aircraft is heavier on the nose. Change in the center of gravity from its required forward limit makes the elevator to be unable to hold its nose up, especially during takeoff, landing, and power-off glides.

The performance of the aircraft decreases with a forward center of gravity. This creates a greater downward power on the aircraft’s tail needed to maintain the level of cruising flight. This makes the aircraft soar at a greater angle of attack which leads to a higher indicated stall speed and more drag. An aft change of the center of gravity decreases the aircraft’s stability because the aircraft becomes more unstable as the center of gravity moves to the aft. This is because the elevator has a short arm distance from the center of gravity and therefore it needs more deflection to produce an equal result. Stall recovery is almost impossible as the aircraft’s tendency to pitch down has been reduced. Moving the center of gravity beyond the aft limit makes the stall and spin recovery difficult. Change of the aft center of gravity increases performance because there is required descending dynamism on the tail of the aircraft is less and this reduces the lift required by the wing. The wing acquires an advanced cruise speed and flies at a lower angle of attack.

An aircraft’s center of gravity is not permanently fixed on a strategic point as its location mostly depends on weight distribution in the aircraft. When the variable load objects are shifted, the aircraft’s center of gravity location changes. If the center of gravity of the aircraft is displaced too forward on the longitudinal axis, its nose will be too heavy. Flying an imbalanced aircraft can make its pilot to be exhausted quickly creating safety threats and flight inefficiency. It should also be noted that excessive trimming of the aircraft’s load may reduce its aerodynamic efficiency and also reduce the primary control travel distance in the location of the trim application.

Increased weight on the center of gravity will reduce the rate and angle of climb, reduce the aircraft’s cruising speed, and reduce maneuverability. It will also make the aircraft have a longer takeoff run than required; it will also have a longer landing roll than needed. A change of the center of gravity of the aircraft results in a higher takeoff speed than required, it will also increase the landing speed and the stalling speed.