2.3 The Operating Environment and Aircraft Performance

 

        With the constant changing of the climate and the temperature dropping everyday, more so than others. I think it is a good idea to take advantage of this topic and talk about how air density affects aircraft performance. As I thought about the direction of where I wanted to go with this I found myself in what seemed like a never ending loop hole. So to keep my post on track I want to keep it as basic as possible without going into a what may seem a never ending loop. First we will talk about the standard reference to be able to compare results. Since the atmospheres pressure changes there is a standard atmosphere at sea level and it has a surface temperature of 59 degrees Fahrenheit, and a surface pressure of 29.92 inches of mercury or Hg (PAHK 2016). With that being said when air density decreases or higher density altitude, the performance of the aircraft is going to decrease. As air becomes less dense the impact of the performance is more significant. This is because there is less air that the engine is able to take in which in turn creates less power. This could also decrease the performances of propellers because the become less efficient as the air thins. Since the air is thin it exerts less for on the airfoils which will affect the lift of the aircraft. Now that we got density of the air out of the way lets add temperature to the topic. When the temperature increases then the density decreases, and reverse for when temperature decreases then density increases.