Counterweights are common to aircraft manufacturing and operations, serving to provide an opposing force that balances and stabilizes mechanical systems. Counterweights may be used in numerous ways, often being relied on for the balancing of control surfaces, the management of propeller pitches, and for balancing the crankshafts of piston-powered aircraft. To help you better understand how such components are used, we will discuss aircraft counterweight components in more detail.

The heads-up display, or HUD, of an aircraft is an extremely useful display, allowing for pilots to view important data without having to stray their eyes from their typical viewpoints. These displays are transparent in design, ensuring that a pilot can look at data and maintain eyesight out of the cockpit windshield at the same time for safety. A combiner is a standard element of any aircraft heads-up display, working alongside projector units and video generation computers to provide information on the display. In this blog, we will discuss combiner aircraft parts and assemblies, allowing you to better understand how they promote the functionality of a HUD.

The use of adhesive substances in aviation is widespread. In fact, nearly every part of an airplane, from the engine to the exterior panels, uses some type of adhesive to hold them together. Therefore, a solid understanding of adhesives and their implementation on an aircraft is beneficial to prospective owners, maintenance crews, and pilots. In this blog, we will discuss what an adhesive is and how they are used to hold an airplane together.

While there is a universal understanding that aircraft move at incredible speeds, surpassing an aircraft's imposed speed recommendations can produce hazardous consequences. To provide pilots with visual awareness of current airspeeds being traveled at, devices like airspeed indicators (ASI) are typically used. Depending on aircraft model, various measurement conventions can be used to calculate airspeed and range from indicated airspeed (IAS), calibrated airspeed (CAS), equivalent airspeed (EAS), and true airspeed (TAS). However, to distinguish airspeed on high-speed aircraft such as jets and airliners, a machmeter must be employed. Indicating airspeed as a Mach number (M), machmeter instruments project the ratio between an aircraft’s true airspeed (TAS) and the speed of sound (LSS) when measured by a pitot-static system.

Bolt fasteners are useful components for securing assemblies, ensuring that two or more items are kept together while taking on their structural loads. In some applications, the amount of vibration that is present during operations may pose a risk to a bolt in terms of loosening. With a type of bolt known as a lockbolt, the fastener can lock itself in an assembly to prevent loosening and provide increased strength and a longer service life as compared to conventional fastener variations. In this blog, we will discuss the lockbolt in detail, allowing you to better understand how such fasteners are used across various applications.

A gearmotor is a device that combines the features of an electric motor and gearbox together, allowing for high-torque, low-speed applications to benefit from their assembly. When space and power is limited, the gearmotor can be used to multiply output torque while remaining compact, increasing the efficiency of various systems. In this blog, we will discuss the various considerations that should be made when choosing between gearmotor devices, ensuring that your application can excel in operations with ease.

Varnish is a type of liquid coating material, composed of resin that is capable of drying into a hard transparent film. While varnish is commonly associated with woodworking for the means of protecting surfaces and improving their appearance, insulating varnish is also quite useful for electrical applications. For devices such as motors, transformers, generators, sensors, and various other apparatuses that rely on electromagnetic induction for their functionality, insulating varnish and impregnating resins serve to protect and enhance electrical insulation and structural integrity.

Bleed screws are a common fastener that serves multiple applications such as household central heating radiators, car engines, car radiators, braking systems, and more. Often used for hydraulic systems, bleed screws are employed within assemblies for the means of establishing temporary openings in normally closed systems. For hydraulic assemblies in particular, the bleed screw enables air or other substances to be expelled from the system through the use of pressure and density differences. In this blog, we will discuss bleed screws and how they are used for their common applications, allowing you to better understand their implementation and importance.

One of the first things student pilots must master is the concept of aircraft axes: the understanding that flying an aircraft is a three-dimensional task. Unlike a car or boat, aircraft are affected by three dimensions. A working understanding of these axes, pitch, yaw, and roll, is key to operating any aircraft, regardless of its size. Whether it’s an advanced fighter jet or a basic glider, these axes affect every aircraft in the sky.

Bellows are a device that is designed to provide strong blasts of air  through the compression of the assembly. Aircraft bellows can come in a wide variety of types, allowing them to serve applications such as metallurgy, fluids transfer, aviation, and more. In regard to aviation, bellows can be used in a number of ways such as converting pressure and temperature into motion, assisting altimeter functionality, and transferring oil  through the engine for cooling. Due to the various roles that such components serve, it is useful to understand what they are and how they function.