Aviation2Day

Supersonic Aerodynamics: What Changes When You Break the Sound Barrier Aerodynamics · Supersonic Flight Supersonic Aerodynamics: What Changes When You Break the Sound Barrier Subsonic aerodynamics is a world of smooth pressure gradients and gradual transitions. Cross Mach 1 and the physics change categorically — shockwaves, wave drag, and thermal loads rewrite every design assumption. Here's what actually happens, and why it matters. May 2026  ·  10 min read On 14 October 1947, Chuck Yeager climbed into the Bell X-1 over the Mojave Desert and did something no human had verifiably done before: he flew faster than sound. The aircraft didn't disintegrate. The sky didn't fall. What happened instead was far more interesting — a new set of aerodynamic rules snapped into effect, rules that engineers had been trying to model theoretically for a decade and that Yeager's flight finally confirmed in practice. Nearly eighty years l...

TKS Weeping Wing: How Does a Liquid Film Actually Protect You from Ice? Airframe Systems · Icing TKS Weeping Wing: How Does a Liquid Film Actually Protect You from Ice? Unlike bleed-air boots or pneumatic systems, TKS doesn't heat or break ice — it chemically prevents it from bonding in the first place. Here's exactly how it works, what it can handle, and where it runs out of answers. April 2026  ·  8 min read TKS has been around since World War II — originally developed to protect Royal Air Force aircraft from icing — and it remains one of the most widely used de-icing systems on general aviation and regional turboprop aircraft today. The principle is elegantly simple: pump a glycol-based fluid through a porous titanium panel on the leading edge, let it weep out across the surface, and stop ice from ever getting a grip. But "simple principle" and "simple operation" are not the same thing. TKS has specific o...

EGPWS: How Does It Actually Keep You Away From the Ground? EGPWS - SYSTEM BRIEFING EGPWS: How Does It Actually Keep You Away From the Ground? The system generates alerts that save lives every year — but do you fully understand what it's doing, how it decides to warn you, and where it falls short? April 2026  ·  9 min read Most pilots have heard "TERRAIN, TERRAIN — PULL UP" at some point, whether in the simulator or on the line. But EGPWS is more than an alarm. It is a continuously running terrain model built around your aircraft, and understanding its logic makes you a significantly better operator of it. This article walks through what the system actually does, how the enhanced look-ahead function differs from classic GPWS, how to read the terrain display, what the correct response is — and where the system has limits you cannot afford to ignore. GPWS vs. EGPWS: The Key Difference The original Ground Proximity Warn...

ADS-B — Operational Briefing ADS-B: What is it, and How does it work? What it is, how it works, the transponder modes it builds on, where each is required — and exactly how ADS-B sits alongside TCAS on the flight deck. Aviation2day  ·  April 2026  ·  10 min read GND STATION ATC ICAO: 4CA2B1 ALT: FL340 GS: 468kt CALLSIGN: KQ101 ADS-B OUT · 1090 MHz · AUTOMATIC BROADCAST ADS-B — Automatic Dependent Surveillance–Broadcast — is the surveillance technology that has fundamentally changed how air traffic control sees you, and how you can see other traffic. Unlike radar, which relies on ground equipment to interrogate your transponder an...

The Eyes and Brain of the Aircraft: A Deep Dive into Avionics & Flight Instruments | Aviation2Day ALT ASI VSI HDG Aviation2Day · Aircraft Systems & Tech The Eyes & Brain of the Aircraft: A Deep Dive into Avionics Understanding the instruments and electronic systems that pilots depend on to navigate, communicate, and survive in the sky. Category: Aircraft Systems Read time: ~7 min Level: Beginner – Intermediate Imagine sitting in the cockpit of a modern commercial aircraft at 35,000 feet, surrounded by darkness, cloud, and silence — with no landmarks, no horizon, and no visibility whatsoever. The only things standing between you and complete disorientation are the glowing screens and instruments sitting right in front of you. This is the world of avionics — and it is, without exaggeration, what keeps modern aviation alive. ...