Math in Aviation

[Grassynome]

Hello, I am currently a sophomore at ASU and looking into the possibility of naval aviation, either for fighter planes, or helos I think would even be awesome. My question is if there is a lot of math in aviation or any special skill that you need (besides good hand eye coordination) that I could possibly take classes to get better at before I graduate.
Thanks!

 

[C420sailor]

Basic mental math. "My engine just took a shit, I'm at 10,000ft, and my airplane has a glide ratio of 10:1. How far can I glide this piece?" It's not exactly rocket science.

Outside of the airplane, you will be challenged with more difficult problems. For example, if a case of Budweiser is $14.99 and has 4.0% ABV and a case of Bud Ice is $17.99 and has 5.9% ABV, which one will yield more poor life decisions per dollar spent?

Special skills required? Drinking, pulling tail, and not being a douche.

 

[P3 F0]

Basic mental math. "My engine just took a shit, I'm at 10,000ft, and my airplane has a glide ratio of 10:1. How far can I glide this piece?" It's not exactly rocket science.

Outside of the airplane, you will be challenged with more difficult problems. For example, if a case of Budweiser is $14.99 and has 4.0% ABV and a case of Bud Ice is $17.99 and has 5.9% ABV, which one will yield more poor life decisions per dollar spent?

Special skills required? Drinking, pulling tail, and not being a douche.

It's not just being able to do that kind of mental gymnastics, but being able to do it along with about four other simultaneous things, under extreme pressure, in a very short amount of time. And do it right the first time. You may never have that particular flight, but you'll have plenty of flights with some of those elements.

Along with the beer math, you also need to be able to do DTS math: CMR for 4 days, cross the int'l date line, PMR for 3 days, cross the date line the other way, add the plane fare, travel agent fee, hotels, taxis, figure out where to add the missing day and where to take out the extra day, break out hotel room taxes, subtract your GTC amount from the total amount to figure split pay, etc...

 

[CommodoreMid]

In terms of NFO primary, if you can multiply by 60, your life will be soooooooooo much easier.

 

[Beans]

Hello, I am currently a sophomore at ASU and looking into the possibility of naval aviation, either for fighter planes, or helos I think would even be awesome. My question is if there is a lot of math in aviation or any special skill that you need (besides good hand eye coordination) that I could possibly take classes to get better at before I graduate.
Thanks!

Want to improve your mental math? Try to guess your total bill the next time you go to the grocery store before you checkout. Or, try to keep up w/ the running total as the clerk scans everything. Bonus points if you can add the tax. The speed is what will help you. For most of the little calculations you will have to do in flight training, you'll have a calculator of some sort, but doing it in your head will give you a vital sanity check for your numbers.

 

[KCOTT]

i think i used math in API, but im in the VT's so don't listen to me

 

[Brett327]

Short answer: There's no math in the cockpit beyond basic arithmetic.

Brett

 

[picklesuit]

I got my degree in Animal Science. I have no engineering, math, or extra physics. I never took calculus...ever. I'm proof that any retard can get their wings....don't sweat the math.

 

[TheBubba]

Agree with all of the above. Basic math is it. That and you don't have to gnat's ass it in the jet. More like I'm going ABOUT 420 kts, its ABOUT 42 miles, so it'll take ABOUT 10 minutes. The words "approximately" and "about" are used alot. That and use the rule of 5's... round to the nearest 5 and then do the math.

As far as beer math goes, you also need to know about how much your tab is going to be as it starts to look like you're gonna "win" credit card roulette... and then convert Euro to Dollars as you realize "Oh shit... i don't have that much in my account". Or keep track of how many beer coins you've won playing dice... and realize that you've just lost them all b/c the asshole Growler guy you're piddling with just got four 5's in 2...

 

[scoolbubba]

Short answer: There's no math in the cockpit beyond basic arithmetic.

Brett

You have to use arithmetic? What the hell have I been doing all this time?

 

[Mos]

For API, it helps to have at least had algebra and trigonometry in high school. The material has some formulas, though it's not like you'll be working out problems, just understanding what they mean. I had pretty much no math in college and was able to get through it just fine. Hardest thing mathmetically was just getting my mind used to using arithmetic and making rough estimates. Something about instinctively wanting to get precise answers that doesn't sit well with that.

 

[FlyBoyd]

Become familiar with the TLAR method. That is really all you need.

 

[KCOTT]

L = 1/2 * p * V * s^2 * CL


if V goes up, L goes up

if s goes down, L goes down

 

[UserName]

L = 1/2 * p * V * s^2 * CL

I think its
L=1/2 *p * V^2 * s * CL

 

[A4sForever]

2 + 2 = 5 .... sometimes.

That's all you need ... it got me through.