Charles the Pilot
Uploaded by astonmartinag on Sep 25, 2005
I chose this instrument panel because I think it would be cool to demonstrate how Charles Lindbergh had to navigate and fly. This instrument panel is similar to the one Charles used in his flights. The top instrument was used to find his way. On the left is the air speed this was very critical when Charles had to take off, land, and cruising. The instrument located the lowest is bank this was very important when he was given coordinates. On the right is his clock. This was Charles only way of knowing time and knowing how long to turn. In the center is his altitude instrument this told him how many he feet above see level he was in thousands. To use this an example in some situations Charles would fly at 10,000 feet (using his altitude instrument), then had 240 degrees (using compass), with a 20 degrees bank (using his bank instrument), going 90 nautical miles, and do this for 10 seconds. Now flight navigation is much easier. Using one GPS (global positioning system) can almost help you navigate across the whole world. This is very important for the future to further advance flying navigation and making it much easier.
I chose the ST. Louis plane to show how planes were back then. A small company, the Ryan Aeronautical Company of San Diego, arranged to build a plane for Charles Lindbergh for $6,000 in addition to the cost of the engine. He went to their small plant in San Diego and observed the design modifications and the construction his plane. Basically, the Spirit of St. Louis was a custom-built airplane, designed specifically to fly Lindbergh across the Atlantic. There was no parachute and no radio .The plane was 27 feet long, the wings were forty-five feet to help lift the 2700 pounds (400+ gallons) of gas. The rest of the airplane, the engine, and its pilot only weighed about 2500 pounds. Powered by a 223hp(which is very low) engine. The plane could cruise for about 4,200 miles. RAC employees worked day and night to finish the aircraft in just two months which was pretty good considering the fact that airplanes weren’t that advance back then. This plane helped Charles to become one of the most famous pilots in the world by achieving the transatlantic flight and wining the Raymond Orteig $25,000 prize. Charles is a pioneer in the...