ASAP Parts Online Blog

Speed is an essential part of aviation that affects the plane from takeoff to landing. Rather than maintaining a specific speed throughout their flight, aircraft must fly at different speeds depending on where they are in their journey. Furthermore, the speed at which planes are able to fly is dependent on their classifications, engine type, weight at take-off, and aerodynamics. To better understand how planes depend on speed throughout their flight, read on as we discuss the relationship between the speed at which an airplane flies, and other factors such as timing and plane type.

While aircraft are highly reliable vehicles that can traverse long distances in a matter of hours, they can only do so as a result of their design and how they manipulate airflow. While engines provide thrust and wings ensure ample lift generation, there still needs to be surfaces in place for the means of balancing the aircraft and assisting it during its turns, climbs, and descents. These surfaces often come in the form of stabilizers, those of which include the vertical stabilizer and the horizontal stabilizer. In this blog, we will discuss both aircraft stabilizer types, allowing you to better understand the role they play in standard flight operations.

Pilots rely on many instruments to monitor a great amount of critical information during flight. Understanding the purpose of these instruments can help break down the complex variables that one must learn to monitor when operating aircraft. To start, this blog will examine the purposes of a digital manometer which is used for measuring pressure in meteorological settings and compressor systems. In aviation settings, manometers often function to measure the pressure of air facing the front of the plane, but they can also give you readings required for various appliances powered by propane like barbeque grills. While manometers can be either analog or digital, we will further explore the advantages of the latter.

Whether one is dealing with a terminal block, instrument cables, relays, or other various parts of an aircraft electrical system, it is important that solutions are in place for connecting cables to appliances and mechanisms. While crimping is a common method for establishing such connections in a wide variety of applications, it can be a more encumbering process that has its own shortcomings if not implemented correctly. As such, utilizing a lug can be a much easier solution for establishing such connections, ensuring that connections are always secure, reliable, and long-lasting. In this blog, we will discuss various types of lugs and their uses, including those such as the terminal lug, boot lace-type lug, and U-type cable lug.

Like most vehicles, helicopters rely upon fossil fuels to meet their energy requirements. Many people  tend to assume that helicopters utilize the same fuel as fixed-wing aircraft, but that is not necessarily the case in most circumstances. Additionally, it is important to recognize that fuel demands and compatibility will vary between different helicopters. Choosing the right fuel type can affect the engine's performance, reliability, and operational longevity, which is why it is critical to understand the differences between the various types in routine use. In this blog, we will discuss everything you need to know about helicopter fuel as well as fuel consumption.

Drones are important tools that have risen in popularity over the past few decades, serving as unmanned aerial vehicles that can perform in a wide variety of applications, their use ranging from simple hobbies to scientific research endeavors. Many drones utilize batteries for power, ensuring that they have the ability to drive and operate propeller assemblies and other systems that enable flight and control. As the battery is essential for carrying out operations, it is important that users understand how to properly care for them. With optimal maintenance, drone batteries can have their service lives extended with ease. 

While flying in rainy weather is not an immediate call for concern, it is important that pilots are able to maintain visuals outside of the cockpit to the best of their ability for the means of safety. Depending on the aircraft, rain may be removed from the windshield in varying ways, common equipment including windshield wiper equipment, chemical rain repellent, pneumatic rain removal equipment, or windshields with hydrophobic surface coatings. Aircraft may have one or a combination of these aircraft rain control systems, and understanding how they are used is important for any current or prospective pilot. 

The electrical system is a complex network of wires and devices that plays a vital role in every aircraft. Without an electrical system, a modern aircraft would be limited in its capabilities and functionalities.  The electrical system is responsible for the operations of lights and other vital systems, including GPS, communication systems, and all the functional features of avionics systems. Additionally, electrical systems also support mundane processes such as engine ignition and the functionality of the auxiliary fuel pump.

Relays are a common form of electrically operated switch capable of using single or multiple control signals to manage circuits through making and breaking contacts. While many types of relays consist of various moving parts that help facilitate operations, solid state relays, in particular, are a more specialized switching device that can switch between on and off states with the use of external voltage supplies to its control terminals. With their lack of moving components, solid state relays exhibit much longer service lives, making them a fairly reliable option for many applications. To help you decide whether or not a solid state relay is the right fit for your needs, we will discuss their functionality and design in more detail.

The aerospace supply chain that facilitates production is a robust global system, encompassing the many entities that design and sell essential materials and commodities. The supply chain is broken down into three levels or tiers of suppliers, those of which ensure the continued operations of original equipment manufacturers (OEM) and the military alike. In this blog, we will discuss the various tiers of the aerospace supply chain and the entities that benefit from them, allowing you to better understand how the industry as a whole functions.