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Adjusting Plane—A small plane, or surface, at the outer end of a wing, by which the lateral (from side to side) balance of an aeroplane is adjusted. It is not connected with the controlling mechanism, as are the ailerons—nor with any automatic device.
Aerodrome—A term used by Professor Langley as a better name for the aeroplane; but latterly it has been applied to the buildings in which airships are housed, and also in a few instances, as a name for the course laid out for aeronautical contests.
Aerofoil—Another name for the aeroplane, suggested as more accurate, considering that the surfaces are not true planes.
Aeronef—Another name for an aeroplane.
Aeroplane—The type of flying machine which is supported in the air by a spread of surfaces or planes, formerly flat, and therefore truly “plane,” but of late more or less curved. Even though not absolutely accurate, this term has resisted displacement by any other.
Aerostat—A free balloon afloat in the air.
Aeronate—A captive balloon.
Aileron—A small movable plane at the wing-tips, or hinged between the main planes, usually at their outer ends, operated by the aviator to restore the lateral balance of the machine when disturbed.
Air-speed—The speed of aircraft as related to the air in which they are moving; as distinguished from [land-speed] (which see).
Alighting Gear—Devices on the under side of the aeroplane to take up the jar of landing after flight, and at the same time to check the forward motion at that moment.
Angle of Entry—The angle made by the tangent to the curve of the aeroplane surface at its forward edge, with the direction, or line, of travel.
Angle of Incidence—The angle made by the chord of the arc of a curved “plane,” or by the line of a flat plane, with the line of travel.
Angle of Trail—The angle made by the tangent to the rear edge of a curved plane with the line of travel.
Apteroid—A form resembling the “short and broad” type of the wings of certain birds—as distinguished from the [pterygoid] (which see).
Arc—Any part of a circle, or other curved line.
Arch—The curve formed by bending the wings downward at the tips, leaving them higher at the centre of the machine.
Aspect—The view of the top of an aeroplane as it appears when looked down upon from above.
Aspiration—The (hitherto) unexplained tendency of a curved surface—convex side upward—to rise and advance when a stream of air blows against its forward edge and across the top.
Attitude—The position of a plane as related to the line of its travel; usually expressed by the angle of incidence.
Automatic Stability—That stability which is preserved by self-acting, or self-adjusting, devices which are not under the control of the operator, nor a fixed part of the machine, as are the adjusting planes.
Aviation—Flying by means of power-propelled machines which are not buoyed up in the air, as with gas bags.
Aviator—The operator, driver, or pilot of an aeroplane.