Aviation Maintenance

Exploring some of the astonishing technology behind the engines' advanced components, the BBC documentary program meets the skilled engineers who design and build them, and experience the ups and downs of life on the assembly line.

Focusing on the A380 wing—at 17.7 meters from front to back and 36.3 meters from fuselage to wingtip, it is the largest ever produced for a civil airliner—this program explores the frontiers of aircraft design and manufacturing, visiting two major Airbus factories in the United Kingdom.

This video outlines the forces of Lift and Gravity on an aircraft and goes on to describe how different structures on the plane are used to control these forces. Experts on aeronautics and flight give exciting commentary on their area of expertise.

This second video in the Principles of Flight series focuses on the forces of Thrust and Drag and how each can affect flight.

In this program, a flying instructor explains how to answer two crucial preflight questions: is the airplane’s weight within the manufacturer’s maximum allowable gross weight, and is the actual center of gravity within the manufacturer’s allowable center of gravity range. The computational calculation method is applied to several hypothetical situations of the type to be found on an FAA exam.