Before you read the text answer the following questions

1. What professional skills must the plane maker have?

2. What are the aspects of aircraft designing?

Reading

Read the text to see whether your predictions were correct.

Read the text and match the English words with their Russian counterparts.

1. freight a. усталостная прочность

2. load b. продуктивность, КПД

3. efficiency c. испытание

4. airworthiness d. испытательная станция

5. test e. нагрузка

6. sample f. груз

7. fatigue strength g. образец

8. test house h. пригодность к полёту

Scan the text and highlight the adjectives describing airplane designing. If you don’t know their meaning you should consult a dictionary.

The Plane Makers

A. There are two main things that make aircraft engineering difficult: the need to make every component as reliable as possible and the need to build everything as light as possible.

B. Given a certain power of engine and a certain fuel consumption, there is practical limit to the total weight of aircraft, that can be made to fly. Out of that weight as much as possible is wanted for fuel, radio navigational instruments and, of course, for passengers or freight themselves. So the structure of the aircraft has to be as small and light as safety and efficiency will allow. The designer must calculate the normal load that each part will bear. This specialist is called the “stress man”.

C. The stress man’s calculations go to the designer of the part, and he must make it as strong as the stress man says. One or two samples are always tested to prove that they are as strong as the designer intended. Each separate part is tested, then a whole assembly – for example, a whole wing, and finally the whole airplane. When a new type of airplane is being made normally only one of the first three made will be flown. Two will be destroyed on the ground in structural tests. The third one will be tested in the air.

D. Two kinds of ground tests are carried out. The first is to find the resistance to loading of the wings, tail, etc. until they reach their maximum load and collapse. The other test is for fatigue strength. Small loads are applied thousands of times. Each may be well as a single load, but many repetitions can result in collapse. When a plane has passed all the tests it can get a government certificate of airworthiness without which it cannot fly.

E. Making the working parts reliable is as difficult as making the structure strong enough. The flying controls, the electrical equipment , etc. must not only be light in weight, but must work both at high altitudes where the temperature may be below freezing point and in the hot air in the tropics.

F. To solve all these problems the aircraft industry has a large number of research workers, with elaborate laboratories and test houses. And new materials to give the best strength in relation to weight are constantly being tested.

Comprehension Check

1. Choose the answer which is the most corresponding with the text information:

1. The two main requirements of aircraft design are:

- speed and passenger comfort

- making things both light and reliable.

2. The maximum possible weight of an aircraft is determined by

- the engine power

- the number of passengers

3. The stress man’s job is to calculate

- how safe the plane is

- how strong each part must be

4. The first three airplanes of a new type

- do not fly

- are used for testing purposes

5. All equipment in an aircraft must

- work especially well at high temperature

- work perfectly within a wide range of temperature

6. Certificates of airworthiness are given by

- the aircraft industry

- the government

7. Research workers

- are employed in large numbers by the aircraft industry

- do not need elaborate laboratories

8. New materials are

- too expensive to use in the aircraft industry

- put to a variety of tests

2. Insert the proper words from the box:

airworthiness ground tests small materials samples strong light

1. One or two ….. are always tested to prove that they are as …… as designer intended.

2. Two kinds of …. strength tests are carried out.

3. The structure of the aircraft has to be as ….. and ……. as safety and efficiency will allow.

4. When a plane has passed all the …… it can get a government certificate of …. without it cannot fly.

5. New ….. to give the best strength in relation to weight are constantly being tested.

Divide the text into logical parts. Think of the subtitle to each part. Highlight the key words of each part.

In the text find the definition of a stress man.

5. Answer the questions:

1. What are the things which make aircraft engineering difficult?

2. What is a practical limit to the total weight of aircraft?

3. Where and why do the stress man’s calculations go?

4. Why are samples tested?

5. How many airplanes of new type are destroyed in structural tests?

6. What types of ground strength tests are carried out?

7. Can the airplane fly without government certificate of airworthiness?

8. What are the requirements for the flying controls, the electrical equipment, etc?

9. What must the working parts of the aircraft be?

10. For what reason are the new materials being tested?

Vocabulary Focus