3 ms·
Aerospace eng. here, you are right in that is a confusing terminology. Ram pressurein this context is a way to refer to the available kinetic energy due to airf
by JorgeGT 11y ago
Aerospace eng. here, you are right in that is a confusing terminology. Ram pressurein this context is a way to refer to the available kinetic energy due to airflow: 1/2 x density x speed^2 (also called dynamic pressure).
A point to stress is that the energy delivered to the plane systems by this auxiliary turbine is thus varying with the square of the speed of the plane. That means that as you slow down for landing, the RAT delivers less and less energy... and the commanding authority of the hydraulic-actuated control surface lowers, making the plane less and less controllable. Not fun!
- toomuchtodo 11y agoYou'd think the RAT would charge a battery acting as buffer. But who am I to armchair quarterback an entire aerospace industry.
- astrodust 11y agoHaving a sufficiently large battery introduces another point of failure, something undesirable in a situation where you're already in bad shape. You don't deploy the RAT unless shit is going sideways.
- JorgeGT 11y ago> You don't deploy the RAT unless shit is going sideways. We can't also confirm nor deny that RAT is a hand-picked acronym to make the "rats leaving the ship, we're doomed" joke.