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ATSC 231 Block 3 Objectives
(Turbulence) Exam Questions and
Answers 100% Pass
What are the three hazards resulting from turbulence? - ✔✔Loss of Control, Airframe Damage, Passenger
Comfort/Safety
What type of operation does turbulence produce the greatest frequency of accidents? - ✔✔Part 121
What is the average annual number of injuries caused by turbulence? - ✔✔58
Aviation definition of turbulence - ✔✔Irregular motion of an aircraft in flight, especially when
characterized by rapid up-and-down motion, caused by a rapid variations of atmospheric wind velocities
Meteorological definition of turbulence - ✔✔Irregular fluctuations occurring in fluid motions
What are the factors that determine the transition from laminar to turbulent flow - ✔✔Primarily Wind
speed and surface roughness, but also density, stability, viscosity, and other factors
What are two types of turbulent flow - ✔✔Waves, Eddies/Vortices
What are the characteristics of waves? - ✔✔Regular oscillation of wind, you might not even feel
turbulence if in a wave
What are the characteristics of eddies? - ✔✔Vortices embedded in the mean wind flow. Eddies are what
cause gusts
What scale does turbulence the effect aircraft occur on? - ✔✔Microscale
Emily Charlene © 2025, All Rights Reserved.
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What factors affect lift? - ✔✔Coefficient of Lift, Air density, air speed, wing area
How does the coefficient of lift changes with angle of attack - ✔✔Increases linearly with increasing AOA
until stall
What is load factor? - ✔✔Ratio of the total air load acting on an aircraft to the gross weight of the aircraft
What factors affect load factor in turbulence - ✔✔Gusts, Airspeed, Wing Loading
How do vertical gusts affect load factor - ✔✔Change in AOA and change of relative wind. Change in lift,
change in load factor. Aircraft may stall or exceed a limitation
How does airspeed affect load factor - ✔✔Determines additional lift created by gust, slower is better.
Maneuvering speed
What is wing loading - ✔✔Ratio of weight of aircraft to wing surface area
How does wing loading affect load factor - ✔✔Gust load factor inversely proportional to wing loading,
smooth ride with high wing loading
What are the various units that are used to describe the magnitude of turbulence - ✔✔Feet per minute,
G's, meters squared per second squared, Eddy dissipation rate
Energy cascades from smaller eddies to larges ones in the atmosphere - ✔✔FALSE
Critical eddy size to affect aircraft - ✔✔50ft - 1500ft
What are convective turbulence - ✔✔Turbulence that results from rising currents of air
Characteristics of thermals - ✔✔Rising mass of buoyant air
Two models, plume (rising, still attached to surface) or bubble (rising, expands as it rises, not attached to
surface)
Emily Charlene © 2025, All Rights Reserved.
ATSC 231 Block 3 Objectives
(Turbulence) Exam Questions and
Answers 100% Pass
What are the three hazards resulting from turbulence? - ✔✔Loss of Control, Airframe Damage, Passenger
Comfort/Safety
What type of operation does turbulence produce the greatest frequency of accidents? - ✔✔Part 121
What is the average annual number of injuries caused by turbulence? - ✔✔58
Aviation definition of turbulence - ✔✔Irregular motion of an aircraft in flight, especially when
characterized by rapid up-and-down motion, caused by a rapid variations of atmospheric wind velocities
Meteorological definition of turbulence - ✔✔Irregular fluctuations occurring in fluid motions
What are the factors that determine the transition from laminar to turbulent flow - ✔✔Primarily Wind
speed and surface roughness, but also density, stability, viscosity, and other factors
What are two types of turbulent flow - ✔✔Waves, Eddies/Vortices
What are the characteristics of waves? - ✔✔Regular oscillation of wind, you might not even feel
turbulence if in a wave
What are the characteristics of eddies? - ✔✔Vortices embedded in the mean wind flow. Eddies are what
cause gusts
What scale does turbulence the effect aircraft occur on? - ✔✔Microscale
Emily Charlene © 2025, All Rights Reserved.
, 2|Page
What factors affect lift? - ✔✔Coefficient of Lift, Air density, air speed, wing area
How does the coefficient of lift changes with angle of attack - ✔✔Increases linearly with increasing AOA
until stall
What is load factor? - ✔✔Ratio of the total air load acting on an aircraft to the gross weight of the aircraft
What factors affect load factor in turbulence - ✔✔Gusts, Airspeed, Wing Loading
How do vertical gusts affect load factor - ✔✔Change in AOA and change of relative wind. Change in lift,
change in load factor. Aircraft may stall or exceed a limitation
How does airspeed affect load factor - ✔✔Determines additional lift created by gust, slower is better.
Maneuvering speed
What is wing loading - ✔✔Ratio of weight of aircraft to wing surface area
How does wing loading affect load factor - ✔✔Gust load factor inversely proportional to wing loading,
smooth ride with high wing loading
What are the various units that are used to describe the magnitude of turbulence - ✔✔Feet per minute,
G's, meters squared per second squared, Eddy dissipation rate
Energy cascades from smaller eddies to larges ones in the atmosphere - ✔✔FALSE
Critical eddy size to affect aircraft - ✔✔50ft - 1500ft
What are convective turbulence - ✔✔Turbulence that results from rising currents of air
Characteristics of thermals - ✔✔Rising mass of buoyant air
Two models, plume (rising, still attached to surface) or bubble (rising, expands as it rises, not attached to
surface)
Emily Charlene © 2025, All Rights Reserved.
