When it comes to the world of aviation, the word accessory is a very broad term. When most people think of aircraft accessories, the first things that come to mind are components like starters, fuel pumps, generators, magnetos, etc. An accessory can be any mechanical, electrical or electronic component of an aircraft so long as it’s not the airframe, powerplant, propeller, or radios and instrumentation. An accessory can be anything from a supercharger or a strobe light, to a gas cap, or even a single switch.

The airframe is the main structure of the airplane and it excludes, the powerplant, the propeller, accessories, pilot instrumentation and communications equipment. The main components of the airframe are the wings, fuselage, tail assembly and the landing gear. During flight, the airframe is responsible for withstanding all aerodynamic forces in addition to the stresses of fuel, passengers and cargo.

In the world of aviation, the engine is referred to as the powerplant. The powerplant is responsible for providing power to operate various components of the aircraft in addition to providing the power necessary to maintain thrust. Most aircraft powerplants are either piston engines or gas turbine engines, but can included electric motors in the case of drones and unmanned aerial vehicles or UAVs.

In short, the propeller is responsible for taking the rotational energy of the engine and creating thrust to to propel the aircraft. There are many types of propellers such as fixed pitch, manual pitch and automatic variable pitch or “constant-speed” types. Propellers are also made of various materials, but are commonly made of wood, metal or composite materials such as plastic and carbon fiber.

The flight instrumentation and radio are the devices in the cockpit of an aircraft that provide the pilot with data during flight. The radio system allows pilots to navigate to their destination and communicate with air traffic control. The flight instruments are broken up into five categories, the pitot-static system (altimeter, airspeed indicator and vertical speed indicator), the compass system, the gyroscopic system (attitude indicator, heading indicator and turn indicator), flight director system, and the navigational systems.