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Control surfaces: Difference between revisions
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Aircraft flight control surfaces allow a pilot to adjust and control the aircraft's flight attitude. | |||
Development of an effective set of flight controls was a critical advance in the development of the aircraft. Early efforts at fixed-wing aircraft design succeeded in generating sufficient lift to get the aircraft off the ground, but once aloft, the aircraft proved uncontrollable, often with disastrous results. The development of effective flight controls is what allowed stable flight. | |||
==Ailerons== | ==Ailerons== | ||
[[Image:Ailerons.jpg|thumb|300px|Ailerons (red) on the wings of a [[Cessna C172]]]]'''Ailerons''' are hinged control surfaces attached to the trailing edge of the wing of a fixed-wing aircraft. The ailerons are used to control the aircraft in roll. The two ailerons are typically interconnected so that one goes down when the other goes up: the downgoing aileron increases the lift on its wing while the upgoing aileron reduces the lift on the other wing, producing a rolling moment about the aircraft's longitudinal axis. The word aileron is French for "little wing." | [[Image:Ailerons.jpg|thumb|300px|Ailerons (red) on the wings of a [[Cessna C172]]]]'''Ailerons''' are hinged control surfaces attached to the trailing edge of the wing of a fixed-wing aircraft. The ailerons are used to control the aircraft in roll. The two ailerons are typically interconnected so that one goes down when the other goes up: the downgoing aileron increases the lift on its wing while the upgoing aileron reduces the lift on the other wing, producing a rolling moment about the aircraft's longitudinal axis. The word aileron is French for "little wing." | ||