AFOQT Aviation Information questions and answers

fixed-wing aircraft structure 1. Fuselage 2. Wings 3. Tail assembly or empennage 4. Landing gear 5. Powerplant 6. Flight instruments/controls and control surfaces fuselage body of an airplane. Contains the cockpit, the cabin, the cargo area if there is one, and attachment points for other major airplane components, such as wings, tail section, and landing gear. cockpit from which the pilots and the flight crew control the aircraft's operations Two design types of fuselage construction 1. truss 2. monocoque Truss construction fuselages use steel or aluminum tubing in a series of triangular shapes (called trusses) to get the necessary strength and rigidity monocoque designs use bulkheads, stringers, (running the length of the fuselage) and formers (perpendicular to stringers) of various sizes and shapes to support a stretched or "stressed" skin wings airfoils attached to each side of the fuselage that serve as the main lifting surfaces supporting the airplane in flight. airfoil an aircraft part or surface (such as wing, propeller blade, or rudder) that controls lift, direction, stability, thrust, or propulsion for the aircraft. monoplanes airplanes with one set of wings biplanes airplanes with two sets of wings cantilever wing requires no external bracing, getting its support from internal wing spars, ribs, and stringers, as well as the construction of the wing's skin or covering semi-cantilever wing requires both internal bracing and external support from struts attached to the fuselage ailerons extend from about the middle of the wing out toward the wingtip; they move in opposite directions to create aerodynamic forces that cause the airplane to roll flaps extend outward from near where the wing joins the fuselage (called the wing root) to about the middle of the wing's trailing edge. The flaps are usually flush with the rest of the wing surface when cruising flight; when they are extended, the flaps move downward together to increase the lift of the wing for takeoffs and landings. Most common high lift devices. chord line the distance from the leading edge of the wing to the trailing edge. Cuts the airfoil into an upper surface and a lower surface mean camber line if we plot the points that lie halfway between the upper and lower surfaces, we obtain a curve called the mean camber line. camber the maximum difference between the the mean camber line and the chord line. A measure of the curvature of the airfoil. thickness the maximum difference between the upper and lower surfaces wingtips the ends of the wings wingspan the distance from one wingtip to the other a planform the shape of the wing viewed from above dihedral angle when the left and right wings aren't truly horizontal to the fuselage, but instead meet at this angle. Built into the design for roll stability; a wing with some dihedral will naturally return to its original position if it encounters a slight displacement Three basic wing types on modern airplanes 1. straight 2. Sweep 3. Delta Straight wings mostly found on small, low-speed airplanes, as well as gliders and sailplanes. These wings give the most efficient lift at low speeds, but are not very good for high speed flight, especially that approaching the speed of sound swept wings (either forward swept or swept back) is the most common design for modern high speed airplanes. Creates less drag than straight wing designs, but is somewhat more unstable at low speeds. moderate sweep commercial jetliner, resulting in less drag while maintaining stability at lower speeds fighter planes have wings with... a greater sweep, which do not generate much lift during low-speed flight and require relatively high speed take-offs and landings delta wings looks like a large triangle viewed from above. It has a high angle of sweep with a straight trailing edge. Airplanes with this type of wing design are designed to reach supersonic speeds, and also land at high speeds. landing gear provide the most support for the airplane when it is on the ground. Usually consists of three wheels or sets of wheels. Can be retractable or non-retractable.