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| Characteristics of Airplane |
Characteristics of Airplane - Airframe
- One or more large horizontal wings, often with an airfoil cross-section shape. The wing deflects air downward as the aircraft moves forward, generating lifting force to support it in flight. The wing also provides stability in roll to stop the aircraft from rolling to the left or right in steady flight.
- A fuselage, a long, thin body, usually with tapered or rounded ends to make its shape aerodynamically smooth. The fuselage joins the other parts of the airframe and usually contains important things such as the pilot, payload and flight systems.
- A vertical stabiliser or fin is a vertical wing-like surface mounted at the rear of the plane and typically protruding above it. The fin stabilises the plane's yaw (turn left or right) and mounts the rudder which controls its rotation along that axis.
- A horizontal stabiliser or tailplane, usually mounted at the tail near the vertical stabilizer. The horizontal stabilizer is used to stabilise the plane's pitch (tilt up or down) and mounts the elevators which provide pitch control.
- Landing gear, a set of wheels, skids, or floats that support the plane while it is on the surface. On seaplanes the bottom of the fuselage or floats (pontoons) support it while on the water. On some planes the landing gear retracts during flight to reduce drag.
Characteristics of Airplane - Wings
The wings of a fixed-wing aircraft are static planes extending either side of the aircraft. When the aircraft travels forwards, air flows over the wings which are shaped to create lift.
Characteristics of Airplane - Fuselage
A fuselage is a long, thin body, usually with tapered or rounded ends to make its shape aerodynamically smooth. The fuselage may contain the flight crew, passengers, cargo or payload, fuel and engines. The pilots of manned aircraft operate them from a cockpit located at the front or top of the fuselage and equipped with controls and usually windows and instruments.
A plane may have more than one fuselage, or it may be fitted with booms with the tail located between the booms to allow the extreme rear of the fuselage to be useful for a variety of purposes.
A plane may have more than one fuselage, or it may be fitted with booms with the tail located between the booms to allow the extreme rear of the fuselage to be useful for a variety of purposes.
Characteristics of Airplane - Wings and Bodies
Flying Wing
A flying wing is a tailless aircraft which has no definite fuselage, with most of the crew, payload and equipment being housed inside the main wing structure.Blended Wing Body
Blended wing body aircraft have a flattened and airfoil shaped body, which produces most of the lift to keep itself aloft, and distinct and separate wing structures, though the wings are smoothly blended in with the body.
Lifting Body
A lifting body is a configuration in which the body itself produces lift. In contrast to a flying wing, which is a wing with minimal or no conventional fuselage, a lifting body can be thought of as a fuselage with little or no conventional wing. Whereas a flying wing seeks to maximize cruise efficiency at subsonic speeds by eliminating non-lifting surfaces, lifting bodies generally minimize the drag and structure of a wing for subsonic, supersonic, and hypersonic flight, or, spacecraft re-entry. All of these flight regimes pose challenges for proper flight stability.
Characteristics of Airplane - Empennage and Foreplane
The classic airfoil section wing is unstable in flight and difficult to control. Flexible-wing types often rely on an anchor line or the weight of a pilot hanging beneath to maintain the correct attitude. Some free-flying types use an adapted airfoil that is stable, or other ingenious mechanisms including, most recently, electronic artificial stability.
But in order to achieve trim, stability and control, most fixed wing types have an empennage comprising a fin and rudder which act horizontally and a tailplane and elevator which act vertically. This is so common that it is known as the conventional layout. Sometimes there may be two or more fins, spaced out along the tailplane.
Some types have a horizontal "canard" foreplane ahead of the main wing, instead of behind it. This foreplane may contribute to the trim, stability or control of the aircraft, or to several of these.
Characteristics of Airplane - Airplane Controls
- The yoke or joystick controls rotation of the plane about the pitch and roll axes. A yoke resembles a steering wheel, and a control stick is a joystick. The pilot can pitch the plane down by pushing on the yoke or stick, and pitch the plane up by pulling on it. Rolling the plane is accomplished by turning the yoke in the direction of the desired roll, or by tilting the control stick in that direction.
- Rudder pedals control rotation of the plane about the yaw axis. There are two pedals that pivot so that when one is pressed forward the other moves backward, and vice versa. The pilot presses on the right rudder pedal to make the plane yaw to the right, and pushes on the left pedal to make it yaw to the left. The rudder is used mainly to balance the plane in turns, or to compensate for winds or other effects that tend to turn the plane about the yaw axis.
- On powered types, an engine stop control ("fuel cutoff", for example) and, usually, a Throttle or thrust lever and other controls, such as a fuel-mixture control (to compensate for air density changes with altitude change).
- Other common controls include:
- Flap levers, which are used to control the deflection position of flaps on the wings.
- Spoiler levers, which are used to control the position of spoilers on the wings, and to arm their automatic deployment in planes designed to deploy them upon landing. The spoilers reduce lift for landing.
- Trim controls, which usually take the form of knobs or wheels and are used to adjust pitch, roll, or yaw trim. These are often connected to small airfoils on the trail edge of the control surfaces called 'trim tabs'. Trim is used to reduce the amount of pressure on the control forces needed to maintain a steady course.
- On wheeled types, Brakes are used to slow and stop the plane on the ground, and sometimes for turns on the ground.
Characteristics of Airplane - Cockpit Instrumentation
Basic Instruments
- An airspeed indicator, which indicates the speed at which the plane is moving through the surrounding air.
- An altimeter, which indicates the altitude or height of the plane above mean sea level.
- A heading indicator, (sometimes referred to as a "directional gyro (DG)"), which indicates the magnetic compass heading that the plane's fuselage is pointing towards. The actual direction the plane is flying towards is affected by the wind conditions.
- An attitude indicator, sometimes called an artificial horizon, which indicates the exact orientation of the plane about its pitch and roll axes.
- A vertical speed indicator, which shows the rate at which the plane is climbing or descending.
- A turn coordinator, or turn and bank indicator which helps the pilot maintain the plane in a coordinated attitude while turning.
Other Instruments
- A two-way radio to enable communications with other planes and air traffic control. Planes built before World War II may not have been equipped with a radio but they are nearly essential now.
- A horizontal situation indicator, shows the position and movement of the plane as seen from above with respect to the ground, including course/heading and other information.
- Instruments showing the status of each engine in the plane (operating speed, thrust, temperature, RPM, and other variables).
- Combined display systems such as primary flight displays or navigation displays.
- Information displays such as on-board weather radar displays.
- A radio direction finder which indicates the direction to one or more radio beacons and which can be used to determine the plane's position.
- A satellite navigation system to provide an accurate position.
Thank you for reading characteristics of airplane.
Source : wikipedia
