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Flight Controls

Secondary flight controls like flaps, trim tabs, spoilers, and slats assist aircraft during takeoff and landing by increasing lift and providing stability. Flaps are mounted on the trailing edge of the wing and come in several types, such as plain/simple, split, slotted, and Fowler flaps, that deflect downward to increase wing curvature. Control surfaces can also combine functions, for example flaperons combine flaps and ailerons, while elevons and ruddervators merge elevator/aileron and rudder/elevator controls respectively.

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john christian de leon
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311 views

Flight Controls

Secondary flight controls like flaps, trim tabs, spoilers, and slats assist aircraft during takeoff and landing by increasing lift and providing stability. Flaps are mounted on the trailing edge of the wing and come in several types, such as plain/simple, split, slotted, and Fowler flaps, that deflect downward to increase wing curvature. Control surfaces can also combine functions, for example flaperons combine flaps and ailerons, while elevons and ruddervators merge elevator/aileron and rudder/elevator controls respectively.

Uploaded by

john christian de leon
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Special Flight Control

Secondary control surfaces


Secondary control surfaces on an aircraft
assist a fixed wing aircraft during landing and
take off and provides other purposes such as
braking, and stability control. The secondary
flight controls are not always all present on an
aircraft.
The secondary flight
controls are:
• Flaps
• Trim Tabs
• Spoilers
• Air Brakes
• Slats
• Slots
Flaps – mounted on the trailing edge on the inboard section of each wing (near
the wing roots). They are deflected down to increase the effective curvature of
the wing. There were four common types of flaps:
• Simple Flaps
• Split Flaps
• Slotted Flaps
• Fowler Flaps
Simple/Plain Flaps – The rear
p o r t i o n o f a i r fo i l ro t a t e s
downwards on a simple hinge
mounted at the front of the flap.

Split Flaps – The rear portion of the


lower surface of the airfoil hinges
downwards from the leading edge of
the flap, while the upper surface
stays immobile.
Slotted Flaps – A gap between
the flap and the wing forces high
pressure air from below the
wing over the flap helping the
airflow remain attached to the
flap, increasing lift

Fowler Flaps – A split flap that


slides backwards, before
hinging downward, thereby
increasing first chord, then
camber.
• Trim Tabs – allow a pilot to
balance the lift and drag being
produced by the wings and
control surfaces over a wide range
of load and airspeed. This
reduces the effort required to
adjust or maintain a desired flight
attitude.
Cockpit trim tab
control wheel
Ground adjustable trim tab

Controllable trim tab


Spoilers – are plates on the top
surface of a wing that can be
extended upward into the airflow
to spoil it. By so doing, the spoiler
creates a controlled stall over the
portion of the wing behind it,
greatly reducing the lift of that
wing section.
• Air Brakes – used on an
aircraft to increase drag.
Spoilers differ from airbrakes in
that airbrakes are designed to
increase drag without affecting
lift, while spoilers reduce lift as
well as increasing drag.
• Slats – are aerodynamic
surfaces on the leading edge of
the wings. When deployed,
there exists a hole between
the wing and the slat, this
allows the air to flow from
below the wing to its upper
surfaces.
• Slots – A leading edge
slot is a span wise gap in
each wing, allowing air
to flow from below the
wing to its upper
surface.
Control Surfaces Combination
Wing configuration has a huge impact on the design of control
surfaces regardless if its primary or secondary control surfaces. Some of
the most common combination are:

Flaperon – a type of control


surface that combines the
functions of both f l a p s
and ailerons.
• Elevons – aircraft control
surfaces that combine the
functions of the elevator
and the aileron hence the
name. They are frequently
used on tailless aircraft
such as flying wings and
delta wing aircraft.
• Ruddervator – a
type of control
surface that combines
the functions of both
rudder and elevator,
common used of v-
tail configuration.
JUAN LUIS DE LEON
MARK JAY MARTINEZ
JOHN NATHANIEL
H.CRISTOBAL
JALEN PASCUAL
MARJON SARMIENTO

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