SUBJECT CODE: AENG 212

SUBJECT NAME: Aircraft Systems

EDITOR/S: Hannah Sofia M. Brill
EDIT DATE: June 23, 2019

Aircraft Systems
Aircraft systems is a complex system. In the design stage and in the operating process to
ensure continued airworthiness of the aircraft.
A thorough understanding of the different aircraft systems is the first step toward piloting
your aircraft safely. From the different types of reciprocating engines to anti-ice and deice
systems, it’s important to understand in the event something goes wrong. This knowledge will
give you a better understanding of what exactly is wrong and give you a better opportunity to
react properly.
It is broken down into simpler sub systems that carry out homogeneous functions:

• Flight Control System

A conventional fixed-wing aircraft flight control system consists of flight control
surfaces, the respective cockpit controls, connecting linkages, and the necessary
operating mechanisms to control an aircraft's direction in flight. Aircraft engine controls
are also considered as flight controls as they change speed.

Cockpit Controls:
o Primary Controls
 - a control yoke (also known as a control column), center stick or side-stick
(the latter two also colloquially known as a control or joystick), governs the
aircraft's roll and pitch by moving the ailerons (or activating wing warping
on some very early aircraft designs) when turned or deflected left and
right, and moves the elevators when moved backwards or forwards.
- rudder pedals, or the earlier, pre-1919 "rudder bar", to control yaw, which
move the rudder; left foot forward will move the rudder left for instance.
- throttle controls to control engine speed or thrust for powered aircraft.

o Secondary Controls
- elevator trim, so that the pilot does not have to maintain constant
backward or forward pressure to hold a specific pitch attitude (other types
of trim, for rudder and ailerons, are common on larger aircraft but may
also appear on smaller ones).
- wing flaps, controlled by a switch or a mechanical lever or in some cases
are fully automatic by computer control, which alter the shape of the wing
for improved control at the slower speeds used for take-off and landing.
- other secondary flight control systems may be available, including slats,
spoilers, air brakes and variable-sweep wings.

• Landing Gear System

Landing gear is the undercarriage of an aircraft or spacecraft and may be used for
either takeoff or landing.
For aircraft, the landing gear supports the craft when it is not flying, allowing it to
take off, land, and taxi without damage. Wheels are typically used but skids, skis, floats
or a combination of these and other elements can be deployed depending both on the
surface and on whether the craft only operates vertically (VTOL) or is able to taxi along
the surface. Faster aircraft usually have retractable undercarriages, which fold away
during flight to reduce air resistance or drag.
o Gear Arrangements
- conventional or "taildragger" undercarriage, where there are two main
wheels towards the front of the aircraft and a single, much smaller, wheel
or skid at the rear;
- tricycle undercarriage where there are two main wheels (or wheel
assemblies) under the wings and a third smaller wheel in the nose.

o Retractable Gear
- To decrease drag in flight some undercarriages retract into the wings
and/or fuselage with wheels flush against the surface or concealed behind
doors; this is called retractable gear. If the wheels rest protruding and
partially exposed to the airstream after being retracted, the system is
called semi-retractable.

o Nautical
- Some aircraft have landing gear adapted to take off from and land on
water. An amphibious aircraft or amphibian has landing gear for both
land and water-based operation.

o Other types of Landing Gear

- Skis, when an airplane needs to land on surfaces covered by snow, the
landing gear usually consists of skis or a combination of wheels and skis.
- Detachable landing gear
- Monowheel; to minimize drag, modern gliders usually have a single wheel,
retractable or fixed, centered under the fuselage, which is referred to as
monowheel gear or monowheel landing gear.
- Helicopters; Light helicopters tend to use simple landing skids to save
weight and cost. They include attachment points for wheels so that they
can be moved for short distances on the ground.
- Light aircraft; for light aircraft a type of landing gear which is economical
to produce is a simple wooden arch laminated from ash, as used on some
homebuilt aircraft.

o Ground Carriage
- The idea behind a ground carriage is to leave the landing gear on the
runway and not take it into the air, in order to reduce weight and drag.

o Steering
- Taildragger aircraft may be steered by rudder alone (depending upon the prop
wash produced by the aircraft to turn it) with a freely pivoting tail wheel, or by
 a steering linkage with the tail wheel, or by differential braking (the use of
independent brakes on opposite sides of the aircraft to turn the aircraft by
slowing one side more sharply than the other).

• Bleed Air System

Bleed air is compressed air taken from the compressor stage of a gas turbine
upstream of its fuel-burning sections. Automatic air supply and cabin pressure controller
(ASCPCs) valves bleed air from high or low stage engine compressor sections. Low stage
air is used during high power setting operation, and high during descent and other low
power setting operations.[1][2] Bleed air from that system can be utilized for internal
cooling of the engine, cross-starting another engine, engine and airframe anti-icing, cabin
pressurization, pneumatic actuators, air-driven motors, pressurizing the hydraulic
reservoir, and waste and water storage tanks.
Bleed air is used on many aircraft systems because it is easily available, reliable,
and a potent source of power. For example, bleed air from an airplane engine is used to
 start the remaining engines. Lavatory water storage tanks are pressurized by bleed air
that is fed through a pressure regulator.
When used for cabin pressurization, the bleed air from the engine must first be
cooled (as it exits the compressor stage at temperatures as high as 250 °C) by passing it
through an air-to-air heat exchanger cooled by cold outside air. It is then fed to an air
cycle machine unit that regulates the temperature and flow of air into the cabin, keeping
the environment comfortable.
Bleed air is also used to heat the engine intakes. This prevents ice from forming,
accumulating, breaking loose, and being ingested by the engine, possibly damaging it.[7]

• Hydraulic System
A hydraulic system is a drive technology where a fluid is used to move the energy
from e.g. an electric motor to an actuator, such as a hydraulic cylinder. The fluid is
theoretically uncompressible and the fluid path can be flexible in the same way as an
electric cable.

Hydraulic systems are mainly used where a high power density is needed or load
requirements chance rapidly. This is especially the case in all kinds of mobile equipment
such as excavators and in industrial systems such as presses.

In wind turbines, hydraulics is used for pitch and brake control. In some cases,
different auxiliary systems such as hatches and cranes are also powered by hydraulic
systems.

The main reason for using hydraulics is the high power density and secondly the
simplicity coming from using few components to realize complex and fast moving
machines with a high degree of safety.

• Fuel System
An aircraft fuel system allows the crew to pump, manage, and deliver aviation fuel
(also called jet fuel) to the propulsion system and auxiliary power unit (APU) of an aircraft.
Fuel systems differ greatly due to different performance of the aircraft in which
they are installed. A single-engine piston aircraft has a simple fuel system; a tanker (such
as the KC-135), in addition to managing its own fuel, can also provide fuel to other aircraft.
Fuel is piped through fuel lines to a fuel control valve (usually known as the fuel
selector). This valve serves several functions. The first function is to act as a fuel shut-off
valve. This is required to provide the crew with a means to prevent fuel reaching the
 engine in case of an engine fire. The second function is to allow the pilot to choose which
tank feeds the engine.
o Single-engine aircraft gasoline fuel system
- The fuel level indication system in the simplest form is a transparent
window on the tank side and in its usual application a float-driven
potentiometer installed in the tank. After the TWA Flight 800 disaster, a
revision was made to aircraft fuel systems to address the potential
explosion hazard of electrical components located in the fuel tank. Single-
engine piston aircraft fuel level systems moved to utilize float level gauges
from the CNG and LPG industries which had the float drive a magnetic
coupling and relocated the potentiometer outside the fuel tank.

o Multi-engine aircraft fuel system

- Adding tanks and engines increases the complexity of the fuel system and
its management. Additional features found in multi-engine aircraft are:
- Each wing tank often has its own electric boost fuel pump, and each engine
has its own mechanical pump, replicating the fuel system described above
for the single engine.
- In case of single-engine operation, there is often a method incorporated to
"cross-feed" the engine (left tank feeding right engine, or vice versa).
- To balance asymmetric weight, flow valves and pumps often are used to
feed both engines from one tank or simply to transfer fuel between tanks.

o Turbine fuel system

- All of the considerations made for the twin piston are applicable to turbine
fuel systems. Additional consideration apply because of the higher
altitudes, different fuel, lower temperatures, and longer flights.

• Ice Protection System

Designed to keep atmospheric ice from accumulating on aircraft surfaces
(particularly leading edges), such as wings, propellers, rotor blades, engine intakes, and
environmental control intakes.
If ice is allowed to build up to a significant thickness it can change the shape of
airfoils and flight control surfaces, degrading the performance, control or handling
characteristics of the aircraft. An ice protection system either prevents formation of ice,
or enables the aircraft to shed the ice before it can grow to a dangerous thickness.

o De-Icing Systems
- A de-icing system has two very attractive attributes.
 - First, it can utilize a variety of means to transfer the energy used to remove
the ice. This allows the consideration of mechanical (principally
pneumatic), electrical and thermal methods.
- The second attribute is that it is energy efficient, requiring energy only
periodically when ice is being removed, with some mechanical designs
requiring relatively little energy overall. This is a significant consideration
when designing ice protection for aircraft with limited excess power.

o Anti-Icing Systems
- Anti-icing systems reverse this paradigm. Properly used, they prevent the
formation of ice continuously, resulting in a clean wing with no
aerodynamic penalties. An anti-icing system must have a means of
continuously delivering energy or chemical flow to a surface in order to
prevent the bonding of ice.

o Thermal Systems
- A thermal anti-ice system is designed to operate in one of two ways: fully
evaporative or running wet. In the former case, sufficient energy is
provided to cause impinging supercooled water to completely evaporate

• Ignition System
The basic requirements for reciprocating engine ignition systems are similar,
regardless of the type of engine. All ignition systems must deliver a high-tension spark
across the electrodes of each spark plug in each cylinder of the engine in the correct firing
order.
• Induction System
The basic induction system of an aircraft reciprocating engine consists of an air
scoop used to collect the inlet air and ducting that transfers the air to the inlet filter.
The air filter is generally housed in the carburetor heat box or other housing close
by that is attached to the carburetor or fuel injection controller. The engine used in light
aircraft is usually equipped with either a carburetor or a fuel-injection system. After air
passes through the fuel metering device, an intake manifold with long curved pipes or
passages is used to send the fuel/air mixture to the cylinders.
The air scoop is located on the engine cowling to allow maximum airflow into the
engine’s induction system. The air filter, shown, prevents dirt and other foreign matter
from entering the engine. Filtered air enters the fuel metering device (carburetor/fuel
injector) where the throttle plate controls the amount of air flowing to the engine. The
air coming out of the throttle is referred to as manifold pressure. This pressure is
measured in inches of mercury (“Hg) and controls engine power output.
References:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aircraft_flight_control_system
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landing_gear
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bleed_air
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydraulics
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aircraft_fuel_system
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aircraft_engine
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_protection_system
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiator_(engine_cooling)#Aircraft
• https://www.faa.gov/regulations_policies/handbooks_manuals/aviation/phak/media/0
9_phak_ch7.pdf
• https://www.flight-mechanic.com/reciprocating-engine-induction-systems/