Effects of controls.

Summary

This video explores the primary and secondary effects of various control surfaces on an airplane in flight. It explains how the ailerons, rudder, and stabilator each contribute to the aircraft's movements in roll, yaw, and pitch. The effects of lift, weight, thrust, and drag forces are discussed in relation to these controls. The video also highlights the impact of increased power, particularly the spiraling slipstream, on the sensitivity of the rudder and stabilator, influencing the airplane's behavior and responsiveness to pilot inputs.

Takeaways

• 😀 The main control surfaces of an airplane allow the pilot to rotate it in three dimensions.
• 😀 Four forces act on an airplane during flight: lift, weight, thrust, and drag.
• 😀 Lift force generated by the wings is represented by the lift arrow, while weight is always pointing down towards the center of the Earth.
• 😀 Thrust is generated by the power plant, and drag resists the airplane's movement, opposing thrust.
• 😀 The primary effect of the ailerons is to roll the airplane. As the airplane rolls, the lift force rolls with it.
• 😀 When the vertical component of the lift becomes smaller, it no longer supports the airplane's weight, causing it to slide down.
• 😀 The rudder causes the airplane to yaw. The outer wing moves forward more than the inner wing, which changes airflow and lift.
• 😀 The rudder’s primary effect is yaw, but it also causes a secondary roll effect as a result of the aircraft’s movement.
• 😀 The stabilator's primary effect is pitch. The airplane pitches down, resulting in increased airspeed and loss of altitude.
• 😀 Increased power results in a stronger spiraling slipstream, affecting the sensitivity of the stabilator and rudder to the pilot's inputs.

Q & A

What are the four main forces acting on an airplane in flight?

The four main forces are lift, weight, thrust, and drag. Lift is generated by the wings, weight is the force due to gravity, thrust is the forward motion produced by the engine, and drag is the resistance opposing the aircraft's movement.

How do the primary effects of ailerons, rudder, and stabilator differ?

The primary effect of ailerons is to cause roll, the rudder primarily causes yaw, and the stabilator primarily causes pitch. Each control surface influences the aircraft's movement in different axes.

What happens when an airplane rolls using ailerons?

When the airplane rolls using ailerons, the lift generated by the wings also rolls with it. As a result, the vertical component of lift becomes smaller and no longer fully supports the airplane's weight, causing it to slide down towards the lower wing.

What is the secondary effect of using the rudder?

The secondary effect of using the rudder is a roll. As the rudder causes the aircraft to yaw, the outer wing moves faster than the inner wing, which leads to a difference in lift, resulting in a rolling motion.

How does the rudder contribute to yaw in flight?

The rudder contributes to yaw by exposing its vertical surface to the airflow. This generates a force that pushes the tail to one side, causing the aircraft to yaw left or right, depending on the direction of the control input.

What happens when the airplane pitches down?

When the airplane pitches down, the weight vector shifts, contributing to the forward motion. This results in increased airspeed and a loss of altitude.

What is the effect of pitching the airplane up?

When the airplane is pitched up, the weight vector opposes the forward motion, leading to a decrease in airspeed and a potential gain in altitude.

What effect does increased power have on the airplane's control surfaces?

Increased power leads to a stronger spiraling slipstream behind the propeller. This affects the airplane's EMP (engine moment, pitch), making the stabilator and rudder more sensitive to the pilot's inputs.

What is the impact of the spiraling slipstream on the rudder?

The spiraling slipstream affects the rudder by making it more sensitive to pilot inputs. It wraps around the fuselage and impacts the rudder on one side, inducing a yawing moment to the left if the propeller is rotating clockwise.

How does the aircraft’s yaw behavior relate to the propeller’s rotation direction?

For a clockwise rotating propeller, the spiraling slipstream induces a leftward yawing moment. The direction of this yawing moment depends on the rotation direction of the propeller, with clockwise rotations causing leftward yaw and counterclockwise rotations causing rightward yaw.