Flight Controls

Control Surfaces and Stabilizers

Control surfaces and stabilizers are mechanisms operated by the flight controls. These are therefore
devices that can cause the aircraft to evolve around the fictitious reference axes passing through its
center of gravity.
Reference axes:

PITCH (tangage) → Elevator

ROLL (roulis) → Warp Control

YAW (lacet) → Rudder

Flight controls are classified into two categories:
- The primary flight controls that control the evolutions (control surfaces)
- Secondary flight controls that change the aircraft’s aerodynamic configuration
(hypersustentator flaps, spoilers, speed brakes)

The pilot uses the following controls to operate the control surfaces:
- Control wheel → Elevator
- Control wheel or Column → warpage
- Pedals → Rudder

When steering a rudder, there is an

overpressure on the side to which the surface
is pointing and a depression on the other side.
Bringing the rudder to the side of the low
pressure area.
Effects of flight controls
The roll control:

This is also known as the warping control. It is used to adjust the angle of bank.
The ailerons are mounted on the trailing edge of the wing. A distinction can be made between the
outer aileron, which is used at low speeds (located at the wing tip), and the inner aileron (in the
middle of the wing), which is used for high-speed flights to reduce the wing's twisting moment.
Principle:
To tilt the aircraft to the left, the pilot pushes
the control column to the left.
The left aileron rises (decrease in wing lift),
while the right aileron lowers (increase in lift).
The two phenomena combined generate the
roll movement.
To tilt the aircraft to the right, with turning to
the right, you must
- increase lift on the Left Wing;
- decrease lift on Right Wing.

The fins (ailerons) are articulated at the back and end of each half wing.
They operate in asymmetric steering.
By half wing the aileron can be simple or composed of two elements.
 Located at the end of the half-wing the external aileron is rendered inoperative at high speed
in order to reduce the risk of inversion of efficiency.
 Located near the fuselage the internal aileron generally operates in cruise or at high speed
so as to decrease the moment of torsion of the wing.
The pitch control:

We also talk about elevator control.

It adjusts the aircraft attitude angle.
The elevator is articulated at the rear of the horizontal tail, which can be fixed or variable-pitch. The
control surfaces are mounted on the trailing edge of the horizontal fixed plane of the aft tail.
The impact of the steering changes the lift of the plane, and consequently the point of application
and the intensity of the aerodynamic force.
The depth can be composed of two or four completely independent elements but with strictly
identical functions (fail safe design).

Principle:
The horizontal plane is always clear of influences from the wing wake and the propeller (or engine)
blast.
 Turned upwards, the force decreased and the aircraft pitched up.
 Turned downwards, the force increases and the plane stings.
Operation:
Forward action (nose-down) on the control column causes the rudder to deflect downwards
(positively) resulting in reduced tail offset. Thus the plane tilts around its center of gravity: The nose
lowers and the back rises.
The way control:

We also talk about rudder.

This adjusts the aircraft skid angle.
The rudder is mounted on the trailing edge of the fixed vertical planes of the aft tail.

The rudders have an antagonistic operation and simultaneously control the steering and the nose
wheel, this control is used to steer the aircraft on the ground.
 If the pilot presses the pedal to the right, the rudder moves to the side where the pedal is
pressed ( to the right). Creation of a right yaw moment (the aircraft rotates around its center
of gravity G to the right).
 An action on the left (depressed) rudder produces a rudder deflection on the same side. The
result is a lateral aerodynamic reaction F on the tail and steering assembly. This F-force
initiates the aircraft’s R-rotation around the yaw axis.
This movement combines with the initial trajectory and bends it to the left.
During the approach and take-off phases, an aircraft must have optimal lift. Engineers have therefore
developed hypersustentator devices (increasing lift) which are only used in these phases of flight.
These devices also increase the air resistance on the aircraft and it is therefore better to hide them
for the other phases of flight.

Trailing edge flaps:

Trailing edge flaps are downward moving surfaces located on the aft edge of the wing on each side
of the fuselage. Their length is between 1/3 and half the length of each wing. Both shutters come
out or in at the same time, partially or totally depending on need or circumstances.
Most aircraft are equipped with them. They are generally fully deployed for landing and one third
for takeoff.

There are various types, the main ones are presented below:
The leading edge slats:
There are also devices on the front edge of the wing with the same function:

Removable leading edge devices are generally used only for landing.
Airbrakes
Airbrakes, or aerodynamic brakes, are mechanisms used to reduce the approach speed, off the
ground during the landing phase or during acceleration-stop, once the landing gear is on the
ground. Airbrakes are panels that are placed symmetrically in the airflow.
Different types of airbrake :
1. Airbrakes
Airbrakes placed on aircraft wings increase drag and reduce lift, by lifting air streams off the wing
surface. They are used to control the flight or approach gradient, to increase the descent gradient
without increasing speed (braking effect). They are an essential part of piloting a glider on
approach for landing.

2. Spoilers
A spoiler, or lift destroyer, is a movable surface on the wing which reduces the lift of part of a wing.
- The spoiler can be moved symmetrically (on both sides) to slow the aircraft down and/or allow it
to take a steeper descent;

- asymmetrically (on one side only or with differential between the two wings) to generate yaw and
roll moments favourable to turning (a useful procedure at low speeds, when ailerons are less
effective).

- taxiing phase: Spoilers are also very useful when taxiing after landing, since by reducing the lift of
the wings, the weight of the aircraft is then borne to a greater extent by the landing gear, which is a
necessary condition for effective braking.