Airplane Components

• The elevator is the horizontal tail surface that controls pitch.
• The horizontal surface that controls pitch is the elevator
• 5 parts: Fuselage (body), empennage/tail section/canard, undercarriage (landing gear), propulsion system (engine), wings (lifting surfaces)
• Fuselage - body of aircraft; houses passengers or cargo
• Empennage - tail section; contains vertical stabilizer and rudder
• Undercarriage - landing gear; allows plane to take off and land safely on ground
• Monocoque: Round/oval formers & bulkheads are held together by stringers, formers carrying the full load. Material: metal-covered.

  Stressed skin: Skin carries some of the load
• Truss Type Fuselage:

  Longerons (3+ long tubes) are the main component, held together to form the frame by vertical/diagonal members

  Steel tubes are bolted together

  Material: Covered by fabric/metal composite to give it's shape
• Semimonocoque fuselage:

  Stiffeners are added to form structure & resist part of the load
• Numbers of wings

  Monoplanes: 1 pair of wings

  Biplanes: 2 pairs of wings
• Shape (Planform)

  Top-down shape (planform) varies depending on the wing design & use of the aircraft
• Common Wing Feature

  Swept-back wings: Allow for more stability of the aircraft, so that it can keep our desired altitude.
• Wing Positions: 

  High-wing: Top of fuselage

  • May be externally braced with wing struts or fully cantilevered

  Mid-wing: Middle of fuselage

  Low-wing: I think we know…
• External bracing

  In monoplanes:

  Secured by wing bracing struts that extend out from fuselage to mid-section of wing.

  In biplanes:

  Struts are between wings out towards tips

  • Braced by incidence wires (run diagonally between struts) & flying and landing wires (diagonal between struts & fuselage)
  • Flying wires transmit part of the load to the fuselage in flight & landing wires support the weight of a wing on the ground.

  No external bracing = cantilever wings

  No external support = spars should be strong enough to carry load into fuselage internally 
• What is a common wing feature & what does it do?

  Swept-back wings allow for more stability of the aircraft to keep it's desired altitude
• What is external bracing in biplanes braced by (& where/how do they run?)

  Incdence wires (diagonal bet. struts), flying & landing wires (diagonal struts & fuselage)
• What do flying wires do?

  Transmit part of the load to the fuselage in flight
• What do landing wires do?

  Support the weight of a wing on the ground
• 5 Systems of Wing Construction

  Metal Frame – Main strength in the covering/skin

  Metal Frame – Main strength in the frame

  Metal Frame, fabric covered

  Composite

  Wooden Frame, fabric/plywood covered
• Where can strengths in metal frames be focused (& another type of metal frame)


  The covering/skin, the frame and fabric covered
• Wing Spars

  • Run from wingroot to wingtip & carry most of the load
  • Goal: to stiffen the wing against torsion or twisting
  • Transmit load into the fuselage

  Monospar in modern planes use laminar flow airfoil wing design

  • Ribs from leading to trailing edge
  • Cambered to form airfoil section, giving wing shape & providing a framework to fasten covering onto

  False ribs (nose ribs) are sometimes installed between front spar & leading edge to strengthen leading edge.
• Compression Struts

  Steel tubes that take compression loards & externally support spars

  Layout: Spaced at regular intervals
• Where are wing spars and what do they do?

  Run from wingroot to wingtip & carry most of the load
• What is the goal of a wing spar?

  To stiffen a wing against torsion or twisting
• What do wing spars do with the load they carry?

  Transmit it into the fuselage
• Where are ribs in monospars?

  From the leading to trailing edge
• What ribs are sometimes installed to strengtehn the leading edge?

  False ribs (nose ribs)
• What do monospars do?

  Give wing shape & provide a framework to fasten covering onto
• Where are nose ribs installed and why?

  Between the front spar & leading ege and to strengthen the leading edge.
• Internal Bracing

  • Run diagonally from front to rear spars
  • Secured by drag & anti-drag wires
• Internal Load Transmission: Load on a wing comes 1st on the skin, then transmitted to ribs -> spars -> fuselage

  External Load Transmission: Part of the load -> bracing struts or flying/landing wires -> fuselage
• Wing Tip Bow: Metal Tube curved to give wing tip it’s required shape
• What is a wing tip bow?

  Metal Tube curved to give wing tip it’s required shape
• Wing Root: Section of wing nearest fuselage.

  On low-wing planes: Permits people to walk on it
• What is the wing root and what does it do on what conditions?

  Section of teh wing near the fuselage, on low-wing planes allows people to walk on it
• Wing root Fittings: Attach the wings/separate wing panels to fuselage
• What do wing root fittings do?

  Attach the wings/separate wing panels to the fuselage
• Winglet: Small nearly vertical winglike surface (usually of airfoil section) attached to wingtip
• How are compression struts laid out?


  Spaced at regular intervals
• Span: The maximum distance from wing tip to wing tip of an airfoil, wing, or stabilizer (one wingtip to the other)