Before you can hop in an airplane and dominate, you have to first learn the airplane components and understand the flight controls that are use to control the airplane. All different airplanes you will fly may have different components, but you will see that they all have the same main components. We will talk about those components briefly to get a basic understanding and then discuss the control surfaces to understand how they control the airplane.
Airplane Components
There are 5 major components that will apply to all general aviation airplanes. Those 5 components are:
Power Plant - The power plant is where power is generated to produce thrust.
Wings - Wings are airfoils attached to each side of the fuselage that produce lift.
Fuselage - The fuselage is what everything connects to. This is wear the seats and cargo will be.
Empennage - The Empennage is the proper name for the tail section of the aircraft. It is made up of the horizontal and vertical stabilizer.
Landing Gear - The landing gear hold the tires and absorbs the shock from landing. Its main purpose is to support the airplane when it is on the ground.
Airplane Flight Controls
The parts of the aircraft surface that move due to pilot inputs are called control surfaces. Flight controls are different control surfaces on the airplane that, when moved, manipulate the aerodynamic forces on the plane. This means that when the pilot manipulates (or changes) the controls on the yoke or control wheel, they are changing the way the air flows over those surfaces. By manipulating the aerodynamic forces, the pilot is able to control the way the airplane moves through the air. There are both primary and secondary controls and we will talk about both.
Primary Flight Controls are the controls that are mainly used in order to control the airplane. It would be pretty difficult to control the aircraft if you lost any of the primary flight controls. There are 3 primary flight controls and those are:
Aileron
Elevator
Rudder
Secondary Flight Controls are used to change the performance of the airplane and lighten the pilot’s workload. It would add some challenge if you lost one of the secondary flight controls, but you would still remain in control of the aircraft. There are several different secondary flight controls, however we will focus on the following only:
Flaps
Trim
Ailerons
The ailerons are located on the back side of the wings towards the tips. They control the aircrafts roll (bank). When the pilot moves the controls to the left, the left aileron is deflected up, creating a downward force and the right aileron is deflected down, creating an upward force. This results in the airplane rolling to the left. The opposite would happen if the pilot moves the controls to the right.
Elevator
The elevator is attached to the back of the horizontal stabilizer and controls the airplane’s pitch. This allows the airplane to climb or descend. When the pilot moves the controls forward or aft, the elevator rotates, deflecting the air creating a force resulting in the aircrafts pitch changing. If the pilot pulls back on the controls, the elevator will move up, creating a force that pushing the tail of the aircraft down. This makes the aircraft pitch up. The opposite would happen if the pilot pushes the controls forward.
Rudder
The rudder is attached to the back of the vertical stabilizer. As the pilot pushed on one of the rudder petals, a cable connecter to the rudder allows the rudder to move. As air moves around the deflected rudder, a force is applied, making the airplane yaw. If the pilot pushes the left rudder pedal, the nose of the airplane with yaw to the left. This of the airplane suspended in the air on a string. If you were to push on the rudder towards the right, the tail would move towards the right and the nose would move to the left. The rudder is used in coordination with the ailerons to turn the airplane
Flaps
The flaps are located on the backside of the wings, closest to the fuselage. They are primarily used to help increase lift on takeoff and landing. The pilot controls the flaps by moving a lever. Flaps can be either electrically or manually actuated. As the pilot extends the flaps, the change of the wing changes, which increases lift. This allows the airplane to fly at slower airspeeds and make steeper approaches to landing. This is very beneficial for takeoffs on a short runway because it allows the airplane to take off at a slower speed, meaning it will use less runway. During landing, the pilot uses flaps to allow the aircraft to land at a slower airspeed, using less distance to decelerate and stop.
Trim
Trim is used to make the pilot’s job easier and allows the airplane to essentially fly itself with fewer controller inputs by the pilot. General aviation aircrafts can have two types of trim, one that the pilot can directly control through cables from inside the cockpit and the other is a ground adjustable tab. Elevator trim is typically controlled by a wheel in the cockpit and will be labeled nose up and nose down. As the pilot moves this wheel, the cables will adjust the elevator trim tab, which is located on the aft or backside of the elevator. Usually during takeoff, the trim tab should be in a neutral position, which means that it is just about flush with the elevator. As the pilot climbs, they can trim the airplane to help relieve the control pressure and help prevent pilot fatigue. Trim can be adjusted to maintain a desired airspeed. Learning how to use trim can sometimes be a little bit difficult at first. There is a 3 step process to be done in order to trim:
Set
Hold
Trim
Whether you are level, in a climb, or in a descent, you can still trim the aircraft. First you will want to set an appropriate pitch at the desired airspeed. This could be the pitch and power setting that gives you level flight at a desired airspeed or the pitch and power setting that gives you a climb or descent at a desired airspeed. Once you have that pitch and power set, hold it. Holding that pitch will the aircraft stabilize. Once the aircraft stabilizes, you can the trim the aircraft to reduce that forward or backwards pressure on the controls. If you find that you are putting a lot of forward pressure on the controls in order to maintain altitude, then you can use coarse trim to quickly set the trim forward to help relieve some of that pressure. Once you have received most of the pressure, you can then fine trim by making small trim changes as required by releasing the controls and seeing if the pitch changes. If so, take the controls and reset the desired pitch and continue to make small trim changes until the pitch does not change when you let go of the controls.
Trim should not be used or confused with elevator control. It should be used only to relieve pressure, not control the elevator.
