Aircraft Parts and Motions Quiz

Basic Parts of an Airplane

• The fuselage is the main body of a glider or an airplane, housing the flight crew, passengers, and cargo.
• Wings are responsible for generating lift, which balances the weight of the plane, allowing it to fly.
• The tail or stabilizer is attached at the rear end of the glider, providing stability and control to the vertical up-down movement of the nose.

Stabilizers and Control Surfaces

• Elevators are attached to the horizontal stabilizer to control the climb or descent of an aircraft.
• Rudder is attached to the vertical stabilizer, defining horizontal flight (turning or yawing motion), and providing directional control.
• Ailerons are attached to the trailing edge of the wing, controlling the rolling (or banking) motion of an aircraft.

Aerodynamics

• Aerodynamics deals with the motion and forces acting on a body moving in air.
• The four aerodynamic forces that act on an airplane in flight are thrust, drag, lift, and weight.
• For an airplane to take off or climb, thrust must be greater than drag, and lift must be greater than weight.
• In straight and level flight, the opposing forces of lift and gravity are balanced.

Forces Acting on an Airplane

• Weight is the weight of the airplane acting downwards due to the force of gravity.
• Thrust is a mechanical force generated by the engine to move the aircraft forward.
• Lift is a mechanical force generated by a solid object moving through a fluid, acting through the center of pressure, perpendicular to the direction of fluid flow.
• Drag is a resisting force to the motion of an aircraft due to its relative motion with air flow.

Motion of an Airplane

• Pitch motion is the up-down movement of the nose of the airplane.
• Yaw motion is the turning or horizontal movement of the airplane.
• Roll motion is the banking or rotating motion of the airplane.

Airfoil and Lift

• An airfoil is the shape that conforms to the streamlines of the flow and prevents wake formation as far as possible.
• The airfoil shape produces better lift than any other form of the wing.
• Lift is generated when air flows past the curved surface of the wing, resulting in a difference in air pressure above and below the wing.

Terminologies

• Camber line is a line joining the leading and trailing edges of an airfoil, equidistant from the upper and lower surfaces.
• Camber is the asymmetry between the top and the bottom curves of an aerofoil in cross-section.
• Angle of incidence is the angle between the fuselage axis and the wing chord length.
• Angle of attack is the angle the wind makes with the wing (relative wind).
• Dihedral angle is the angle between one of the wings and the horizontal plane in which the fuselage axis is situated.