Introduction
Secondary controls; trim tabs and spring tabs are used to assist the
pilot in controlling the surfaces
Auxiliary controls; flaps, spoilers and slot are used as lift augmenting
or destroying controls.
Secondary Flight Control
Aircraft Components
Vertical Stabilizer
Empennage Rudder
Horizontal Stabilizer
Elevator
Flaps
Cockpit
Aileron
Rudder
Empennage
Elevator
Cockpit
Ailerons
Control roll about
longitudinal axis
Elevator
Control pitch about lateral
axis
Rudder
Control yaw about vertical
axis
Conventional Flight Control System Components
Mechanical
Hydraulic-Mechanical
Fly-by-wire
Other
Mechanical Flight Control System
Generally not very good when there are large stick forces. The pilots
strength becomes the limiting factor.
Push Pull Rod System for Elevator Control
Cables & Pulleys System for Elevator Control
Servo Tabs
In the manual mode the flight control column moves the tab on the
c/surface and the aerodynamic forces caused by the deflected tab
moves the main control surface.
Elevator Trim Tab System
Elevator trim balances the control force necessary to maintain the aerodynamic
down force on the tail. When aircraft is flying, a lot of trim could be required to
maintain the desired angle of attack. This mainly applies to slow flight, where
maintaining a nose-up attitude requires a lot of trim. An important design
parameter for aircraft is the stability of the aircraft when trimmed for level flight.
Any disturbances such as turbulence will be damped over a short period of time
and the aircraft will return to its level flight with trimmed airspeed.
Rudder and Aileron Trim Tab System
Trim doesn't only apply to the elevator, as there is also trim for the rudder and
ailerons. The use of this is to counter the effects of slip stream, or to counter the
effects of the centre of gravity being to one side. This can be caused by a larger
weight on one side of the aircraft compared to the other, such as when one fuel
tank has a lot more fuel in it than the other, or when there are heavier people on
one side of the aircraft than the other.
A Rudder Trim Tab System
Flap Control System
Flaps are hinged surfaces on the trailing edge of the wings of a fixed-wing
aircraft. As flaps are extended, the stalling speed of the aircraft is reduced.
Flaps are also used on the leading edge of the wings of some high-speed
jet aircraft, where they may be called Krueger flaps. Flaps increase the
camber of the wing airfoil, thus raising the lift coefficient. This increase in
lift coefficient allows the aircraft to generate a given amount of lift with a
slower speed. Therefore, extending the flaps will reduce the stalling speed
of an aircraft. They also increase drag which helps to slow the aircraft.
Types of flap systems:
Spoilers
On low drag aircraft like sailplanes,
spoilers are used to disrupt airflow over the
wing and greatly increase the amount of
drag. This allows a glider pilot to lose
altitude without gaining excessive
airspeed. Spoilers are sometimes called
"lift dumpers". Spoilers that can be used
asymmetrically are called spoilerons and
are able to affect an aircraft's roll.
Slats
Slats, also known as Leading Edge Devices, are extensions to the
front of a wing for lift augmentation, and are intended to reduce the
stalling speed by altering the airflow over the wing. Slats may be
fixed or retractable - fixed slats give excellent slow speed and STOL
capabilities, but compromise higher speed performance. Retractable
slats, as seen on most airliners, provide reduced stalling speed for
take-off and landing, but are retracted for cruising.
Need for Powered Control System
When the pilot’s action is not directly sufficient for the control, the main
option is a powered system that assists the pilot.
The valve, that is located near the actuators can be signaled in two
different ways: mechanically or electrically
The system must control the surface in a proportional way, i.e. the surface
response (deflection) must be function to the pilot’s demand (stick deflection,
for instance)
The pilot that with little effort acts on a control valve must have a feedback on
the maneuver intensity.
Commands from the computers are also input without the pilot's
knowledge to stabilize the aircraft and perform other tasks. Electronics
for aircraft flight control systems are part of the field known as avionics.
The first aircraft, and most current aero vehicles have mechanical
linkages between the pilot and control surfaces.
WW II Era - B-17 bombing stabilization system using gyros and
servo-actuators driving mechanical linkages.
Space Planes
propulsion
Thrust vectoring
surfaces
“Wing warp” (similar to the Wright Flyer)
Human/Machine Interface
Sensing and prevention of pilot induced oscillation (PIO)
Any movement (from straight and level flight for example) results in
signals being sent to the computer which again moves the relevant
control actuators, however, the input is done without the pilot's
knowledge; the cockpit controls do not move.
FBW – Safety and Redundancy
Aircraft systems may be quadrupled (four independent channels) in
order to prevent loss of signals in the case of failure of one or even two
channels.
High performance aircraft that have FBW controls (also called CCVs or
Control Configured Vehicles) may be deliberately designed to have low
or even negative aerodynamic stability in some flight regimes, the
rapid-reacting CCV controls compensating for the lack of natural
stability
A basic autopilot system can mechanize control of pitch, yaw, and roll
based on parameters given by a pilot.
Because a pilot must give commands to the autopilot, it’s better to think
of autopilot as an automatic flight control system (AFCS).
A simple single-axis ACFS will only control one dimension of the
plane’s movement. In this case, it’s usually roll, which would be used to
level the wings at cruising heights.
Two-axis AFCS would control pitch and roll, Three-axis controls pitch,
yaw, and roll.
Although there is great diversity in autopilot systems, most can be
classified according to the number of parts, or surfaces, they control. To
understand this discussion, it helps to be familiar with the three basic
control surfaces that affect an airplane's attitude.
This loop, shown above in the block diagram, works continuously, many
times a second, much more quickly and smoothly than a human pilot
could.
Two- and three-axis autopilots obey the same principles, employing
multiple processors that control multiple surfaces.
Some airplanes even have auto thrust computers to control engine
thrust. Autopilot and auto thrust systems can work together to perform
very complex maneuvers.
Computer system
A position sensor can also fail, resulting in a loss of input data to the
autopilot computer.
Garmin
Thales
Rockwell Collins
Honeywell
Advantages
Applications
Timing, the ability to acquire and maintain accurate and precise time
from a standard (Coordinated Universal Time, or UTC), anywhere in
the world and within user-defined timeliness parameters.
Navigation Services Vision
Provide safe and cost effective position, navigation, and timing services
(PNT) to meet the operational needs of aviation customers.
Arrivals
Departures All -Weather
Approaches
Frequency Bands
Instrument Landing System (ILS)
ILS
ILS is stand for Instrument Landing System.
It has been existence for over 60 years, But today, it is still the most
accurate approach and landing aid that is used by the airliners.
Localizer and Glide Path antenna located at aircraft nose receives both
signals and sends it to ILS indicator in the cockpit.
These signals activate the vertical and horizontal needles inside the ILS
indicator to tell the pilot either go left/right or go up/down.
By keeping both needles centered, the pilot can guide his aircraft down
to end of landing runway aligned with the runway center line and aiming
the touch down.
Operates in the VHF portion of the electromagnetic spectrum
The most accurate approach and landing aid that is used by the
airliners.
Disadvantages of ILS
With it, a pilot can simply, accurately, and without ambiguity navigate
from Point A to Point B.
As for aircraft, VOR consist of VOR antenna, at vertical tail and VOR
receiver and indicator inside cockpit.
To-from indicator presents the direction to or from the station along the omni
radial.
When the localizer signals are selected on the receiver the indicator shows
the position of the localizer beam relative to the aircraft and the direction the
aircraft must be turned to intercept the localizer.
During VOR operation the VOR radial to be used is selected by rotating the
OBS (omni-bearing selector).
Vertical needle also indicates when the aircraft deviates from the course and
The direction of the aircraft must be turned to attain the desired course
VHF OMNIRANGE (V0R)
A Display
A Rotating Course Card, calibrated from 0 to 360°, whichindicates the
VOR bearing chosen as the reference to fly TO or FROM. Here, the
345° radial has been set into the display.
This VOR gauge also digitally displays the VOR bearing, which
simplifies setting the desired navigation track
B Display
The Omni Bearing Selector, or OBS knob, used to manually rotate the
course card.
C Display
The CDI, or Course Deviation Indicator. This needle swings left or right
indicating the direction to turn to return to course. When the needle is to
the left, turn left and when the needle is to the right, turn right, When
centered, the aircraft is on course. Each dot in the arc under the needle
represents a 2° deviation from the desired course.
D Display
The TO-FROM indicator. This arrow will point up, or towards the nose
of the aircraft, when flying TO the VOR station.
The arrow reverses direction, points downward, when flying away
FROM the VOR station.
A red flag replaces these TO-FROM arrows when the VOR is beyond
reception range, has not been properly tuned in, or the VOR receiver is
turned off. Similarly, the flag appears if the VOR station itself is
inoperative, or down for maintenance.
VOR receiving systems consist of
A RECEIVER
VISUAL INDICATOR
ANTENNAS
A POWER SUPPLY
FREQUENCY SELECTOR: USED TO TUNE RECEIVER
TO SELECTED VOR GROUND STATION
Reliable:
Can be used day and night.
These routes are like invisible highways , which the pilot can navigate to @
away from any location.