The primary advantage of the delta wing is that, with a large enough angle of rearward

sweep, the wing’s leading edge will not contact the shock wave boundary formed at the nose
of the fuselage as the speed of the aircraft approaches and
exceeds transonic to supersonic speed. The rearward sweep angle vastly lowers the airspeed
normal to the leading edge of the wing, thereby allowing the aircraft to fly at high subsonic,
transonic, or supersonic speed, while the over wing speed of the lifting air is kept to less
than the speed of sound. The delta planform gives the largest total wing area (generating
useful lift) for the wing shape, with very low wing per-unit loading, permitting high
manoeuvrability in the airframe. As the delta's platform carries across the entire aircraft, it
can be built much more strongly than a swept wing, where the spar meets the fuselage far in
front of the centre of gravity. Generally a delta will be stronger than a similar swept wing, as
well as having much more internal volume for fuel and other storage.

Another advantage is that as the angle of attack increases, the leading edge of the wing
generates a vortex which energizes the flow, giving the delta a very high stall angle.[citation
needed]
A normal wing built for high speed use is typically dangerous at low speeds, but in this
regime the delta changes over to a mode of lift based on the vortex it generates.

The disadvantages, especially marked in the older tailless delta designs, are a loss of total
available lift caused by turning up the wing trailing edge or the control surfaces (as required
to achieve a sufficient stability) and the high induced drag of this low-aspect ratio type of
wing.

Tailless Aircraft
Although the conventional aircraft described above represent 95% of all the worlds aircraft
some of the most important designs are Tailless. Concorde, the AVRO Arrow, and the Space
Shuttle are three notable examples. As you may have noticed they are all Supersonic
aircraft. In the future, when supersonic flight becomes more common we will probably see
more tailless aircraft.
On the tailless aircraft the pitch controls and roll controls must both be on the wing. There
can be separate elevators and ailerons or they can be combined into one set of controls
known as Elevons.
The tailless aircraft still usually has a vertical Fin with a rudder.
Sweep back of wings

Types

The term "swept wing" is normally used to mean "swept back", but other swept variants
include forward sweep, variable sweep wings and pivoting wings. The delta wing also
incorporates the same advantages as part of its layout.

Subsonic and transonic behavior[edit]

In the transonic phase, the swept wing also sweeps the shock which is at the top rear of the
wing. Only the velocity component perpendicular to the shock is affected.

As an aircraft enters the transonic speeds just below the speed of sound, an effect known
as wave drag starts to appear. As airflow accelerates around curved surfaces, near the speed
of sound this can cause the airflow to reach supersonic speeds. When this occurs, an
oblique shock wave is generated at the point where the flow slows back to subsonic speed.
Since this occurs on curved areas, these shock waves are normally associated with the
upper surfaces of the wing, the cockpit canopy, and the nose cone of the aircraft, areas with
the highest local curvature.
Shock waves require energy to form. This energy is taken out of the aircraft, which has to
supply extra thrust to make up for this energy loss. Thus the shocks are seen as a form
of drag. Since the shocks form when the local air velocity reaches supersonic speeds, there
is a certain "critical mach" speed (or drag divergence mach number) where this effect
becomes noticeable. This is normally when the shocks start generating over the wing, which
on most aircraft is the largest continually curved surface, and therefore the largest
contributor to this effect.
Sweeping the wing has the effect of reducing the curvature of the body as seen from the
airflow, by the cosine of the angle of sweep. For instance, a wing with a 45 degree sweep will
see a reduction in effective curvature to about 70% of its straight-wing value. This has the
effect of increasing the critical Mach by 30%. When applied to large areas of the aircraft, like
the wings and empennage, this allows the aircraft to reach speeds closer to Mach 1.
Disadvantages of Sweep back of wings

When a swept wing travels at high speed, the airflow has little time to react and simply flows
over the wing almost straight from front to back. At lower speeds the airdoes have time to
react, and is pushed spanwise by the angled leading edge, towards the wing tip. At the wing
root, by the fuselage, this has little noticeable effect, but as one moves towards the wingtip
the airflow is pushed spanwise not only by the leading edge, but the spanwise moving air
beside it. At the tip the airflow is moving along the wing instead of over it, a problem known
as spanwise flow.
The lift from a wing is generated by the airflow over it from front to rear. With increasing
span-wise flow the boundary layers on the surface of the wing have longer to travel, and so
are thicker and more susceptible to transition to turbulence or flow separation, also the
effective aspect ratio of the wing is less and so air "leaks" around the wing tips reducing
their effectiveness. The spanwise flow on swept wings produces airflow that moves the
stagnation point on the leading edge of any individual wing segment further beneath the
leading edge, increasing effective angle of attack of wing segments relative to its
neighbouring forward segment. The result is that wing segments farther towards the rear
operate at increasingly higher angles of attack promoting early stall of those segments. This
promotes tip stall on back swept wings, as the tips are most rearward, while delaying tip
stall for forward swept wings,

The lift from a wing is generated by the airflow over it from front to rear. With increasing
span-wise flow the boundary layers on the surface of the wing have longer to travel, and so
are thicker and more susceptible to transition to turbulence or flow separation, also the
effective aspect ratio of the wing is less and so air "leaks" around the wing tips reducing
their effectiveness. The spanwise flow on swept wings produces airflow that moves the
stagnation point on the leading edge of any individual wing segment further beneath the
leading edge, increasing effective angle of attack of wing segments relative to its
neighbouring forward segment. The result is that wing segments farther towards the rear
operate at increasingly higher angles of attack promoting early stall of those segments. This
promotes tip stall on back swept wings, as the tips are most rearward, while delaying tip
stall for forward swept wings, where the tips are forward. With both forward and back swept
wings, the rear of the wing will stall first. This creates a nose-up pressure on the aircraft. If
this is not corrected by the pilot it causes the plane to pitch up, leading to more of the wing
stalling, leading to more pitch up, and so on.

Forward sweep
: Forward-swept wing
LET L-13 two-seat glider showing forward swept wing

Grumman X-29 experimental aircraft, an extreme example of a forward swept wing

Sweeping a wing forward has approximately the same effect as rearward in terms of drag reduction, but has other
advantages in terms of low-speed handling where tip stall problems simply go away. In this case the low-speed air flows
towards the fuselage, which acts as a very large wing fence. Additionally, wings are generally larger at the root anyway,
which allows them to have better low-speed lift.
Canard Aircraft
A Canard aircraft is one in which the horizontal stabilizer and elevators are ahead of the
main wing. Such aircraft still have the same controls as the conventional aircraft they
are just in different places. The aircraft below (Cozy) has two vertical fins and two
rudders on the tips of the wings. (An interesting side note about this design is that the
left rudder pedal operates the left rudder and vice versa. The rudders only extend
outboard. Both rudders can be deflected at once by pushing the rudder pedals together,
thus acting like drag brakes.)

E m p e n n a g e : The empennage, commonly called the tail assembly (see figure 1-7), is the
rear section of the body of the airplane. Its main purpose is to give stability to the aircraft.
The fixed parts are the horizontal stabilizer and the vertical stabilizer or fin. The front, fixed
section is called the horizontal stabilizer and is used to prevent the airplane from pitching
up or down.

The rear section is called the elevator and is usually hinged to the horizontal stabilizer. The
elevator is a movable airfoil that controls the up-and-down motion of the aircraft's nose.
 fig 1 - 7 empennage structure

The vertical tail structure is divided into the vertical stabilizer and the rudder. The front
section is called the vertical stabilizer and is used to prevent the aircraft from yawing back
and forth. The principle behind its operation is much like the principle of a deep keel on a
sailboat. In light, single-engine aircraft, it also serves to offset the tendency of the aircraft to
roll in the opposite direction in which the propeller is rotating.

The rear section of the vertical structure is the rudder. It is a movable airfoil that is used to
turn the aircraft.

Sometimes the fixed stabilizer and separate movable elevators are replaced by a single
moving horizontal tail known as aStabilator. The Piper Pa28 is an example.

Another variation is to combine the vertical fin and the stabilizer into one pair of
controls (two instead of three) which form a Vee shape, known as a V-Tail. The
theoretical advantage of this design is the reduced interference drag associated with two
surfaces instead of three. On the V-tail the combined rudders and elevators are known
as Ruddervators. The engineering is more complicated in this system. The early
Beechcraft Bonanzas are an example.
Wing loading: In aerodynamics, wing loading is the loaded weight of the aircraft divided by
the area of the wing.[1] The faster an aircraft flies, the more lift is produced by each unit
area of wing, so a smaller wing can carry the same weight in level flight, operating at a
higher wing loading. Correspondingly, the landing and take-off speeds will be higher. The
high wing loading also decreases maneuverability. The same constraints apply to winged
biological organisms

Aspect ratio (wing): In aerodynamics, the aspect ratio of a wing is essentially the ratio of its
length to its breadth (chord). A high aspect ratio indicates long, narrow wings, whereas a low
aspect ratio indicates short, stubby wings ----Maneuverability: a high aspect-ratio wing will
have a lower roll rate than one of low aspect ratio, because in a high-aspect-ratio wing, an
equal amount of wing movement due to aileron deflection (at the aileron) will result in less
rolling action on the fuselage due to the greater length between the aileron and the fuselage.
A higher aspect ratio wing will also have a higher moment of inertia to overcome. Due to the
lower roll rates, high aspect ratio wings are usually not used on fighter aircraft.

Slip:Sometimes pilots may intentionally operate the rudder and ailerons in opposite
directions in a maneuver called a slip. This may be done to overcome crosswinds and keep
the fuselage in line with the runway, or to more rapidly lose altitude by increasing drag, or
both.

Gust Lock
The gust lock is controlled by the GUST LOCK handle located on the center pedestal. When
pulled AFT, the elevators and ailerons are mechanically locked while the rudder is
electrically locked by an actuator supplied from the Left Essential Bus. Before the GUST
LOCK lever can be moved, the GUST LOCK RELEASE knob located on the center pedestal
must be actuated in order to release the handle. The control columns must be pushed
forward and the ailerons and rudder must be centered in order to engage the gust locks.
When the GUST LOCK handle is engaged, power lever movement is limited to prevent takeoff
with the controls locked. All gust locks fail to the disengaged position if a disconnection
occurs in the gust lock control system. Master caution alerting is triggered with flashing
amber GUST LOCK on the CWP if the rudder gust lock remains engaged after the GUST
LOCK handle is released.

Rudder Limiter System:The rudder limiter system limits rudder travel at high speeds in
order to prevent rudder/stabilizer overload. The system is supplied from the Left Avionics
Start Bus and controlled by the RUDDER LIMIT switch. The rudder limiter mechanism
consists of an electric actuator which blocks rudder travel according to indicated airspeed.
The system monitors airspeed obtained from the air data computer and the standby
airspeed indicator and restricts rudder travel as follows:
• Full rudder travel (to 30°) is permitted at speeds up to 150 knots
• Intermediate travel (to 15°) is permitted at speeds between 150 to 200 knots
• Minimum travel (to 5.7°) is permitted at speeds above 200 knots
Discrepancies between the monitored airspeeds or an improperly positioned rudder limiter
result in master caution alerting with flashing amber RUDDER LIMIT on the CWP. Selecting
the RUDDER LIMIT switch to OVRD enables full rudder travel by retracting the rudder
limiting mechanism. If an airspeed vs. rudder limiter position discrepancy caused the alert,
then the RUDDER LIMIT light remains illuminated until airspeed is reduced to a value
appropriate for the actuator position, as listed above. The override function is supplied from
the Right Battery Bus.
Trim tab: Trim tabs are small surfaces connected to the trailing edge of a larger control
surface, such as a rudder, on an aircraft, used to control the trim of the controls, i.e. to
counteract aerodynamic forces and stabilise the aircraft in a particular desired attitude
without the need for the operator to constantly apply a control force. This is done by
adjusting the angle of the tab relative to the larger surface.

Changing the setting of a trim tab adjusts the neutral or resting position of a control surface
(such as an elevator or rudder). As the desired position of a control surface changes
(corresponding mainly to different speeds), an adjustable trim tab will allow the operator to
reduce the manual force required to maintain that position—to zero, if used correctly. Thus
the trim tab acts as a servo tab. Because the center of pressure of the trim tab is further
away from the axis of rotation of the control surface than the center of pressure of the
control surface, the movement generated by the tab can match the movement generated by
the control surface. The position of the control surface on its axis will change until the
torque from the control surface and the trim surface balance each other.
ruddervators,: in aircraft, a V-tail (sometimes called a Butterfly tail or spelled Vee-tail[1]) is
an unconventional arrangement of the tail control surfaces that replaces the traditional fin
and horizontal surfaces with two surfaces set in a V-shaped configuration when viewed from
the front or rear of the aircraft. The rear of each surface is hinged, and these movable
sections, sometimes called ruddervators, combine the tasks of the elevators and rudder.
Ruddervators : provide the same control effect as conventional control surfaces, but through
a more complex control system that actuates the control surfaces in unison. Yaw moving the
nose to the left is produced on an upright V tail by moving the pedals left which deflects the
left-hand ruddervator down and left and the right-hand ruddervator up and left. The
opposite produces yaw to the right. Pitch nose up is produced by moving the control column
or stick back which deflects the left-hand ruddervator up and right and the right-hand
ruddervator up and left. Pitch nose down is produced by moving the control column or stick
forward which induces the opposite ruddervator movements.[9]

Disadvantages of ruddervators,:Combining the pitch and yaw controls is difficult and

requires a more complex control system. The V-tail arrangement also places
greater stress on the rear fuselage when pitching and yawing .
Rudder :

At the rear of the fuselage of most aircraft one finds a vertical stabilizer and a rudder. The
stabilizer is a fixed wing section whose job is to provide stability for the aircraft, to keep it
flying straight. The vertical stabilizer prevents side-to-side, or yawing, motion of the aircraft
nose. The rudder is the small moving section at the rear of the stabilizer that is attached to
the fixed sections by hinges. Because the rudder moves, it varies the amount of force
generated by the tail surface and is used to generate and control the yawing motion of the
aircraft. This slide shows what happens when the pilot deflects the rudder, a hinged section
at the rear of the vertical stabilizer.

The rudder is used to control the position of the nose of the aircraft. Interestingly, it is NOT
used to turn the aircraft in flight. Aircraft turns are caused by banking the aircraft to one
side using either ailerons or spoilers. The banking creates an unbalanced side force
component of the large wing lift force which causes the aircraft's flight path to curve. The
rudder input insures that the aircraft is properly aligned to the curved flight path during the
maneuver. Otherwise, the aircraft would encounter additional drag or even a
possible adverse yaw condition in which, due to increased drag from the control surfaces,
the nose would move farther off the flight path.

The rudder works by changing the effective shape of the airfoil of the vertical stabilizer. As
described on the shape effects slide, changing the angle of deflection at the rear of an airfoil
will change the amount of lift generated by the foil. With increased deflection, the lift will
increase in the opposite direction. The rudder and vertical stabilizer are mounted so that
they will produce forces from side to side, not up and down. The side force (F) is applied
through the center of pressure of the vertical stabilizer which is some distance (L) from the
aircraft center of gravity. This creates a torque

T=F*L