HOW AN AIRCRAFT IS CONTROLLED

All aircraft are divided into two groups: craft that are heavier than air and craft that are lighter than air. Aeroplanes are heavier than air they are able to take off the ground and maintain themselves in flight. The essential components of aeroplane are: the wings, the fuselage, the tail, the landing gear and the engines. By means of the wings the airplane is sustained in the air. The wings are on either side of fuselage and the engines are mounted on them and the fuel is stored inside them. The fuselage, consisting of the cockpit, the passenger and the cargo compartment, is the body of an aeroplane. The aircraft can move round three axes: roll, pitch and yaw. For that purpose there are flight controls in the cockpit and also the corresponding control surfaces: round roll axis - ailerons, round pitch - elevator and round yaw - rudder. Flaps, the movable parts of an aeroplane are on each side of the fuselage. They are lowered for take-off and landing. The tail consists of rudders, elevators, the horizontal and vertical stabilizer, also called fin. Vertical stabilizer gives lateral or directional stability by opposing the tendency of an aeroplane to yaw. The horizontal stabilizer gives horizontal stability by opposing the tendency of an aeroplane to pitch. The rudder is movable control surface attached to the trailing edge of the fin for the purpose of steering the airplane right or left. The elevator is a movable control surface attached to the trailing edge of the horizontal stabilizer. Its function is to control climb or descent. By means of the landing gear the aeroplane leaves the ground and lands. The main components of landing gear are the wheels, the leg with shock absorbers and the brakes. Two types of engine propel the modern aircraft: the piston engine and the gas turbine (JET). Engine is controlled by a throttle lever which rise or decrease revolutions per minute (rpm) of the main rotor in each engine.