Principles of Flight

PRINCIPLES OF FLIGHT

- 081 05 Control
• Methods to Reduce Control Forces
• Mass Balance
• Trimming

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 Principles of Flight

This Presentation
• Methods to Reduce Control Forces
– Aerodynamic Balance
– Artificial Means
– Fly-by-Wire

• Mass Balance

• Trimming
– Reasons to Trim
– Trim Tabs
– Stabilizer Trim

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 Principles of Flight

Syllabus Progress

POF 1-3 POF 4-6 POF 7-9 POF 10-12 POF 13-15

POF 16-18 POF 19-21 POF 22-24 POF 25-27 POF 28-30

POF 31-33 POF 34-36 POF 37-39 POF 40-42 POF 43-45

POF 46-48 POF 49-51 POF 52-54 OPS 55-57 OPS 58-60

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 Principles of Flight

Methods to Reduce Control Forces

If an aerodynamic force acts on a control surface, it will try to rotate the control around its
hinge in the direction of the force. The moment is a product of the force (F) times the distance
(d) from the hinge line to the control surface CP. This is called the hinge moment. The force is
due to the surface area, the angular displacement of the control surface and the dynamic
pressure.

To move the control surface to the required angular displacement and maintain it in that
position the pilot has to overcome, then balance, the hinge moment by applying a force to the
cockpit control. The stick force will therefore depend on the size of the hinge moment.
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 Principles of Flight

Methods to Reduce Control Forces

Control Balancing

The aerodynamic force on the controls will depend on the area of the control surface, its
angular displacement and the IAS.

For large and fast aircraft the resulting aerodynamic force can give hinge moments / stick forces
which are too high for easy operation of the controls.

The pilot will require assistance to move the controls in these conditions, and this can be done
either by using (hydraulic) powered flying controls or by using some form of aerodynamic
balance.

Aerodynamic Balance

Aerodynamic balance involves using the aerodynamic forces on the control surface to reduce
the hinge moment / stick force and may be done in several ways:

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 Principles of Flight

Methods to Reduce Control Forces

Inset Hinge

If the distance (d) is reduced, the hinge moment will be reduced. The smaller the hinge
moment, the smaller the stick force and the easier it will be for the pilot to move the controls.
Setting the hinge back does not reduce the effectiveness of the control, only the hinge moment.

If the aerodynamic force (F2) were to move forward of the hinge, a condition known as
“overbalance” would exist. As the force moves forward, a reduction and then a reversal of the
stick force would occur. The designer must ensure this condition never happens.

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 Principles of Flight

Methods to Reduce Control Forces

Horn Balance

The principle of the horn balance is similar to that of the inset hinge, in that part of the surface
that is forward of the hinge line, and forces on this part of the surface give hinge moments
which are in the opposite direction to the moments on the main part of the surface.

The overall moment is therefore reduced, but the control effectiveness is not.

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 Principles of Flight

Methods to Reduce Control Forces

Internal Balance

This balance works similar to the inset hinge, but the balance area is inside the wing.

Movement of the control causes pressure changes on the aerofoil, and these pressure changes
are felt on the balance area. For example, if the control surface is moved down, pressure above
the aerofoil is reduced and pressure below it is increased. The reduced pressure is felt on the
upper surface of the balance ‘panel’, and the increased pressure on the lower surface. The
pressure difference on the balance therefore gives a hinge moment which is the opposite to the
hinge moment on the main control surface, and the overall hinge moment is reduced.
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 Principles of Flight

Methods to Reduce Control Forces

Balance Tab

The preceding types of aerodynamic balance work by causing some of the dynamic pressure on
the control surface to act forward of the hinge line. The balance tab provides a force acting on
the control surface trailing edge opposite to the force on the main control surface. The balance
tab moves in the opposite direction to the control surface. The pilot moves the surface, the
surface moves the tab.

Unlike the previous types of balance, the balance tab will give some reduction in control
effectiveness, as the tab force is opposite to the control force.
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 Principles of Flight

Methods to Reduce Control Forces

Anti-balance Tab

The anti-balance tab moves in the same direction as the control surface and increases control
effectiveness, but it will increase the hinge moment and give heavier stick forces.

The pilot moves the surface, the surface moves the tab.

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 Principles of Flight

Methods to Reduce Control Forces

Servo Tab

Pilot control input deflects the servo tab only; the aerodynamic force on the tab then moves the
control surface until an equilibrium position is reached. If external control locks are fitted to the
control surface on the ground, the cockpit control will still be free to move; therefore, you must
physically check any central locks have been removed before flight.

Older types of high-speed jet transport aircraft (B707) successfully used servo tab controls. The
disadvantage of the servo tab is reduced control effectiveness at low IAS.
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 Principles of Flight

Methods to Reduce Control Forces

Spring Tab

The spring tab is a modification of the servo tab, such that tab movement is proportional to the
applied stick force. Maximum tab assistance is obtained at high speed when the stick forces are
greatest.

High dynamic pressure will prevent the surface from moving, so the spring is compressed by
the pilot input and the tab moves the surface. The spring is not compressed at low IAS, so the
pilot input deflects the control surface and the tab, increasing the surface area and control
effectiveness at low speed.

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 Principles of Flight

Methods to Reduce Control Forces

If the required assistance for the pilot to move the controls cannot be provided by the
preceding types of aerodynamic balance, then hydraulic assisted controls have to be used.

Power Assisted Controls

With a power assisted flying control, only a part of the force required to oppose the hinge
moment is provided by the pilot; the hydraulic system provides most of the force. Although the
pilot does not have to provide all the force required, the natural ‘feel’ of the controls is retained
and the stick force increases as the square of the IAS, just as in a completely manual control.

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Methods to Reduce Control Forces

Fully Powered Controls

For bigger and/or faster aircraft, hinge moments are so large that fully powered controls must
be used. In a fully powered control system, none of the force to move the control surface is
supplied by the pilot.

The only force the pilot supplies is that required to overcome system friction and to move the
servo valve; all the necessary power to move the control surface is supplied by the aircraft’s
hydraulic system.

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 Principles of Flight

Methods to Reduce Control Forces

Fully Powered Controls

Movement of the servo valve to the left allows hydraulic fluid to enter the left chamber of the
PFCU. The body of the unit will move to the left, its movement being transferred to the control
surface. As soon as the PFCU body reaches the position into which the pilot placed the servo
valve, the PFCU body, and hence the control surface, stops moving. The unit is now locked in its
new position by “incompressible” liquid trapped on both sides of the piston and will remain in
that position until the servo valve is again moved by the pilot. Aerodynamic loads on the control
surface are unable to move the cockpit controls, so powered flying controls are known as
“irreversible” controls.

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 Principles of Flight

Methods to Reduce Control Forces

Artificial Feel (‘Q’ Feel)

With a fully powered flying control the pilot is unaware of the aerodynamic force on the
controls, so it is necessary to incorporate “artificial” feel to prevent the aircraft from being
overstressed. A device sensitive to dynamic pressure (½ ρ V2) or ‘Q’ is used.

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 Principles of Flight

Methods to Reduce Control Forces

Artificial Feel (‘Q’ Feel)

Pitot pressure is fed to one side of a chamber and static pressure to the other, which moves a
diaphragm under the influence of changing dynamic pressure with airspeed and causes
“regulated” hydraulic pressure to provide a resistance or ‘feel’ on the pilot’s input controls
proportional to IAS2, just as in a manual control. In addition, stick force should increase as stick
displacement increases.

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Methods to Reduce Control Forces

Fly-by-Wire

Fly-by-Wire (FBW) is a flight control systems which uses computers to process the flight control
inputs made by the pilot or autopilot and send corresponding electrical signals to the flight
control surface actuators.

This arrangement replaces mechanical linkage and means that the pilot inputs do not directly
move the control surfaces. Instead, inputs are read by a computer that in turn determines how
to move the control surfaces to best achieve what the pilot wants in accordance with which of
the available Flight Control Laws is active.

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Methods to Reduce Control Forces

Fly-by-Wire – Advantages

The advantages of reduced weight, improved reliability, damage tolerance, and more effective
control of a necessarily highly manoeuverable aircraft, were first recognized in military aircraft
design. The first aircraft to have FBW for all its flight controls in place of direct mechanical or
hydraulically-assisted operation, was the F-16 in 1973.

In the context of military fast jet need for agility, and therefore relatively more unstable aircraft,
FBW provides the ability to ensure that unintended increases in angle of attack or sideslip are
detected and rapidly, and automatically, resolved by marginally deflecting the control surfaces in
the opposite way while the problem is still small.

FBW also enables highly reliable flight envelope protection systems which, provided the FBW
system functions at its normal level, significantly enhances safety.

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Methods to Reduce Control Forces

Fly-by-Wire – Control Laws

The FCCs (Flight Control Computers) are programmed with control laws that govern the
feedback control system. Control laws are commonly named after the primary feedback
parameter as ‘xxx feedback’ or ‘xxx command’. Typical feedbacks are:

• Pitch Channel: vertical load factor, pitch rate, pitch angle, angle of attack;

• Roll Channel: bank angle, roll rate;

• Yaw Channel: yaw rate, sideslip angle, rate of change of sideslip angle.

‘G command’ which is a desirable capability at high speeds, means that for an amount of control
column force, you get the same ‘g’ regardless of prevailing airspeed.

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Methods to Reduce Control Forces

Fly-by-Wire – Flight Envelope Protection

Feedback control of airspeed, Mach Number, attitude, and angle of attack can be used to ensure
that the FBW aircraft stays within its certificated flight envelope. Two strategies have been used
to achieve this:

• Airbus strategy in which the control laws have absolute authority unless pilots select Direct
Law;

• Boeing strategy in which pilots can override protections and retain control over the aircraft.

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Mass Balance
Mass balance is a weight attached to the control surface forward of the hinge. Most control
surfaces are mass balanced. The purpose of this is to prevent control surface flutter. Flutter is an
oscillation of the control surface which can occur due to the bending and twisting of the
structure under load.

If the control surface CG is behind the hinge line, inertia will cause the surface to oscillate about
it. Oscillations can be divergent and cause structural failure. Adding weight to the control
surface in front of the hinge line brings the CG of the control forward to a position on, or slightly
in front of the hinge, reducing the inertia moments and preventing flutter.
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Coffee Break

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 Principles of Flight

Trimming
An aeroplane is trimmed when it will maintain its attitude and speed without the pilot having
to apply any load to the cockpit controls.

If it is necessary for a control surface to be deflected to maintain balance of the aircraft, the
pilot will need to apply a force to the cockpit control to hold the surface in its deflected
position. This force may be reduced to zero by operation of the trim controls.

The aircraft may need to be trimmed in pitch as a result of:

• Changes of speed;

• Changes of power;

• Varying CG positions;

• Changes of configuration.

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Trimming
Trimming in yaw will be needed:
• On a multi-engine aircraft if there is asymmetric power;
• As a result of changes in propeller torque.

Trimming in roll is less likely to be needed but could be required if the configuration is
asymmetric, or if there is a lateral displacement of the CG.

Various methods of trimming are in use. The main ones are:

• The trimming tab.

• Variable incidence (trimming) tailplane.
• Spring bias.
• CG adjustment.
• Adjustment of the artificial feel unit.

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 Principles of Flight

Trimming
Trim Tab

A trim tab is a small adjustable surface set into the trailing edge of a main control surface. Its
deflection is controlled by a trim wheel or electrical switch in the cockpit, usually arranged to
operate in an instinctive sense.

To maintain the primary control surface in its required position, the tab is moved in the opposite
direction to the control surface until the tab moment balances the control surface hinge
moment.

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Trimming
Variable Incidence (Trimming) Tailplane

This system of trimming may be used on manually operated and power operated controls. To
trim, the tailplane incidence is adjusted by the trim wheel until the tailplane load is equal to the
previous elevator balancing load required. Stick force is now zero.

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 Principles of Flight

Trimming
The main advantages of a variable incidence (trimming) tailplane are:

• The drag is less in the trimmed state as the aerofoil is more streamlined;

• Trimming does not reduce the effective range of pitch control as the elevator remains
approximately neutral when the aircraft is trimmed;

• It is very powerful and gives an increased ability to trim for larger CG and speed range.

The disadvantage of a variable incidence (trimming) tailplane is that it is more complex and is
heavier than a conventional trim tab system.

The amount of trim required will depend on the CG position, and recommended stabilizer take-
off settings will be given in the aircraft Flight Manual. It is important that these are correctly set
before take-off as incorrect settings could give either an excessive rate of pitch when the aircraft
is rotated, leading to possible tail strikes, or very heavy stick forces on rotation, leading to
increased take-off distances required.
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 Principles of Flight

Trimming
The disadvantage of a ”conventional” elevator and trim tab is that the aircraft nose-up pitch
authority reduces with forward CG movement. Forward CG positions require the elevator to be
trimmed more aircraft nose-up. The figure shows up elevator authority reduced from 10° to 5°.

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 Principles of Flight

Trimming

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 Principles of Flight

Questions

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Sample Questions (1)

• The purpose of aerodynamic balance on a flying control is:

a) To get the aircraft into balance;

b) To prevent flutter of the flying control;

c) To reduce the control load to zero;

d) To make the control easier to move.

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Sample Questions (2)

• A horn balance on a control surface is:

a) An arm projecting upward from the control surface to which the control cables
are attached;

b) A projection of the outer edge of the control surface forward of the hinge line;

c) A rod projecting forward from the control surface with a weight on the end;

d) A projection of the leading edge of the control surface below the wing
undersurface.
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Sample Questions (3)

• An aileron could be balanced aerodynamically by:

a) Making the up aileron move through a larger angle than the down aileron;

b) Attaching a weight to the control surface forward of the hinge;

c) Having the control hinge set back behind the control surface leading edge;

d) Having springs in the control circuit to assist movement.

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 Principles of Flight

Sample Questions (4)

• Control overbalance results in:

a) A sudden increase in stick force;

b) A sudden reduction then reversal of stick force;

c) A sudden loss of effectiveness of the controls;

a) A gradual increase in stick force with increasing IAS.

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 Principles of Flight

Sample Questions (5)

• Control surface is mass balanced by:

a) Fitting a balance tab;

b) Attaching a weight acting forward of the hinge line;

c) Attaching a weight acting on the hinge line;

d) Attaching a weight acting behind the hinge line.

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Sample Questions (6)

• The purpose of an anti-balance tab is to:

a) Trim the aircraft;

b) Reduce the load required to move the controls at all speeds;

c) Reduce the load required to move the controls at high speeds only;

d) give more feel to the controls.

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Sample Questions (7)

• When the control column is pushed forward a balance tab on the elevator:

a) Will move up relative to the control surface;

b) Will move down relative to the control surface;

c) Will only move if the trim wheel is operated;

d) Moves to the neutral position.

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Sample Questions (8)

• The purpose of a spring tab is:

a) To maintain a constant tension in the trim tab system;

b) To increase the feel in the control system;

c) To reduce the pilot’s effort required to move the controls against high air loads;

d) To compensate for temperature changes in cable tension.

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 Principles of Flight

Sample Questions (9)

• The purpose of a trim tab is:

a) To assist the pilot in initiating movement of the controls;

b) To zero the load on the pilots controls in the flight attitude required;

c) To provide feel to the controls at high speed;

d) To increase the effectiveness of the controls.

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Sample Questions (10)

• To trim an aircraft which tends to fly nose heavy with hands off, the top of the
elevator trim wheel should be:

a) Moved forward to raise the nose and this would cause the elevator trim tab to
move down, and the elevator to move up;

b) Moved backwards to raise the nose, and this would cause the elevator trim tab
to move down, and the elevator to move up;

c) Moved backwards to raise the nose, and this would cause the elevator trim tab
to move up, and the elevator to move up;

d) Be moved backwards to raise the nose, and this would cause the elevator trim
tab to move up and cause the nose to rise.
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Sample Questions (11)

• An aircraft tends to fly right wing low with hands off. It is trimmed with a tab on
the left aileron. The trim tab will:

a) Move up, causing the left aileron to move up and right aileron to move down;

b) Move down, causing the left aileron to move up, right aileron remains neutral;

c) Move down causing the left aileron to move up, and right aileron to move
down;

d) Move up causing the left wing to move down, ailerons remain neutral.
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Sample Questions (12)

• In a fully power operated flying control system control feel is provided by:

a) The friction in the control cable system;

b) An artificial feel unit (Q - Feel);

c) The aerodynamic loads on the control surface;

d) The mass balance weights.

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Sample Questions (13)

• In general transport airplanes with power assisted flight controls are fitted with
an adjustable stabilizer instead of trim tabs on the elevator. This is because:

a) Effectiveness of trim tabs is insufficient for those airplanes;

b) The pilot does not feel the stick forces at all;

c) Mechanical adjustment of trim tabs creates too many problems;

d) Trim tab deflection increases MCRIT.

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Sample Questions (14)

• Mass Balance is used to eliminate:

a) Adverse Yaw;

b) Flutter;

c) Dutch-Roll;

d) None of the above.

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Sample Questions (15)

• To re-trim after failure of the right engine on a twin-engine aircraft:

a) The rudder trim tab will move right, and the rudder left;

b) The trim tab will move left, and the rudder right;

c) The trim tab will move left, and the rudder remain neutral;

d) The trim tab will move right, and the rudder remain neutral.

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See you next Class!

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