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Observe: Parts and Movements of Airplane

Building and flying an airplane requires a thorough understanding of the forces of flight. You need to know about gravity to select suitable materials that will be strong but not too heavy to fly. Knowing about Bernoulli’s Principle helps you choose a wing shape to produce lift. You need to know about drag to choose an appropriate airplane shape and a method to produce thrust to move the airplane forward. And this is just the basics of getting into the air!!

When you are in air, many smaller parts of the airplane help control how the plane flies.

• The ailerons control how the plane rolls (blue arrows).
• The elevators control the pitch of the plane (red arrows).
• The rudder controls the "yaw" – side-to-side turning of the plane (yellow arrows).

You will be learning how all these parts work together to help an airplane fly through the air.

The chart below shows how the pilot can make the plane pitch, roll, and yaw.  By changing the pitch of the elevators, the pilot can make the plane go up and down. By moving the rudder right or left, the pilot can make the plane travel right or left.  By moving an aileron, the pilot can make the plane bank or roll into the turn right or left.
 

Manoeuvring an Aircraft
Manoeuvre	Right Aileron	Left Aileron	Rudder	Elevator
Turning Straight Left			Move the rudder left to turn left.
Rising Right	Bank (roll) the plane right. Raise the right aileron.	Lower the left aileron.	Move the rudder right to turn right	Move the elevator up to raise the nose.
Diving Left	Lower the right aileron.	Bank (roll) the plane left. Raise the left aileron.	Move the rudder left to turn left.	Move the elevator down to lower the nose.
Moving Straight Up				Move the elevator up to raise the nose.
360º Roll	Raise the right aileron.	Lower the left aileron.	Neutral	Neutral

  Check Your Answers

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