Chapter 8 Flashcards
Aeroplane Axes and the Wing
What are the different axes of the aircraft?
Longitudinal axis (roll), normal axis (yaw) and lateral axis (pitch).
Where about does lift act?
Always above the aircraft. It doesn’t matter if, for example, the aircraft is upside down.
What is the wing tip?
It’s the end of the wing, furthest from the fuselage.
What is the wing root?
Where the wing joins the fuselage.
What is wingspan?
The distance between the wing tips.
What is a wing taper?
“Taper” describes a wing whose chord at the tip is shorter than the chord at the wing root.
What is the “taper ratio”?
It’s the ratio of the wing tip chord to root chord.
TR = tip chord / root chord
The value/result is almost always less than 1.
What is the average chord?
It’s the mean geometric chord length of the wing.
What is the “aspect ratio”?
The ratio of wingspan to average wing chord.
What is the “sweep angle”?
The triangle that is formed between the front side of the wings and the imaginary line (MAC: Mean Aerodynamic Chord) in front of the fuselages.
How is it called the angle at which the wings of an aircraft are set?
Dihedral: When the wing tips are designed to be higher than the wing root, the wings are said to have dihedral. (V shape)
Anhedral: Describes designs where the wintips are lower than the wing roots. (T shape)
