Airplane

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Airplane

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


"Aeroplane" redirects here. For the comedy film, see Airplane! For other
uses, see Airplane (disambiguation) and Aeroplane (disambiguation).

North American P-51 Mustang, a World War

II fighter aircraft An All Nippon Airways Boeing


777-300ER taking off from New York JFK Airport
Airplane

The first flight of an airplane, the Wright Flyer on


17 December 1903

Classification Vehicle
Industry Various

Application Transportation

Fuel source Petrol, electricity, diesel, natural


gas, hydrogen, solar

Powered Yes

Self-propelled Yes

Inventor Wright Brothers

Invented 1903; 121 years ago

An airplane (North American English) or aeroplane (Commonwealth


English), informally plane, is a fixed-wing aircraft that is propelled forward
by thrust from a jet engine, propeller, or rocket engine. Airplanes come in a
variety of sizes, shapes, and wing configurations. The broad spectrum of
uses for airplanes includes recreation, transportation of goods and
people, military, and research. Worldwide, commercial aviation transports
more than four billion passengers annually on airliners[1] and transports
more than 200 billion tonne-kilometers[2] of cargo annually, which is less
than 1% of the world's cargo movement.[3] Most airplanes are flown by a
pilot on board the aircraft, but some are designed to be remotely or
computer-controlled such as drones.

The Wright brothers invented and flew the first airplane in 1903, recognized
as "the first sustained and controlled heavier-than-air powered flight".
[4]
They built on the works of George Cayley dating from 1799, when he set
forth the concept of the modern airplane (and later built and flew models
and successful passenger-carrying gliders)[5] and the work of German
pioneer of human aviation Otto Lilienthal, who, between 1867 and 1896,
also studied heavier-than-air flight. Lilienthal's flight attempts in 1891 are
seen as the beginning of human flight.[6] Following its limited use in World
War I, aircraft technology continued to develop. Airplanes had a presence
in all the major battles of World War II. The first jet aircraft was the
German Heinkel He 178 in 1939. The first jet airliner, the de Havilland
Comet, was introduced in 1952. The Boeing 707, the first widely successful
commercial jet, was in commercial service for more than 60 years, from
1958 to 2019.[7]

Etymology and usage


First attested in English in the late 19th century (prior to the first sustained
powered flight), the word airplane, like aeroplane, derives from the
French aéroplane, which comes from the Greek ἀήρ (aēr), "air"[8] and
either Latin planus, "level",[9] or Greek πλάνος (planos), "wandering".[10]
[11]
"Aéroplane" originally referred just to the wing, as it is a plane moving
through the air.[12] In an example of synecdoche, the word for the wing came
to refer to the entire aircraft.

In the United States and Canada, the term "airplane" is used for powered
fixed-wing aircraft. In the United Kingdom and Ireland and most of
the Commonwealth, the term "aeroplane" (/ˈɛərəpleɪn/[12]) is usually applied
to these aircraft.

History
Main articles: Aviation history and First flying machine

Le Bris and his glider, Albatros II, photographed

by Nadar, 1868 Otto Lilienthal in mid-flight,


Berlin, c. 1895
Antecedents
Many stories from antiquity involve flight, such as the Greek
legend of Icarus and Daedalus, and the Vimana in ancient Indian epics.
Around 400 BC in Greece, Archytas was reputed to have designed and
built the first artificial, self-propelled flying device, a bird-shaped model
propelled by a jet of what was probably steam, said to have flown some
200 m (660 ft).[13][14] This machine may have been suspended for its flight.[15]
[16]

Some of the earliest recorded attempts with gliders were those by the 9th-
century Andalusian and Arabic-language poet Abbas ibn Firnas and the
11th-century English monk Eilmer of Malmesbury; both experiments injured
their pilots.[17] Leonardo da Vinci researched the wing design of birds and
designed a man-powered aircraft in his Codex on the Flight of Birds (1502),
noting for the first time the distinction between the center of mass and
the center of pressure of flying birds.

In 1799, George Cayley set forth the concept of the modern airplane as a
fixed-wing flying machine with separate systems for lift, propulsion, and
control.[18][19] Cayley was building and flying models of fixed-wing aircraft as
early as 1803, and he built a successful passenger-carrying glider in 1853.
[5]
In 1856, Frenchman Jean-Marie Le Bris made the first powered flight, by
having his glider "L'Albatros artificiel" pulled by a horse on a beach.[20] Then
the Russian Alexander F. Mozhaisky also made some innovative designs.
In 1883, the American John J. Montgomery made a controlled flight in a
glider.[21] Other aviators who made similar flights at that time were Otto
Lilienthal, Percy Pilcher, and Octave Chanute.

Sir Hiram Maxim built a craft that weighed 3.5 tons, with a 110-foot (34 m)
wingspan that was powered by two 360-horsepower (270 kW) steam
engines driving two propellers. In 1894, his machine was tested with
overhead rails to prevent it from rising. The test showed that it had enough
lift to take off. The craft was uncontrollable and it is presumed that Maxim
realized this because he subsequently abandoned work on it.[22]

Between 1867 and 1896, the German pioneer of human aviation Otto
Lilienthal developed heavier-than-air flight. He was the first person to make
well-documented, repeated, successful gliding flights. Lilienthal's work led
to him developing the concept of the modern wing,[23][24] his flight attempts in
1891 are seen as the beginning of human flight,[25] the "Lilienthal
Normalsegelapparat" is considered to be the first airplane in series
production and his work heavily inspired the Wright brothers.[26]

In the 1890s, Lawrence Hargrave conducted research on wing structures


and developed a box kite that lifted the weight of a man. His box kite
designs were widely adopted. Although he also developed a type of rotary
aircraft engine, he did not create and fly a powered fixed-wing aircraft.[27]
Early powered flights

Patent drawings of Clement Ader's Éole.


The Frenchman Clement Ader constructed his first of three flying machines
in 1886, the Éole. It was a bat-like design run by a lightweight steam
engine of his own invention, with four cylinders developing
20 horsepower (15 kW), driving a four-blade propeller. The engine weighed
no more than 4 kilograms per kilowatt (6.6 lb/hp). The wings had a span of
14 m (46 ft). All-up weight was 300 kilograms (660 lb). On 9 October 1890,
Ader attempted to fly the Éole. Aviation historians give credit to this effort
as a powered take-off and uncontrolled hop of approximately 50 m (160 ft)
at a height of approximately 200 mm (7.9 in).[28][29] Ader's two subsequent
machines were not documented to have achieved flight.[30]

The American Wright brothers flights in 1903 are recognized by


the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI), the standard-setting and
record-keeping body for aeronautics, as "the first sustained and controlled
heavier-than-air powered flight".[4] By 1905, the Wright Flyer III was capable
of fully controllable, stable flight for substantial periods. The Wright brothers
credited Otto Lilienthal as a major inspiration for their decision to pursue
manned flight.

Santos-Dumont 14-bis, between 1906 and 1907


In 1906, the Brazilian Alberto Santos-Dumont made what was claimed to
be the first airplane flight unassisted by catapult[31] and set the first world
record recognized by the Aéro-Club de France by flying 220 meters (720 ft)
in less than 22 seconds.[32] This flight was also certified by the FAI.[33][34]

An early aircraft design that brought together the


modern monoplane tractor configuration was the Blériot VIII design of
1908. It had movable tail surfaces controlling both yaw and pitch, a form of
roll control supplied either by wing warping or by ailerons and controlled by
its pilot with a joystick and rudder bar. It was an important predecessor of
his later Blériot XI Channel-crossing aircraft of the summer of 1909.[35]

World War I served as a testbed for the use of the airplane as a weapon.
Airplanes demonstrated their potential as mobile observation platforms,
then proved themselves to be machines of war capable of causing
casualties to the enemy. The earliest known aerial victory with a
synchronized machine gun-armed fighter aircraft occurred in 1915, by
German Luftstreitkräfte Leutnant Kurt Wintgens. Fighter aces appeared;
the greatest (by number of Aerial Combat victories) was Manfred von
Richthofen, also known as the Red Baron.

Following WWI, aircraft technology continued to develop. Alcock and


Brown crossed the Atlantic non-stop for the first time in 1919. The first
international commercial flights took place between the United States and
Canada in 1919.[36]

Airplanes had a presence in all the major battles of World War II. They
were an essential component of the military strategies of the period, such
as the German Blitzkrieg, The Battle of Britain, and the American and
Japanese aircraft carrier campaigns of the Pacific War.
Development of jet aircraft

The Concorde supersonic transport aircraft


The first practical jet aircraft was the German Heinkel He 178, which was
tested in 1939. In 1943, the Messerschmitt Me 262, the first operational jet
fighter aircraft, went into service in the German Luftwaffe.
The first jet airliner, the de Havilland Comet, was introduced in 1952.
The Boeing 707, the first widely successful commercial jet, was in
commercial service for more than 50 years, from 1958 to 2010. The Boeing
747 was the world's biggest passenger aircraft from 1970 until it was
surpassed by the Airbus A380 in 2005.

Supersonic airliner flights, including those of the Concorde, have been


limited to over-water flight at supersonic speed because of their sonic
boom, which is prohibited over most populated land areas. The high cost of
operation per passenger-mile and a deadly crash in 2000 induced the
operators of the Concorde to remove it from service.[37][38]

Propulsion
See also: Powered aircraft and Aircraft engine
Propeller
Main articles: Propeller (aeronautics) and Aircraft engine

An Antonov An-2 biplane


An aircraft propeller, or airscrew, converts rotary motion from an engine or
other power source, into a swirling slipstream which pushes the propeller
forwards or backwards. It comprises a rotating power-driven hub, to which
are attached two or more radial airfoil-section blades such that the whole
assembly rotates about a longitudinal axis.[39] Three types of aviation
engines used to power propellers include reciprocating engines (or piston
engines), gas turbines, and electric motors. The amount of thrust a
propeller creates is determined, in part, by its disk area—the area through
which the blades rotate. The limitation on blade speed is the speed of
sound; as when the blade tip exceeds the speed of sound, shock waves
decrease propeller efficiency. The rpm required to generate a given tip
speed is inversely proportional to the diameter of the propeller. The upper
design speed limit for propeller-driven aircraft is Mach 0.6. Aircraft
designed to go faster than that employ jet engines.[40]
Reciprocating engine
Main articles: Radial engine, Inline engine (aeronautics), and Flat engine
Reciprocating engines in aircraft have three main variants, radial, in-
line and flat or horizontally opposed engine. The radial engine is a
reciprocating type internal combustion engine configuration in which the
cylinders "radiate" outward from a central crankcase like the spokes of a
wheel and was commonly used for aircraft engines before gas turbine
engines became predominant. An inline engine is a reciprocating engine
with banks of cylinders, one behind another, rather than rows of cylinders,
with each bank having any number of cylinders, but rarely more than six,
and may be water-cooled. A flat engine is an internal combustion engine
with horizontally-opposed cylinders.
Gas turbine
Main article: Turboprop
A turboprop gas turbine engine consists of an intake, compressor,
combustor, turbine, and a propelling nozzle, which provide power from a
shaft through a reduction gearing to the propeller. The propelling nozzle
provides a relatively small proportion of the thrust generated by a
turboprop.
Electric motor

Solar Impulse 1, a solar-powered aircraft with


electric motors.
Main article: Electric motor
An electric aircraft runs on electric motors with electricity coming from fuel
cells, solar cells, ultracapacitors, power beaming,[41] or batteries. Currently,
flying electric aircraft are mostly experimental prototypes, including manned
and unmanned aerial vehicles, but there are some production models on
the market.[42]
Jet
Main article: Jet engine
Jet aircraft are propelled by jet engines, which are used because the
aerodynamic limitations of propellers do not apply to jet propulsion. These
engines are much more powerful than a reciprocating engine for a given
size or weight and are comparatively quiet and work well at higher altitude.
Variants of the jet engine include the ramjet and the scramjet, which rely on
high airspeed and intake geometry to compress the combustion air, prior to
the introduction and ignition of fuel. Rocket motors provide thrust by
burning a fuel with an oxidizer and expelling gas through a nozzle.
Turbofan
Most jet aircraft use turbofan jet engines, which employ a gas turbine to
drive a ducted fan, which accelerates air around the turbine to provide
thrust in addition to that which is accelerated through the turbine. The ratio
of air passing around the turbine to that passing through is called the by-
pass ratio.[43] They represent a compromise between turbojet (with no
bypass) and turboprop forms of aircraft propulsion (primarily powered with
bypass air).[44]

Subsonic aircraft, such as airliners, employ high by-pass jet engines for fuel
efficiency. Supersonic aircraft, such as jet fighters, use low-bypass
turbofans. However at supersonic speeds, the air entering the engine must
be decelerated to a subsonic speed and then re-accelerated back to
supersonic speeds after combustion. An afterburner may be used on
combat aircraft to increase power for short periods of time by injecting fuel
directly into the hot exhaust gases. Many jet aircraft also use thrust
reversers to slow down after landing.[44]
Ramjet
Main article: Ramjet

Artist's concept of X-43A with scramjet attached


to the underside
A ramjet is a form of jet engine that contains no major moving parts and
can be particularly useful in applications requiring a small and simple
engine for high-speed use, such as with missiles. Ramjets require forward
motion before they can generate thrust and so are often used in
conjunction with other forms of propulsion, or with an external means of
achieving sufficient speed. The Lockheed D-21 was a Mach 3+ ramjet-
powered reconnaissance drone that was launched from a parent aircraft. A
ramjet uses the vehicle's forward motion to force air through the engine
without resorting to turbines or vanes. Fuel is added and ignited, which
heats and expands the air to provide thrust.[45]
Scramjet
Main article: Scramjet
A scramjet is a specialized ramjet that uses internal supersonic airflow to
compress, combine with fuel, combust and accelerate the exhaust to
provide thrust. The engine operates at supersonic speeds only. The NASA
X-43, an experimental unmanned scramjet, set a world speed record in
2004 for a jet-powered aircraft with a speed of Mach 9.7, nearly 12,100
kilometers per hour (7,500 mph).[46]
Rocket
Main article: Rocket engine

Bell X-1 in flight, 1947


Whereas jet aircraft use the atmosphere both as a source of oxidant and of
mass to accelerate reactively behind the aircraft, rocket aircraft carry the
oxidizer on board and accelerate the burned fuel and oxidizer backwards
as the sole source of mass for reaction. Liquid fuel and oxidizer may be
pumped into a combustion chamber or a solid fuel with oxidizer may burn in
the fuel chamber. Whether liquid or solid-fueled, the hot gas is accelerated
through a nozzle.[47]

In World War II, the Germans deployed the Me 163 Komet rocket-powered
aircraft. The first plane to break the sound barrier in level flight was a rocket
plane – the Bell X-1 in 1948. The North American X-15 broke many speed
and altitude records in the 1960s and pioneered engineering concepts for
later aircraft and spacecraft. Military transport aircraft may employ rocket-
assisted take offs for short-field situations. Otherwise, rocket aircraft
include spaceplanes, like SpaceShipTwo, for travel beyond the Earth's
atmosphere and sport aircraft developed for the short-lived Rocket Racing
League.

Design and manufacture


Main article: Aerospace manufacturer

Assembly line of the SR-71 Blackbird at Skunk


Works, Lockheed Martin's Advanced Development Programs (ADP).
Most airplanes are constructed by companies with the objective of
producing them in quantity for customers. The design and planning
process, including safety tests, can last up to four years for small
turboprops or longer for larger planes.

During this process, the objectives and design specifications of the aircraft
are established. First the construction company uses drawings and
equations, simulations, wind tunnel tests and experience to predict the
behavior of the aircraft. Computers are used by companies to draw, plan
and do initial simulations of the aircraft. Small models and mockups of all or
certain parts of the plane are then tested in wind tunnels to verify its
aerodynamics.

When the design has passed through these processes, the company
constructs a limited number of prototypes for testing on the ground.
Representatives from an aviation governing agency often make a first flight.
The flight tests continue until the aircraft has fulfilled all the requirements.
Then, the governing public agency of aviation of the country authorizes the
company to begin production.

In the United States, this agency is the Federal Aviation


Administration (FAA). In the European Union, European Aviation Safety
Agency (EASA); in the United Kingdom it is the Civil Aviation
Authority (CAA).[48] In Canada, the public agency in charge and authorizing
the mass production of aircraft is Transport Canada's Civil Aviation
Authority.[49]

When a part or component needs to be joined together by welding for


virtually any aerospace or defense application, it must meet the most
stringent and specific safety regulations and standards. Nadcap, or the
National Aerospace and Defense Contractors Accreditation Program sets
global requirements for quality, quality management and quality assurance
for aerospace engineering.[50]

In the case of international sales, a license from the public agency of


aviation or transport of the country where the aircraft is to be used is also
necessary. For example, airplanes made by the European
company, Airbus, need to be certified by the FAA to be flown in the United
States, and airplanes made by U.S.-based Boeing need to be approved by
the EASA to be flown in the European Union.[51]

An Airbus A321 on final assembly line 3 in


the Airbus Hamburg-Finkenwerder plant.
Regulations have resulted in reduced noise from aircraft engines in
response to increased noise pollution from growth in air traffic over urban
areas near airports.[52]

Small planes can be designed and constructed by amateurs as homebuilts.


Other homebuilt aircraft can be assembled using pre-manufactured kits of
parts that can be assembled into a basic plane and must then be
completed by the builder.[53]

Few companies produce planes on a large scale. However, the production


of a plane for one company is a process that actually involves dozens, or
even hundreds, of other companies and plants, that produce the parts that
go into the plane. For example, one company can be responsible for the
production of the landing gear, while another one is responsible for the
radar. The production of such parts is not limited to the same city or
country; in the case of large plane manufacturing companies, such parts
can come from all over the world. The parts are sent to the main plant of
the plane company, where the production line is located. In the case of
large planes, production lines dedicated to the assembly of certain parts of
the plane can exist, especially the wings and the fuselage.[54][55] When
complete, a plane is rigorously inspected to search for imperfections and
defects. After approval by inspectors, the plane is put through a series
of flight tests to assure that all systems are working correctly and that the
plane handles properly.[56] To meet a particular customer need, the airplane
may be customised using components or packages of components
provided by the manufacturer or the customer.[57]

Characteristics

Major components of an airplane.

An IAI Heron - an unmanned aerial vehicle with


a twin-boom configuration
Airframe
Main article: Airframe
The structural parts of a fixed-wing aircraft are called the airframe. The
parts present can vary according to the aircraft's type and purpose. Early
types were usually made of wood with fabric wing surfaces, When engines
became available for powered flight around a hundred years ago, their
mounts were made of metal. Then as speeds increased more and more
parts became metal until by the end of WWII all-metal aircraft were
common. In modern times, increasing use of composite materials has been
made.

Typical structural parts include:


 One or more large horizontal wings, often with an airfoil cross-section
shape. The wing deflects air downward as the aircraft moves forward,
generating lifting force to support it in flight. The wing also provides
stability in roll to stop the aircraft from rolling to the left or right in steady
flight.

The An-225 Mriya, which could carry a 250-


tonne payload, had two vertical stabilizers.

 A fuselage, a long, thin body, usually with tapered or rounded ends to


make its shape aerodynamically smooth. The fuselage joins the other
parts of the airframe and usually contains important things such as the
pilot, payload and flight systems.
 A vertical stabilizer or fin is a vertical wing-like surface mounted at the
rear of the plane and typically protruding above it. The fin stabilizes the
plane's yaw (turn left or right) and mounts the rudder, which controls its
rotation along that axis.
 A horizontal stabilizer or tailplane, usually mounted at the tail near the
vertical stabilizer. The horizontal stabilizer is used to stabilize the
plane's pitch (tilt up or down) and mounts the elevators, which provide
pitch control.
 Landing gear, a set of wheels, skids, or floats that support the plane
while it is on the surface. On seaplanes, the bottom of the fuselage or
floats (pontoons) support it while on the water. On some planes the
landing gear retracts during flight to reduce drag.
Wings
Main article: Wing
The wings of a fixed-wing aircraft are static planes extending either side of
the aircraft. When the aircraft travels forwards, air flows over the wings,
which are shaped to create lift. This shape is called an airfoil and is shaped
like a bird's wing.
Wing structure
Airplanes have flexible wing surfaces which are stretched across a frame
and made rigid by the lift forces exerted by the airflow over them. Larger
aircraft have rigid wing surfaces which provide additional strength.

Whether flexible or rigid, most wings have a strong frame to give them their
shape and to transfer lift from the wing surface to the rest of the aircraft.
The main structural elements are one or more spars running from root to
tip, and many ribs running from the leading (front) to the trailing (rear) edge.

Early airplane engines had little power, and lightness was very important.
Also, early airfoil sections were very thin, and could not have a strong
frame installed within. So, until the 1930s, most wings were too lightweight
to have enough strength, and external bracing struts and wires were
added. When the available engine power increased during the 1920s and
30s, wings could be made heavy and strong enough that bracing was not
needed any more. This type of unbraced wing is called a cantilever wing.
Wing configuration
Main article: Wing configuration

Captured Morane-Saulnier L wire-braced


parasol monoplane
The number and shape of the wings varies widely on different types. A
given wing plane may be full-span or divided by a central fuselage into port
(left) and starboard (right) wings. Occasionally, even more wings have
been used, with the three-winged triplane achieving some fame in WWI.
The four-winged quadruplane and other multiplane designs have had little
success.

A monoplane has a single wing plane, a biplane has two stacked one
above the other, a tandem wing has two placed one behind the other.
When the available engine power increased during the 1920s and 30s and
bracing was no longer needed, the unbraced or cantilever monoplane
became the most common form of powered type.

The wing planform is the shape when seen from above. To be


aerodynamically efficient, a wing should be straight with a long span from
side to side but have a short chord (high aspect ratio). But to be structurally
efficient, and hence light weight, a wing must have a short span but still
enough area to provide lift (low aspect ratio).
At transonic speeds (near the speed of sound), it helps to sweep the wing
backwards or forwards to reduce drag from supersonic shock waves as
they begin to form. The swept wing is just a straight wing swept backwards
or forwards.

Two Dassault Mirage G prototypes, one with


wings swept
The delta wing is a triangle shape that may be used for several reasons. As
a flexible Rogallo wing, it allows a stable shape under aerodynamic forces
and so is often used for ultralight aircraft and even kites. As a supersonic
wing, it combines high strength with low drag and so is often used for fast
jets.

A variable geometry wing can be changed in flight to a different shape.


The variable-sweep wing transforms between an efficient straight
configuration for takeoff and landing, to a low-drag swept configuration for
high-speed flight. Other forms of variable planform have been flown, but
none have gone beyond the research stage.
Fuselage
Main article: Fuselage
A fuselage is a long, thin body, usually with tapered or rounded ends to
make its shape aerodynamically smooth. The fuselage may contain
the flight crew, passengers, cargo or payload, fuel and engines. The pilots
of manned aircraft operate them from a cockpit located at the front or top of
the fuselage and equipped with controls and usually windows and
instruments. A plane may have more than one fuselage, or it may be fitted
with booms with the tail located between the booms to allow the extreme
rear of the fuselage to be useful for a variety of purposes.
Wings vs. bodies
Flying wing
Main article: Flying wing
The US-produced B-2 Spirit is a strategic
bomber. It has a flying wing configuration and is capable of intercontinental
missions
A flying wing is a tailless aircraft which has no definite fuselage. Most of the
crew, payload and equipment are housed inside the main wing structure.[58]

The flying wing configuration was studied extensively in the 1930s and
1940s, notably by Jack Northrop and Cheston L. Eshelman in the United
States, and Alexander Lippisch and the Horten brothers in Germany. After
the war, several experimental designs were based on the flying wing
concept, but the known difficulties remained intractable. Some general
interest continued until the early 1950s but designs did not necessarily offer
a great advantage in range and presented several technical problems,
leading to the adoption of "conventional" solutions like the Convair B-
36 and the B-52 Stratofortress. Due to the practical need for a deep wing,
the flying wing concept is most practical for designs in the slow-to-medium
speed range, and there has been continual interest in using it as a
tactical airlifter design.

Interest in flying wings was renewed in the 1980s due to their potentially
low radar reflection cross-sections. Stealth technology relies on shapes
which only reflect radar waves in certain directions, thus making the aircraft
hard to detect unless the radar receiver is at a specific position relative to
the aircraft - a position that changes continuously as the aircraft moves.
This approach eventually led to the Northrop B-2 Spirit stealth bomber. In
this case, the aerodynamic advantages of the flying wing are not the
primary needs. However, modern computer-controlled fly-by-wire systems
allowed for many of the aerodynamic drawbacks of the flying wing to be
minimized, making for an efficient and stable long-range bomber.
Blended wing body
Main article: Blended wing

Computer-generated model of the Boeing X-48


Blended wing body aircraft have a flattened and airfoil shaped body, which
produces most of the lift to keep itself aloft, and distinct and separate wing
structures, though the wings are smoothly blended in with the body.

Thus blended wing bodied aircraft incorporate design features from both a
futuristic fuselage and flying wing design. The purported advantages of the
blended wing body approach are efficient high-lift wings and a wide airfoil-
shaped body. This enables the entire craft to contribute to lift generation
with the result of potentially increased fuel economy.
Lifting body

The Martin Aircraft Company X-24 was built as


part of a 1963 to 1975 experimental US military program.
Main article: Lifting body
A lifting body is a configuration in which the body itself produces lift. In
contrast to a flying wing, which is a wing with minimal or no
conventional fuselage, a lifting body can be thought of as a fuselage with
little or no conventional wing. Whereas a flying wing seeks to maximize
cruise efficiency at subsonic speeds by eliminating non-lifting surfaces,
lifting bodies generally minimize the drag and structure of a wing for
subsonic, supersonic, and hypersonic flight, or, spacecraft re-entry. All of
these flight regimes pose challenges for proper flight stability.

Lifting bodies were a major area of research in the 1960s and 70s as a
means to build a small and lightweight crewed spacecraft. The US built
several famous lifting body rocket planes to test the concept, as well as
several rocket-launched re-entry vehicles that were tested over the Pacific.
Interest waned as the US Air Force lost interest in the crewed mission, and
major development ended during the Space Shuttle design process when it
became clear that the highly shaped fuselages made it difficult to fit fuel
tankage.
Empennage and foreplane
Main articles: Empennage and Canard (aeronautics)

Canards on the Saab Viggen


The classic airfoil section wing is unstable in flight and difficult to control.
Flexible-wing types often rely on an anchor line or the weight of a pilot
hanging beneath to maintain the correct attitude. Some free-flying types
use an adapted airfoil that is stable, or other ingenious mechanisms
including, most recently, electronic artificial stability.

To achieve stability and control, most fixed-wing types have


an empennage comprising a fin and rudder which act horizontally and a
tailplane and elevator which act vertically. These control surfaces can
typically be trimmed to relieve control forces for various stages of flight.
This is so common that it is known as the conventional layout. Sometimes
there may be two or more fins, spaced out along the tailplane.

Some types have a horizontal "canard" foreplane ahead of the main wing,
instead of behind it.[59][60][61] This foreplane may contribute to the lift, the trim,
or control of the aircraft, or to several of these.
Controls and instruments
Main article: Aircraft flight control system
A light aircraft (Robin DR400/500) cockpit
Further information: Fixed-wing aircraft § Aircraft controls, and Fixed-wing
aircraft § Cockpit instrumentation
Airplanes have complex flight control systems. The main controls allow the
pilot to direct the aircraft in the air by controlling the attitude (roll, pitch and
yaw) and engine thrust.

On manned aircraft, cockpit instruments provide information to the pilots,


including flight data, engine output, navigation, communications and other
aircraft systems that may be installed.

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