Control Components

An airplane is capable of three types of motion that revolve around three separate axes. The plane may fly steadily in one direction and at one altitude - or it may turn, climb, or descend. An airplane may roll, banking its wings either left or right, about the longitudinal axis, which runs the length of the craft. The airplane may yaw its nose either left or right about the vertical axis, which runs straight down through the middle of the airplane. Finally, a plane may pitch its nose up or down, moving about its lateral axis, which may be thought of as a straight line running from wingtip to wingtip.

Airplanes that are more complex also have a set of secondary control surfaces that may include devices such as flaps, slats, trim tabs, spoilers, and speed brakes. Flaps and slats are generally used during takeoff and landing to increase the amount of lift produced by the wing at low speeds. Flaps usually droop down from the trailing edge of the wing, although some jets have leading-edge flaps as well. On some airplanes, they also can be extended back beyond the normal trailing edge of the wing to increase the surface area of the wing as well as change its shape. Leading-edge slats usually extend from the front of the wing at low speeds to change the way the air flows over the wing, thereby increasing lift. Flaps also often serve to increase drag and slow the approach of a landing airplane.

Trim tabs are miniature control surfaces incorporated into larger control surfaces. For example, an aileron tab acts like a miniature aileron within the larger aileron. These kinds of controls are used to adjust more precisely the flight path of an airplane that may be slightly out of balance or alignment. Elevator trim tabs are usually used to help set the pitch attitude (the angle of the airplane in relation to the Earth) of an airplane for a given speed through the air. On some airplanes, the entire horizontal stabilizer moves in small increments to serve the same function as a trim tab.