Airplane Tails & Wings: Are You in Control?
Figure 1. Airplane control surfaces.Copyright NASA http://www.grc.nasa.gov
Students learn about airplane control surfaces on tails and wings, and engineering testing wherein one variable is changed while others are held constant. Through the associated activity, they compare the performance of a single paper airplane design while changing its shape, size and flap positions.
Designing aircraft control systems is more complicated than the control systems for most other transportation vehicles because not only can airplanes move left and right (yaw), but they can also pitch and roll. To master these added dimensions, engineers build ailerons, rudders and elevators to provide adequate airplane steering. Engineers build small-size models of airplanes with these control surfaces and then test them in wind tunnels to find out the capabilities of their designs.
After this lesson, students should be able to:
- Design and construct a model of an airplane.
- Modify the airplane to attempt to improve its flight.
- Relate parts of a paper airplane to parts on a real airplane.
- Explain why testing of models is an important step in the design-build process.