Chapter 2 Structural Aircraft Components

1. Aircraft:

An aircraft are vehicles that is able or intended to be used for flight. Aircraft
are generally built up from the basic components of fuselage, wings, tail units,
with control surfaces, landing gears, and power unit. There are variations in
particular aircraft, for example, a delta wing aircraft would not necessarily
possess a horizontal tail, although this is present in a canard configuration,
such as that of the Eurofighter (Typhoon). Each component has one or more
specific functions and must be designed safely.

2. Main Components of Aircraft:

Conventional aircraft usually consist of:

 Fuselage,
 Wings,
 Empennage (Tail plane),
 Landing gear (Undercarriage), and
 Power plant (Engine).

2.1

The fuselage is one of the main (central) body of the aircraft, and is designed
to accommodate the crew, and the payload. The pilot and co-pilot are in the
front of the fuselage, passengers, fuel and cargo in the back. It also provides

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the structural connection for the wings and tail assembly. Despite there being
different types of fuselages, they all connect the major parts of an airplane
together, however older types of aircraft design utilized an open truss structure
constructed of wood, steel, or aluminum tubing. The most popular types of
fuselage structures used in today’s aircraft are the monocoque (French for
“single shell”) and semi-monocoque (mult-shell).

Figure 1 Fuselage

2.2
The wings are commonly known as airfoils attached to each side of the fuselage
and are the main lifting surfaces that support the aircraft in flight. An aircraft’s
wings are critical to flight through the production of lift, but they have many
parts of the wing to control this lift amount and direction. There are numerous
wing designs, sizes, and shapes used by the various manufacturers. Each
fulfills a certain need with respect to the expected performance for the
particular airplane. Wings may be attached at the top, middle, or lower portion
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 of the fuselage. These designs are referred to as high-, mid-, and low-wing,
respectively. The number of wings can also vary. Airplanes with a single set of
wings are referred to as monoplanes, while those with two sets are called
biplanes. Many high-wing airplanes have external braces, or wing struts,
which transmit the flight and landing loads through the struts to the main
fuselage structure. Since the wing struts are usually attached approximately
halfway out on the wing, this type of wing structure is called semi-cantilever.
A few high-wing and most low-wing airplanes have a full cantilever wing
designed to carry the loads without external struts.

The wings will include allmost:

1. Ailerons: are one of the three primary control surfaces that control a plane
(along with the Elevator and Rudder) and are located on the trailing edge of
the wing to help control the roll of a plane. When a pilot turns to the left in the
cockpit, the left aileron goes up, reducing lift on that side, and the right aileron
goes down, increasing lift causing that side to rise. This causes the plane to
roll to the left and begin a turn.
2. Flaps: like ailerons, are located on the trailing edge of the wing. Unlike
ailerons, the flaps move symmetrically on each side and create more lift and
drag. Flaps are typically used during takeoff and landing, when aircraft speeds
are lower, to create additional lift and reduce stall speeds.
3. Winglet: On an airliner, the tip of the wing is bent up. This is known as a
winglet. Winglets were created to reduce induced drag.
4. Slats: are similar to flaps, only located at the front of the wing (a leading-edge
device) and change a wing’s shape temporarily to increase lift.

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5. Spoilers: are used to help the aircraft descend and reduces the lift component
of an airfoil. This allows the plane to descend and lose altitude without gaining
airspeed.

Figure 2 Wings

2.3

The empennage is the tail section or the rear part of the aircraft. It mainly used
for stability, as well as creating lift in combination with the wings. It’s
comprised of several parts.

 Horizontal Stabilizer and Elevator: The horizontal stabilizer keeps the

aircraft’s nose from moving up and down (pitch). The hinged part on the
horizontal stabilizer is the elevator and is one of the primary flight controls.
When the pilot in the cockpit pulls back on the yoke, the elevators go up,
causing more force to push down on the tail, lifting up the nose of the aircraft.
Raising the nose changes the angle of attack on the wings, increasing lift.

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 Vertical Stabilizer and Rudder: The vertical stabilizer allows the airplane to
weathervane into the relative wind. This helps prevent the side-to-side motion
of the aircraft’s nose (yaw). The rudder, which is the primary flight control on
the trailing edge of the vertical stabilizer, is controlled in the cockpit by the
pilot using the left and right pedals. When the pilot pushes the left pedal, the
rudder deflects to the left, pushing the tail right and the nose to yaw left. Using
the rudder in combination with the ailerons causes coordinated turns by the
aircraft.

Figure 3 Empennage (Tail)

2.4

The engine(s), or power plant, of an aircraft creates thrust needed for the plane
to fly. Generally speaking, there are two types of aircraft engines,
reciprocating and turbine. With reciprocating engines, air flows into the

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engine, is compressed and mixed with fuel and an electric spark to combust,
with exhaust gases leaving the back of the engine through the manifold.

Engine

The engine spins the propeller which then creates thrust to move the plane
forward. Alternatively, with a turbine engine, the action of compressing air,
mixing with fuel, ignition and exhaust are similar but occur inline. In this case
the power is generated by the air being exhausted from the engine.

Propeller

An aircraft’s propeller(s) are airfoils, similar to a wing, installed vertically to

create thrust to drive the plane forward. Attached to the engine, they spin
quickly, creating lift from the pressure difference they create, only instead of
this lift causing the plane to move upwards, it drives the airplane forward
creating thrust T. This thrust and forward motion in turn causes air to pass
over the wings, creating the vertical lift L.

Figure 4 Aircraft’s Engine

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 Figure 5 Aircraft’s Propeller

Note: The power plant can be delivered through one or more jet engines which
provide thrust T too.

Figure 6 aircraft’s Jet Engine

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2.5

Landing gear is located under the belly of the airplane consisting of a wheel
and strut to soften impact with the ground and may be retractable into the
fuselage. Tricycle type wheels are common for general aviation with one wheel
at the front and two behind or the reverse for tailwheels with two wheels at the
front of the plane and one under the tail.

The landing gears are used to help an aircraft take-off, landing and taxiing.
The landing gear includes shock absorbers for a smooth landing and takeoff
as well as the wheels on the plane.

Figure 7 Landing gear

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3. Illustration of the Aircraft Components

Landing gear

Figure 8 Aircraft Components