AIRCRAFT CONTROL SYSTEMS - Part 1

This video is about aircraft control systems: Ailerons, Elevators, and Rudder
Systems introduced:
Aileron = Yoke / Stick steer left or right
Elevator = Yoke column / stick pull up or push down
Rudder = Rudder pedals kick left or right



The primary control in-flight is the Yoke and rudder System (Or Stick and Rudder, or Horn and Rudder). Traditionally they are linked with cables, pulleys and assisted by hydraulics but these cables are heavy and added a lot of weight to the aircraft.

With advance in technology, we could use electronic sensor to calculate the pilot inputs and compute the required movements. With this changes, we can now save tons of weight by replacing steel cables and pulleys by shielded electrical wire and 3 computers.

History of Fly-By-Wire:
The first fly-by-wire (FBW) system were invented in 1964 by USA for there Apollo Lunar Landing Research Vehicle (LLRV). Then subsequently the FBW systems were used in Fighter Jets.

The first commercial FBW aircraft is the Concorde. And the first sub-sonic (Less than Mach 1.0) aircraft using FBW is Airbus A320.

Let's talk about Axis:

There are 3 imaginary lines cutting across the aircraft pivot point. And from the pivot point they extend on vertically, horizontally and longitudinally.

From Fig.1 you can see the Red Axis cutting along the aircraft from front to back. This axis called Roll Axis (a.k.a. longitudinal axis), the resultant of this axis is rolling and it is controlled by the ailerons.

The Blue Axis cutting along the wing from port side to starboard side. This axis called Pitch Axis (a.k.a latitudinal axis), the resultant of this moment is pitching and it is controlled by the elevators.

The Green Axis cutting along the fuselage from bottom to top. This axis called Yaw Axis (a.k.a. normal axis), the resultant of this moment is yaw and it is controlled by the rudder.




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