Training Manual – Principle of Flight 8-1

Principle of Flight

1. Forces

We live in a world full of forces. Lets consider a man running on a sports track as
shown below. There are many types of forces that are acting on him as he runs.

Wind Flow

Weight / Gravity
Friction

He experiences a force between his shoes and the ground and this is called "Friction".
U U

Friction slows him down but it surely does prevent him from slipping. He provides
himself with some force to move his leg forward and backward. This is his internal
force and is gained from body fuel – food and water. And there is also his body
Weight, which prevents him from moving quickly. Weight is also a force. If the man
U U

is extremely fat, he will experience great difficulty moving and vice-versa, if he is

thin, he will be able to move quickly. Another hidden force that acts on him is the
"Gravity". Gravity prevents the man from jumping too high and always ensures that
U U

should his feet leave the ground, they must touch the ground again. Gravity is a force
that is exhibited by our planet on every body. We cannot escape gravity unless we
leave this planet and enter space. In space, there is no 'gravity'. Let consider one more
example before we start analysing forces. If the man in our example decided to run on
a windy day, he will face another force. This force will prevent him from moving
forward or it may even make him move faster. This very much depends on the wind
direction. This force is exerted by Wind flow.
U U

Now that we have seen many examples of force, let's further investigate the
mechanisms behind forces. Forces may be loosely regarded as 'energy created by
the movement of particles in some media'. We cannot touch force but we surely can
feel it. There are many types of forces in this world and depending on our view, some
Training Manual – Principle of Flight 8-2

are considered 'good' and others 'bad'.

Let's try our first experiment.

Experiment 1.
U U

Cut a tiny rectangular strip of paper and paste some soap on of its end. Next place it
in a any vessel containing water and observe its movement. Can you explain why the
paper moves? Which direction does it move?

Let me now explain what happening to our tiny paper strip. When the strip is placed
in water, you will observe some random movement. The soap breaks up the water
surface tension and causes the paper strip to move forward. Surface tension is an
important force and many insects in our world need it. For example, a dragonfly uses
surface tension to stay afloat. A mosquito also uses this force to move on water.

water molecule

But why random movement? To explain this, let's have a microscopic picture of our
experiment. Water is full of molecules and these molecules move random. They
Training Manual – Principle of Flight 8-3

have no order and definitely don't move " 2 by 2 " !! As you can see from the above
diagram, as soon as we place our paper strip in the water, it gets bombarded by water
molecules and as mentioned before, since the movement of these molecules is random,
the paper strip also moves in a random order. One water molecule will hit another
molecule and another molecule will hit the paper strip and eventually the paper strip
will move a random direction.

There are other places where you can similar phenomenon. When you go and watch a
movie in you local cinema, take a look at the movie projector. You will see many dust
particles suspended in front of the projector's light. They all move in a random order
as they are bombarded with air molecules. These dust particles are also experiencing
forces.

2. Aircraft Forces

In the previous action, you have seen some of the natural forces that exist in our world.
Lets now turn our attention to the different type of forces that act upon an aircraft.
When an aircraft is kept safely in a hangar or when it is taxied near a runway, it only
experiences one force - "Weight". No other force acts on it. However, when an aircraft
is airborne i.e. flying, things become different - instead of one downward force, four
main forces start to act upon the aircraft and they are:

Lift Lift is the force created by the interaction between the wings and the airflow.
It always act upwards. It is considered to be the 'most important force' as
without it, an aircraft cannot ascend from ground and maintain altitude.
Weight This force acts on an aircraft due to the interaction between the aircraft's
body weight and Earth's gravity. Weight is a downward force.
Thrust This force is created by an aircraft's engine and is required for forward
motion.
Drag This force acts in reverse direction to that of 'Thrust' and hinders forward
motion. Drag is considered as a negative force and all engineers try their
best to reduce drag.
Training Manual – Principle of Flight 8-4

Now that you know that there are four main forces that act upon an aircraft, lets
investigate each force and learn how these forces are created.

3. LIFT

Lift is a force that not only moves an aircraft upwards into the sky but also help an
aircraft to maintain altitude. In order to achieve lift, aeroplanes are designed with
special wings. These special wings are known as aerofoils.

Let's see what happens when air flows around an aerofoil.

 Training Manual – Principle of Flight 8-5

Low pressure
High pressure

trailing edge
leading edge

When air hits the front edge of the aerofoil - 'Leading Edge', it separates into two
layers and flows both on the upper and lower surface. Air around the upper surface
travels a longer distance while air around the lower surface travels a shorter distance.
Aerofoils of such behaviour are knows as cambered aerofoils i.e. they have
differences in lengths on both upper and lower surfaces. It is due to this camber effect,
that air around the lower surface will experience 'high pressure' while air around the
upper surface will experience 'low pressure'. Another way of proving this pressure
distribution is the Bernoulli's theorem (explained in the appendix section).

Let’s have a look at an aerofoil and some of terms associated with an aerofoil.

Leading edge The front edge of an aerofoil. This is the point

on an aerofoil where airflow starts to separate.
Trailing edge The trailing edge of an aerofoil where airflow
leaves.
Chord line Imaginary line joining the leading edge and
trailing edge (c).
Chamber The thickness between the mean camber line to
the chord line of an aerofoil.
Angle of The angle between the chord line and the
attack incoming air flow.
Aspect Ratio The length of the aerofoil multiplied by the
aerofoil cross-sectional area.
Training Manual – Principle of Flight 8-6

3.1 NACA

NACA stands for ‘National Advisory

Committee for Aeronautics’ - a committee
which was based in USA. Their primary job
was to issue standards for aerofoils. All
aerofoils are numbered by an international
standard known as ‘NACA Number’. There
is a 4 digit standard, 5 and a 6 digit standard
(out of our scope).

In a 4 digit NACA number such as NACA

4138:

The digit ‘4’ represents the ‘Maximum

camber of an aerofoil’;
The digit ‘1’ represents the ‘Maximum
camber position’;
The last 2 digits ‘38’represent the
‘Thickness of the aerofoil’.

Different aerofoils have different lift characteristics. Some provide greater lift than
others and some less. Some operate at high speeds and some at low speeds.

NACA is now part of NASA and all aerofoil standards are issued issued by NACA
division.

3.2 Wind Tunnel

A wind tunnel is an experimental tunnel where aerofoils of different shapes are tested.
A wind tunnel plan view is shown below. An aerofoil is suspended in the test-bed
section of a wind tunnel and is then subjected to a windflow. In a typical
aerodynamics (study of air flow over aeroplanes), the windflow is kept constant and
only the angle of attack is varied. The angle of attack is varied from –2o to 32o and the
P P P P

pressure experienced over the upper and lower surfaces of the aerofoil are measured.
In a NACA4212 foil pressure analysis, it is found that, as the angle of attack is
increased, lift increases. The lift continues to increases until a specific angle of attack
is reached. Beyond this angle, no lift is produced, no matter how much the angle of
Training Manual – Principle of Flight 8-7

attack is increased.

Pressure measurements obtained from wind tunnel tests show that lift at various part
of an aerofoil surface are unequal. All lift forces are perpendicular (90o) and P P

two-thirds of the lift is obtained from the top surface of the aerofoil. Shown below is a
lift distribution round an aerofoil.

3.3 Centre of Pressure

When we add up all these lines of small lift forces together, we come up with one
straight line of force which represents all the lift the aerofoil is producing. This
straight line is drawn at a specific point where all forces balance. This average point at
which all lift forces seem to act is know as the ‘centre of pressure’.

CPB
Training Manual – Principle of Flight 8-8

We did mention that lift increases with angle of attack and then begins to fall at some
angle. Let’s have a closer look at this phenomenon. At –2 degrees angle of attack,
the aircraft with the NACA412 moves in a straight line. The lift forces acting on the
aircraft are equal on both upper and lower surfaces.

At 2 degrees angle of attack, the aircraft

begins to experience lift and the lift force is
mainly on the upper surface.

At 5 degrees of angle of attack, the aircraft

continues to experience lift, far greater than
that at 2 degrees. The flow around the
aerofoil is smooth. The lift forces increases
greatly at 10o.
P P

At 14 degrees of angle of attack, an interesting phenomenon takes place. A bubble

know as ‘separation bubble’ forms on the upper surface of the aerofoil near the
leading edge. The flow aft of this bubble starts to separate and turbulent flow begins
Training Manual – Principle of Flight 8-9

to show sign.

At 15 degrees of angle of attack, the bubble bursts and turbulent flow appears on the
upper surface of the aerofoil. Lift decreases drastically and this is known as ‘Stalling’.
U U

3.4 Factors affecting lift

Angle of attack is not the only factor which affects lift –there are other factors and
they are:

3.4.1 Air Density

Before understanding air density factor, we must first understand our atmosphere. Our
atmosphere appears as a blanket of air that covers us, however in reality, its structure
is much more complex. There are in fact seven main layers in our atmosphere as
shown here. The lowest layer is known as ‘Troposphere’ and the highest layer is
U U

known as ‘Thermosphere’. As we move upwards from troposphere towards the

U U

fourth layer, stratosphere, air density falls, in other words, air gets thinner. We can
explain this phenomenon. At high altitude, there are not many air molecules present in
the atmosphere as compared in the troposphere.

Imagine a box of volume (1m3) filled with 10 small balloons (air molecules), each
P P

100grams and using the density formula,

Density = mass / volume

Therefore, mass = 10 * 100grams = 1000grams = 1Kg

Training Manual – Principle of Flight 8-10

Thus density = 1000 / 1m3 = 1000grams/m3

P P P P

Now imagine the same scenario with half the balloons, what we have now is,

Mass = 5 * 100grams = 500 grams

Thus density = 500/1m3 = 500grams/m3

P P P P

The density has been halved

Lift greatly relies on air source and if air density decreases, lift decreases.

3.4.2 Airspeed

Lift is also affected by airspeed. At ground level, before take-off, an aircraft

experiences zero lift. As the throttle is opened, the aircraft experiences forward
momentum and gather speed. This speed further increases as the engine power
increases. An increase in airspeed of an aircraft results in an increment in lift and this
lift continues to build up and eventually the aircraft is airborne. The pilot at this point
will continue to ascend his or her aircraft before levelling off.

(
Lift ( L) = 1 / 2 C L ρV 2 Α )
The relation between airspeed and lift is given the lift formula,

Where CL is the coefficient of lift (stated in NACA), ρ is the density of the air, V is
B B

the airspeed and A, the aspect ratio

3.4.3 Wing Area and Shape (Aspect Ratio)

There are many types of aerofoils of various shapes as stated by NACA and of various
length. The aspect ratio (length of the aerofoil multiplied by the cross-sectional area).
The greater the aspect ratio, the greater the lift. The factors are determined and fixed
by aeronautical engineers.

3.5 Stalling

As mentioned in section 3.3, lift continues to increase as the angle of attack increases.
However there comes a point in every NACA aerofoil at which the lift no longer
Training Manual – Principle of Flight 8-11

appears to increases and this point is known as the stalling angle. Different aerofoils
U U

have different stalling angles and it very much depends on the aircraft’s role and
aerodynamics needs. A commercial aircraft like an airborne 747 should not stall at any
cost as loss of lift may cause severe structural damage, however a F-14 USAF (United
States Air Force) jet may stall at tight manoeuvres. Manoeuvre is a technical term
U U

used to describe the movement behaviour of an aircraft.

Most aircraft have built in alarms to tell the pilot if the aircraft is approaching the
stalling angle. Some rely of pre-entered aeronautical values and while sophisticated
aircraft rely on the movement of the separation bubble. The separation bubble
U U

moves towards the leading edge as the angle of attack is increased.

Most low speed aircrafts, stalling takes place at 15o and this angle does not vary.
P P

Airspeed does however affect the stall and this is known as the ‘Stalling speed’. For
U U

example, if a pilot in a level flight decides to switch off his aircraft’s engines while
flying with normal load - then continues to maintain the same lift by steadily easing
the control column back (increasing the angle of attack), the aircraft will eventually
stall.

3.6 Factors affecting stall

3.6.1 Weight

An increase in weight increases the stalling speed.

3.6.2 Engine Power

The higher the power used, the lower the stalling speed and vice-versa.

3.6.3 Flaps

With flaps lowered, the stalling speed lowers. Flaps increase the aerofoil camber.

3.6.4 Ice / Damaged Wings

Both ice and damaged wings reduce lift and increase the stalling speed.
Training Manual – Principle of Flight 8-12

3.6.5 Manoeuvres

In tight manoeuvres, stalling speed increases.

Do remember that stalling can occur at any attitude and it is the angle of attack
that determines the occurrence of a stall.

4. Thrust

Aircrafts have engines which provide enough power to lift them from the ground. An
aircraft will only take off if the lift is greater than its weight and once airborne, the
power generated by the engines is re-deployed for forward motion and other
manoeuvres. This forward momentum experienced during take-off, ascent flight, level
flight and other manoeuvres is known as ‘Thrust’. U Thrust is well covered in
U

aerodynamics topic ‘Powerplant’. Powerplant is the study of engines, engines

U U

maintenance/design and electrical/electronic equipment power distribution in an

aeroplane.

5. Drag

With thrust, we get a ‘negative’ force – drag. Drag is created as a result of air
U U

resistance caused by the shape of aircraft. Various parts of an aircraft such as wings,
fuselage, tail unit, undercarriage, engines and other parts contribute to drag.

The total drag of an aircraft is made up of three parts:

5.1 Form Drag

This type of drag is created by the shape of the aircraft. ‘Form’ means shape. If the
shape of an aircraft is very flat and big, it will experience a lot of form drag. Form
drag reduces the fuel efficiency of an aircraft. Aeroplane designers, better known as
aeronautical engineers reduce form drag by streamlining the aircraft’s body.
Streamlining is a lengthy process which involves designing aeroplanes which allow
U U

for smooth and fast airflows around its body. In streamlining, protruding parts are
removed or embedded in the aircraft to minimise air resistance that leads to form
drag.
Training Manual – Principle of Flight 8-13

A good streamlined shape has a fineness ratio of about 4 (length) to 1 (breadth).

Form drag increases with air speed - double the airspeed, four times the form
U

drag (approx.)

5.1.1 Skin Friction

This type of drag is caused by the roughness of aircraft surface and viscosity of air.
When air flows over the surface or the ‘skin’ of an aircraft, there is always a narrow
U U

layer of air close to the skin which flows beneath the main airflow. This layer can be
Training Manual – Principle of Flight 8-14

imagined to be composed of many very thin layers. The thin layer immediately next
to the skin is ‘stationary’, the thin layer above it has some movement, the next layer
more, and so on until the top layers which travels at the same speed as the main flow.
Air has viscosity (stickiness) and each layer slows up the layer above causing a drag
known as ‘Skin Friction’. The collective term for all the layers is ‘Boundary layer’.
U U

If the flow in the boundary layer is smooth, we call it ‘Laminar flow’ and if the flow
U U

is choppy, then it we call it ‘Turbulent flow’. When the flow is turbulent, the
U U

thickness of the boundary layer increases and causes more drag than a laminar flow.

Skin friction is reduced by polishing all the surface over which airflow passes. The
better the polish, the less the skin friction. In sophisticated aircrafts, there are suction
devices and suck turbulent air in and out of an aircraft.

5.1.2 Induced Drag

An aircraft produces lift because of pressure difference between the upper and lower
surfaces. On the upper wing surface, there is a region of low pressure and on the
lower wing surface, there is a region of high pressure and further away from the wings,
we have the constant atmospheric air pressure. As the aircraft flies, surrounding
atmospheric air rushes inwards over the upper wing surface and outwards beneath the
U

lower wing surface. As a result, two streams of air moving in opposite directions are
U

formed over the upper and lower surface of the wings. The two streams eventually
meet and rotate at the trailing edge and weak ‘Vortices’ are formed. Vortices are
circular airflow, very similar to a wine corkscrew. The weak vortices get attracted to
the strong vortices and add up to form two main vortices at wing tips. These two main
vortices are known as ‘Wing tip vortices’. The wing tip votices disturb the airflow aft
U U

of the wing and a lot of energy is waster in this air disturbance. The loss of energy
results in what we call “Induced Drag”.
U U Induced drag is reduced by using tapered
wings or elliptical wings.
Training Manual – Principle of Flight 8-15

6. Aircraft Controls

So far what we have learned are key forces that act upon an aircraft and now we shall
focus our attention to “Aircraft Controls”. Controls are either mechanical or electrical
devices that allow a pilot to alter an aircraft’s course by controlling the forces that act
on it. Before we can understand how aircraft controls operate, we first need that to
know that there are six main movement co-ordinates in an aircraft.

An aircraft can move up and down - this movement is known as “Pitch”.

An aircraft can roll from left to right – this movement is known as “Roll”
An aircraft can move from left to right – this movement is known as “Yaw”

To control this six movements, we have various control surfaces on an aircraft.

Training Manual – Principle of Flight 8-16

6.1 Elevator

An elevator is situated in the tail section and it is used to create the pitch movement. It
has two surfaces on the left and the right as shown below. The elevator is controlled
by the pilot with the help of a control column known as ‘stick’. The ‘stick’ is usually
U U

located between the legs of a pilot.

When the pilot moves the stick backwards, the elevator moves upwards. This reduces
the effective camber (less lift) and the aircraft nose begins to move upwards.
Vice-versa, when the pilot moves the stick forward, the elevator moves downwards.
This increases the effective camber (more lift) and
aircraft nose begins to move downwards. (Use two
fingers and hold a pencil somewhere near its end and use
the other hand to move its rear end up and down. Notice
what happens to the front)

6.2 Rolling

Ailerons are situated in aircraft wings and are used to control the rolling movement.
Like elevator, there have two moveable surfaces on the left (portside) and the right
(starboard) as shown below. However, the movement of the aileron is different
from that of elevator.

When the pilot moves the stick to left, the left aileron moves upwards and the right
aileron moves downwards. More camber (more lift) is created on the right wing
compared to the less cambered (less lift) left wing. The force on the right wing makes
the aircraft roll to its left.
Training Manual – Principle of Flight 8-17

When the pilot moves the stick to right, the left aileron moves downwards and the
right aileron moves upwards. There is now less camber (less lift) on the right wing
compared to the more cambered (more lift) left wing. The force on the left wing
makes the aircraft roll to its right.

Do remember that in some aircrafts as in our example, both pitch and roll movement
can be controlled by a single control column - ‘stick’.
U U

6.3 Yawing

Rudder is situated in the tail section and is used to control

the yawing movement. There is only one moveable
surface and it is controlled by the pilot using the rudder
‘foot’ pedals.

When the pilot moves his left feet forward, the rudder
moves to the left. There is an effective increase in camber
on the left side (more sideways force) and this force,
pushes ‘yaws’ the aircraft nose to the left about its normal
axis. The aircraft continues to yaw in this direction until
Training Manual – Principle of Flight 8-18

the pilot returns the rudder pedals to their central position.

When the pilot moves his right feet forward, the rudder moves to the right. There is
an effective increase in camber on the right side (more sideways force) and this force,
pushes ‘yaws’ the aircraft nose to the right about its normal axis. The aircraft
continues to yaw in this direction until the pilot returns the rudder pedals to their
central position.

6.3 Trimming Tabs

6.3.1 Moveable tabs

Nearly every aircraft experience some sort of load changes and these happen due to
many reasons. One common reason is the consumption of aircraft fuel. For example,
with a full tank (fuel), an aircraft will have a fixed load balance as the fuel is used up,
its load balance will change. Eventually, the aircraft will start to experience forces on
it due to these changes in the centre of gravity. Assuming that the fuel tanks are
located near the rear end, and aircraft nose will begin to dip as the centre of gravity
moves forward. At this stage, the pilot will pull the stick backward to keep the nose
level. It can be extremely tiring for the pilot as he or she has to maintain the straight
level flight by continuing holding the stick. This is where the trimming tabs come in
use. Trimming tabs are ‘mini control’ surfaces that are embedded into the main
control surfaces. By adjusting these controls, the pilot can relieve himself from the
main controls and keep the aircraft in the desired path. Trimming tabs are only used
for ‘fine-tuning’ aircraft movements and are not used to move the aircraft drastically.

Trimming tabs are found in the rudder and these are called ‘Rudder trimming tab’
and they are adjusted by the pilot in event of minor offset yaw movements. Trimming
Training Manual – Principle of Flight 8-19

tabs are also found in the elevator – “Elevator trimming tab’ - and this is adjusted by
the pilot for offset pitch movements. Last but not least the ailerons are also equipped
with trimming tabs for preventive offset rolling movements. Aileron trimming tabs are
known as ‘Aileron trimming tab’. The three aforementioned tabs are adjusted by three
separate trimming controls which are mounted directly on the cockpit panel. The
pilot adjusts can use any three controls in flight to ‘trim out’ extra forces.

6.3.2 Fixed tabs

Some light aircrafts especially old ones have tendency to fly “one wing low” and this
tendency can be cancelled out by ‘fixed tabs’. Unlike moveable tabs, fixed tabs must
be adjusted on the ground prior to flying. The exact setting is determined by trial and
error during one or more test flights.

6.3.3 Balance tabs

These tabs are not under the direct control of a pilot and are deployed automatically
during flight. When a control is moved one way, the balance tab moves in the other
direction. The airflow acting on the tab assists the movement of the control surface,
thereby reducing the effort required from the pilot.

6.4 Flaps

Do you remember when we talked about camber effect and

lift in the earlier sections? If yes, you will know how this
camber effect can affect an aircraft landing and taking-off
characteristics. No fixed length wings can provide a same
high performance while landing and taking-off. Usually
wings of this type provide good performance while take off
and an average performance while landing or vice-versa.
Performance measurements taken during landing and
take-off are extremely important as they can greatly affect
the fuel efficiency of an aircraft. To combat this problem of
fixed length wings, aeronautical engineers came up with
the ‘flaps’ solution.
U U

Flaps are hinged surfaces which are fitted to the trailing

edges of the wings – inboard of the ailerons. During take
Training Manual – Principle of Flight 8-20

off, flaps are project outwards to increase the overall camber of the wings. This
increment provides extra lift to an aircraft and in turn reduces the take off distance.
During pre-landing, flaps are employed to reduce the stalling angle and landing
distance. There are many types of flaps and each flaps have different landing and
take-off characteristics. In general, a flap deployed at 15o degree angle shortens the
P P

take-off run due to lift increment. A flap deployed at 30o degree angle provides an
P P

increment in lift while take-off and equally an increment in drag while landing. A 60o P P

degree deployed flap does not produce much lift but does provide a great deal of drag,
which is ideal for steeper and slower landing conditions. Lastly and rarely, 90o P P

degree deployed flap will only induce large amount of drag with little lift. Do
remember that drag is not always evil as imagined.

Drag provides braking effect while landing and reduces the touch-down speed.

6.5 Slats

Like flaps, they are small auxiliary hinged surfaces. They are however located at the
leading edge of an aerofoil unlike flaps. They are automatically deployed with flaps
but in some aircrafts, they may be controlled by a pilot. Slats are used to delay tall and
gain extra lift at low speeds. Stalling takes place at a fixed angle and soon after it is
exceeded, turbulent flow forms on the upper layer of the wing. Prior to stall angle, a
slat is deployed automatically to delay the oncoming stalling. Lets look this in detail.
Training Manual – Principle of Flight 8-21

As we approach stall, the centre of pressure builds up near the upper leading edge of
the wing. This pressure automatically moves the slat forward. When the slat opens
via a spring loaded mechanism, ‘imminent turbulent’ airflow rushes through the gutter
to form smooth airflow. This effectively increases
the stalling angle. When the aircraft reverts to the
normal attitude, the centre of pressure moves
backwards pulling the slat inwards along with it to
its original position – closed slat.

Slats and flaps are usually interconnected and are

operated from the cockpit. In interconnected slats
and flaps, both the flap and the slat move
simultaneously. During lift-off, the leading edge
slats are operated to the fully open position and at
the same time, the flaps are deployed to 20o P P

degrees. The end result is a shorter take-off

distance. While airborne, both slats and flaps are
closed and trimming tabs are used. During low
speed and steep glide landing, both slats and flaps
are fully extended.