CONTROL SURFACES

Today we will learn about control surfaces and how aircraft move!

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Before we start, let’s reflect on these questions:

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• What are control surfaces?
• How do control surfaces help a pilot steer an aircraft?
• What movements can an airplane make?

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What are control surfaces?

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Pilots use control surfaces to adjust how an aircraft moves. The three main control surfaces are the rudder, ailerons, and elevator.

The rudder is located on the vertical stabilizer of the aircraft. The elevators are on the horizontal stabilizer. The ailerons are on the wings.

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NASA

How do control surfaces help a pilot steer an aircraft?

Each control surface (rudder, elevator and aileron), affects how a pilot can move their aircraft.

The rudder affects the yaw. The ailerons affect the roll. The elevators affect the pitch.

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Let’s Visit Intrepid!

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Press play on the next slide to travel to the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum and learn about the T-34 Mentor and its control surfaces.

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Airplane Yoga

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Go to the next slide to learn a bit more about the ways that airplanes move and learn some yoga poses to help remember them.

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Look through slides 10 to 12 review the types of movement. On each slide, do the yoga pose that goes along with the movement!

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Pitch

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Pitch moves the nose of the airplane up and down. It is a rotation around the plane’s lateral axis, which is an imaginary line running from wingtip to wingtip. Pitch is controlled by the airplane’s elevators, which are flaps at the end of the horizontal stabilizer.

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NASA

Yaw

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Yaw moves the nose of the airplane side to side. It is a rotation around the vertical axis, which is an imaginary line running from the top to the bottom of the cabin of the airplane. This movement is controlled by the rudder. The rudder is a flap at the end of the vertical stabilizer.

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NASA

Roll

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Roll is a rotation of the aircraft around the nose. The rotation is around the longitudinal axis, which is an imaginary line running from the nose to the tail of the airplane. Roll causes an airplane’s wings to move in a circular motion, using the ailerons. Ailerons are flaps at the ends of the airplane’s wings.

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NASA

Test out Control Surfaces!

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• Follow visual instructions to assemble glider template.
• Try flying your glider! Fold the flaps in different ways to affect the pitch, yaw and roll.
• Can you make the glider fly straight? To the right? Left? Up? Down?

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Test out Control Surfaces!

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• Print out the glider template on cardstock and cut out the airplane.

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• Fold on the dotted lines. Cut on the small solid lines.

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Test out Control Surfaces!

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• Place a paperclip on the nose of the plane to keep the fold in place.

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• Fold the rudder, elevators and ailerons of the glider and experiment with its movement.

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Reflection

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• Was it difficult to make your glider move in the direction you wanted it to go?
• How does flying your glider compare to the movement of an airplane flown by a pilot?
• How might a helicopter achieve pitch, yaw and roll?

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For More Information

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Explore the Museum’s Aircraft Collection

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Explore the Museum’s Photographs

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Intrepid Museum