Thesis Flaps & Slats

[ChristiaanJ]

Originally Posted by Genghis the Engineer

The British Noble-Hardman Snowbird does.

Never heard of it, so I did a quick read.
Seems it has "spoilerons", i.e. outboard spoilers used as ailerons.

I thought the alulae worked differently, but I'd better read up again on bird flight (and bird flight control) before spouting rubbish !

CJ

[bearfoil]

Don't the alulae work as a pivot point for wing "crank", as birds "fold" in their wings to change Lift directly to drag, and facilitate, a hover/perch? I have always watched birds in this way, as they scream toward a fence, and at the last moment, raise AoA to the vertical, and slow precisely above their "landing spot"? The alulae would allow top surface laminar flow, to hide the front spar's glove joint from the airstream, no? The most interesting are Geese, as we have a large Pond, and they are gathering for the next leg of their Southward trek. They do exquisite "straight-ins" seemingly on a rail, with a touchdown and "rollout" that is the envy of any flyperson. They also can perform a hook to final that leaves them motionless six inches above the water, to allow gravity to complete their "alight" on the surface.

bear. We have alot to learn, and admire, in the Aves portion of our World.

[MISSED APCH]

start here[1][2][3] and build from there!

once you have some text in place, i'd be more then happy to receive your text and elaborate.
i suppose you would like to go even deeper in it, but i dont know till what extend. you let me know.
think i did give you 50% of it already.

from a pilots perspective...
what ive learned back in school, proves in practice to be only half the truth about flaps. we use then mostly as BRAKES while not outside limits.

well good luck then !

[d105]

Quinten,

There's two general publications that will help you out quite a bit.

1. Oxford ATPL training - General principles of flight.
2. RAF - Royal Air Force - Principles of flight manual.

I've got hardcopies of both and a scanned pdf version as well. If you like, I can upload those for you. Give me a PM for details.

[Genghis the Engineer]

Originally Posted by ChristiaanJ

Never heard of it, so I did a quick read.
Seems it has "spoilerons", i.e. outboard spoilers used as ailerons.

I thought the alulae worked differently, but I'd better read up again on bird flight (and bird flight control) before spouting rubbish !

CJ

The spoilers are fairly small and located about 50% chord and about 2/3 span. They work rather well - good roll control without any adverse (or proverse) yaw - although because of the lack of any need for rudder in airborne flight the designers didn't put much rudder on it, making it fairly useless in crosswinds.

Superficially similar to alulae. Possibly.

G

[Prober]

Brakes!!

Ref Missed Apch post #23.
I remember many years ago we DID indeed frequently use flaps as brakes, but with the advent of larger aircraft with greater wingspan and consequently more complex flap mechanisms this is no longer the case. I recall one well known aircraft manufacturer sending out a letter asking us to treat the mechanism with respect because of this complexity, telling us that they were strong enough, but continued such use would put unnecessary strain on the works.
Indeed, small amounts of flap can tend to make the aircraft more ‘slippery’, quite the opposite of braking, and it is not until one has greater than T/O flap that major drag comes into play.
Prober