MEC 2710

Principles of Flight Aircraft Systems

¾Electrical (Avionics)
¾Navigation
¾Flight Controls
¾Hydraulics
¾Ice protection (anti icing and deicing)
¾Landing Gear

MEC 2710
Principles of Flight Avionics

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MEC 2710
Principles of Flight Avionics
¾ Avionics means "aviation electronics". It comprises electronic systems for use on aircraft,
artificial
tifi i l satellites
t llit and
d spacecraft,
ft comprising
i i communications,
i ti navigation
i ti andd th
the di
display
l and d
management of multiple systems.

¾ The cockpit
p of an aircraft is a major
j location for avionic equipment,
q p , including
g control,,
monitoring, communication, navigation, weather, and anti-collision systems.

¾ The majority of aircraft drive their avionics using 14 or 28 volt DC electrical systems; however,
large more sophisticated aircraft (such as airliners or military combat aircraft) have AC systems
large,
operating at 400 Hz.

¾ Communications connect the flight g deck to the g ground,, and the flight
g deck to the p
passengers.
g
The VHF aviation communication system works on the Airband of 118.000 MHz to 136.975 MHz.
Each channel is spaced from the adjacent by 8.33 kHz. Aircraft communication can also take
place using HF (especially for trans-oceanic flights) or satellite communication.

¾ Navigation is the determination of position and direction on or above the surface of the Earth.
Avionics can use satellite-based systems (such as GPS and WAAS), ground-based systems
((such as VOR or LORAN), ) or anyy combination thereof. Older avionics required
q ap
pilot or
navigator to plot the intersection of signals on a paper map to determine an aircraft's location;
modern systems calculate the position automatically and display it to the flight crew on moving
map displays.

MEC 2710
Principles of Flight Avionics

¾ Monitoring: g Glass cockpits

p use display
p y systems
y to display
p y sensor data that allows the
aircraft to fly safely. Much information that used to be displayed using mechanical gauges
appears on electronic displays in newer aircraft. Almost all new aircraft include glass cockpits.

¾ Aircraft flight control s systems:

stems Airplanes and helicopters ha havee means of aautomatically
tomaticall
controlling flight. They reduce pilot workload at important times (like during landing, or in hover),
and they make these actions safer by 'removing' pilot error. The first simple auto-pilots were
used to control heading g and altitude and had limited authority
y on things
g like thrust and flight
g
control surfaces. In helicopters, auto stabilization was used in a similar way.

¾ Collision-avoidance systems: To supplement air traffic control, most large transport

aircraft and many smaller ones use a TCAS (Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System),System)
which can detect the location of nearby aircraft, and provide instructions for avoiding a midair
collision. Smaller aircraft may use simpler traffic alerting systems such as TPAS, which are
passive ((they
p y do not activelyy interrogate
g the transponders
p of other aircraft)) and do not p
provide
advisories for conflict resolution.
To help avoid collision with terrain, aircrafts use systems such as ground-proximity warning
systems (GPWS). modern aircraft use the Terrain Awareness Warning System (TAWS).

¾ Weather systems such as weather radar and lightning detector are important for aircraft
flying at night or in bad weather conditions, where it is not possible for pilots to see the weather
ahead. Also radar p pictures are now available through
g satellite data connections, allowing gp
pilots
to see weather conditions far beyond the range of their own in-flight systems.
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MEC 2710
Principles of Flight Aircraft flight control systems
¾ Aircraft flight control systems consist of flight control surfaces, the respective cockpit
controls, connecting linkages, and the necessary operating mechanisms to control an aircraft's
direction in flight. Aircraft engine controls are also considered as flight controls as they
change speed.

¾ Primary controls
primary cockpit controls are :

• A control column for roll and pitch, which moves the ailerons when turned or deflected
left and right, and moves the elevator when moved backwards or forwards
• Rudder pedals to control yaw, which move the rudder; left foot forward will move the
rudder left for instance.
instance
• Throttle controls to control engine speed or thrust for powered aircraft.

¾ Secondary controls
to give the pilot finer control over flight or to ease the workload. The most commonly-available
control is a wheel or other device to control elevator trim, so that the pilot does not have to
maintain constant backward or forward pressure to hold a specific pitch altitudes (other types
of trim,
trim for rudder and ailerons
ailerons, are common on larger aircraft but may also appear on
smaller ones). Many aircraft have wing flaps, controlled by a switch or a mechanical lever,
which alter the shape of the wing for improved control at the slower speeds used for takeoff
and landing. Other secondary flight control systems may be available, including slats,
spoilers, airbrakes and variable-sweep wings.

MEC 2710
Principles of Flight Aircraft flight control systems
¾ Mechanical or manually-operated flight control systems are the most basic method of
controlling
t lli an aircraft.
i ft Th
They were used
d iin early
l aircraft
i ft and
d are currently
tl used
d iin smallll aircraft
i ft
where the aerodynamic forces are not excessive.

¾ Increases in the control surface area required by large aircraft or higher loads caused by
high airspeeds in small aircraft lead to a large increase in the forces needed to move them,
consequently complicated mechanical gearing arrangements were developed to extract
maximum mechanical advantage in order to reduce the forces required from the pilots.

¾ The complexity and weight of mechanical systems increase considerably with the size and
performance of the aircraft. Hydraulic systems overcomes these limitations.

¾ A hydromechanical system has two parts:

• mechanical circuit
The mechanical circuit links the cockpit controls with the hydraulic circuits. Like the
mechanical
h i l fli
flight
ht control
t l system,
t it consists
i t off rods,
d cables,
bl pulleys,
ll andd sometimes
ti chains.
h i

• hydraulic circuit
The hydraulic
y circuit has hydraulic
y p
pumps,
p , reservoirs,, filters,, pipes,
p p , valves and actuators. The
actuators are powered by the hydraulic pressure generated by the pumps in the hydraulic
circuit. The actuators convert hydraulic pressure into control surface movements. The servo
valves control the movement of the actuators. The pilot's movement of a control causes the
mechanical
h i l circuit
i it tto open th
the matching
t hi servo valve
l iin th the h
hydraulic
d li circuit.
i it Th
The h
hydraulic
d li
circuit powers the actuators which then move the control surfaces.
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MEC 2710
Principles of Flight Fly-by-Wire
¾ The words "Fly-by-Wire" (FBW) mean an electrically-signaled only control system.
H
However, th
the tterm iis generally
ll used
d iin th
the sense off computer-configured
t fi d controls,
t l
where a computer system is introduced between the operator and the final control actuators or
surfaces.
This modifies the manual inputs of the pilot in accordance with control parameters.
These are carefully developed and validated in order to produce maximum
operational effect without compromising safety.

•Safety
S f t and d Redundancy
R d d
Aircraft systems may be quadruplexed (four independent channels) in order
to prevent loss of signals in the case of failure of one or even two channels.
High performance aircraft that have FBW controls (also called CCVs or
Control-Configured Vehicles) may be deliberately designed to have low
or even negative aerodynamic stability in some flight regimes,
the rapid-reacting CCV controls compensating for the lack of natural stability.

•Weight Saving
A FBW aircraft can be lighter than a similar design with conventional controls.
Partlyy due to the lower overall weight
g of the system
y components;
p ;
and partly because the natural aerodynamic stability of the aircraft can be relaxed,
slightly for a transport aircraft and more for a maneuverable fighter,
which means that the stability surfaces that are part of the aircraft structure
can therefore
th f b
be made
d smaller.
ll ThThese iinclude
l d th
the vertical
ti l and
dhhorizontal
i t l stabilizers.
t bili

MEC 2710
Principles of Flight Fly-by-Wire
¾ Fly-by-wire systems can respond flexibly to changing aerodynamic conditions,
b adjusting
by dj ti fli
flight
ht control
t l surface
f movements t so that
th t aircraft
i ft response to
t control
t l inputs
i t is
i
appropriate to flight conditions. Electronic systems require less maintenance, whereas
mechanical and hydraulic systems require lubrication, tension adjustments, leak checks,
fluid changes, etc. Furthermore, putting circuitry between pilot and aircraft can enhance safety;
for example the control system can try to prevent a stall, or it can stop the pilot from over
stressing the airframe.

¾ The
Th main i concern with ith fly-by-wire
fl b i systems
t is
i reliability.
li bilit While
Whil ttraditional
diti l mechanical
h i l or
hydraulic control systems usually fail gradually, the loss of all flight control computers
could immediately render the aircraft uncontrollable.
For this reason,, most fly-by-wire
y y systems
y incorporate
p either redundant computers
p ((triplex,
p ,
quadruplex etc), some kind of mechanical or hydraulic backup or a combination of both.
A "mixed" control system such as the latter is not desirable and modern FBW aircraft
normally avoid it by having more independent FBW channels, thereby reducing the
possibility
ibilit off overallll failure
f il to
t very smallll levels
l l that
th t are acceptable
t bl to
t the
th independent
i d d t regulatory
l t
and safety authority responsible for aircraft design, testing and certification before operational
service.

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MEC 2710
Principles of Flight Engine digital control
¾ FADEC (Full Authority Digital Engine Control) provides automatic throttling for the
engines.
i It is
i iintegrated
t t d with
ith fli
flight
ht control
t l system.
t

¾ FADEC allows maximum performance to be extracted from the aircraft without fear of
engine
i misoperation,
i ti aircraft
i ft d
damage or hi
high
h pilot
il t workloads.
kl d

¾ In the civil field, this increases flight safety and economy.

I dangerous
In d conditions
diti ( t id fli
(outside flight
ht envelope),
l ) th
the fli
flight
ht control
t l system
t commands
d th
the
engines to adjust thrust without pilot intervention.
In economy cruise modes, the flight control systems adjust the throttles and fuel tank
selections more precisely than all but the most skillful pilots
pilots. FADEC reduces rudder drag
needed to compensate for sideways flight from unbalanced engine thrust. On the
A330/A340 family, fuel is transferred between the main (wing and center fuselage)
tanks and a fuel tank in the horizontal stabilizer, in order to optimize the aircraft's center
of gravity during cruise flight. The fuel management controls keep the aircraft's center of
gravity accurately trimmed with fuel weight, rather than drag-inducing aerodynamic trims in
the elevators.

MEC 2710
Principles of Flight Hydraulic Systems

¾ It is a system where liquid under pressure is used to transmit energy

energy. Hydraulics
systems take engine power and converts it to hydraulic power by means of a
hydraulic pump. This power can be distributed throughout the airplane by means
of tubing that runs through the aircraft.
aircraft Hydraulic power may be reconverted to
mechanical power by means of an actuating cylinder, or turbine.

¾ S
Some Devices
D i O
Operated
t db
by H
Hydraulic
d li S Systems
t iin Ai
Aircraft
ft
ƒ Primary control boosters
ƒ Retraction and extension of landing
gggear
ƒ Sweep back and forth of wings
ƒ Opening and closing doors and hatchways
ƒ Automatic pilot and gun turrets
ƒ Shock absorption systems and valve lifter systems
ƒ Dive, landing, speed and flap brakes
ƒ Pitch changing mechanism, spoilers on flaps
ƒ Bomb bay doors and bomb displacement gears

¾
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MEC 2710
Principles of Flight Icing
• Ice accumulates on the leading edge of wings, tails, and vertical stabilizers as an aircraft flies
through a cloud containing super-cooled water droplets (water that is below freezing, but still a
liquid). Normally, this water would turn to ice at 0 C, but there are no "contaminants" (droplet
nuclei) on which the drops can freeze. When the airplane flies through the super-cooled water
droplets the plane becomes the droplet nucleus,
droplets, nucleus allowing the water to freeze on the surface
surface.
This process is known as accretion.
• Airframe icing causes problems by modifying the airflow over flight surfaces upon which the
ice accretes. When ice accretes on aerodynamic lift surfaces, it modifies both their shape and
their surface roughness, typically increasing their drag and decreasing their lift. The composite
effect of this aerodynamic deterioration over all lift surfaces is a degradation of aircraft flight
dynamics. Small to moderate amounts of icing generally cause a reduction in aircraft
performance in terms of climb rates
rates, range
range, endurance
endurance, and maximum speed and acceleration
acceleration.
Icing effects of this type are known as performance events. As icing increases, separation of air
flow from the flight surfaces can cause loss of pilot control and even wildly unstable behavior.
These more severe icing events, known as handling events. Handling events generally can be
classified into either tailplane stall, where the aircraft pitches forward, or asymmetric wing
effects causing a roll upset (or roll snatch).
• Rotary-surface icing Ice can also accumulate on helicopter rotor blades and aircraft
propellers The accretion ca
propellers. causes
ses weight
eight and aerod
aerodynamic
namic imbalances that are amplified d duee to
the rapid rotation of the propeller or rotor.
• Engine-inlet icing Ice accreting on the leading edge (lip) of engine inlets causes flow
problems and can lead to ice ingestion
ingestion. In turbofan engines
engines, laminar airflow is required at the
face of the fan. Because of this, most engine ice protection systems are anti-ice systems
(prevent build up). 11

MEC 2710
Principles of Flight Ice protection (anti icing and deicing)

• De-icing is the process of removing frozen contaminant

contaminant, snow,
snow ice from a surface
De-icing can be accomplished by mechanical methods (scraping, pushing); through the
application of heat; by use of chemicals, known as de-icing fluids, designed to lower the
freezing
gp point of water ((various salts, alcohols, g
glycols);
y ) or by
y a combination of these
different techniques. De-icing fluids are always applied heated and diluted.

• Anti-icing is the process of protecting against the formation of frozen contaminant, snow,
ice on a surface.
Anti-icing is accomplished by applying a protective layer, using a viscous fluid called anti-ice
fluid, over a surface to absorb the contaminate. All anti-ice fluids offer only limited protection,
d
dependent
d t upon ffrozen contaminant
t i t type
t and
d precipitation
i it ti rate.t A fluid
fl id h
has ffailed
il d when
h it no
longer can absorb the contaminant and it essentially becomes a contaminant itself. If it fails
it must be washed from the surface using a de-icing fluid.

• Ice protection system is designed to keep atmospheric ice from accumulating on aircraft
flight surfaces while in flight. The effects of ice accumulation on an aircraft can cause loss of
control, resulting in a catastrophic flight event.

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MEC 2710
Principles of Flight Types of ice protection systems
• Pneumatic deicing boots
• Thermal : Turbine engine bleed air, Electrical heating elements
• Electro-mechanical
– Weeping wing
– Electro-Mechanical Expulsion Deicing System (EMEDS)
• The pneumatic boot is a rubber device attached to a wing's leading edge. Portions of the
boot are inflated to break ice off the boot, de-icing the wing. Rubber boots are used on jets
and propeller driven aircraft.
• A bleed air system is used by jet aircraft to keep flight surfaces above the freezing
temperature required for ice to accumulate (called anti-icing). The hot air is "bled" off the jet
engine into tubes routed through wings
wings, tail surfaces
surfaces, and engine inlets
inlets.
• Electrical thermal systems use electricity to heat the protected surface. The electric
heaters are usually flexible enough to use as anti-icers or de-icers. As a de-icer, the heater
melts the ice, the ice no longer sticks to the surface due to aerodynamic forces. As an anti-
anti
icer, the heater keeps the surface to the point that the ice does not form.
• Electro-mechanical Expulsion Deicing Systems use a mechanical force to knock the ice
off the flight surface. Typically, actuators are installed underneath the skin of the structure.
The actuator is moved to induce a shock wave in the protected surface to dislodge the ice.
• A weeping wing system uses a liquid (such as ethylene glycol) to coat the surface and
prevent ice from accumulating.

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MEC 2710
Principles of Flight Landing Gear

Undercarriage of a Boeing 777-300

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MEC 2710
Principles of Flight Landing Gear
¾Landing gear usually includes wheels equipped with shock absorbers for solid ground, but
some aircraft are equipped with skis for snow or floats for water, and/or skids or pontoons
(helicopters).
¾Wheeled undercarriages normally come in three types:

¾conventional or "taildragger" undercarriage consists of two wheels forward of the

aircraft's center of gravity and a third small wheel at the tail. This type of landing gear is most
often seen in older general aviation airplanes. The two main wheels are fastened to the
fuselage by struts.
struts Without a wheel at the nose of the plane
plane, it easily pitches over if brakes are
applied too soon. Because the tailwheel is free to move in any direction--the plane is very
difficult to control when landing or taking off.

¾tricycle undercarriage where there are two main wheels (or wheel assemblies) under the
wings and a third smaller wheel in the nose. This type of landing gear makes the aircraft
easier to handle on the ground and it also makes landings much safer. An aircraft equipped
with tricycle landing gear is less apt to pitch forward
forward.

¾tandem landing gear is used for very large aircraft like the B-52 bomber and the U-2
reconnaissance/research aircraft. The main landing gggear is in two sets that are located one
behind the other on the fuselage. The tandem landing gear allows the use of a highly flexible
wing, but it may also require the use of small wheels on the tips of the wings to keep the
wings from scraping the ground
¾To decrease drag in flight some undercarriages retract into the wings and/or fuselage with
wheels flush against the surface or concealed behind doors; this is called retractable gear.
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