User Guide

Learning To Fly with Rod Machado

Let’s watch a video and see this horizontal component of lift in action. Get that popcorn ready, then:

1. From the Help menu, choose Homework.

2. In the homework for Tutorial 2, click the Turns video and watch the presentation.

Eat that popcorn fast because the video isn’t very long. After you’re done watching, leave the Help

screen up, because we’re going to use it again very soon.

There you have it. Proof that airplanes turn by deflecting some of their lift sideways. Now, let me play

the role of Socrates, the philosopher, and ask you a very important question. (Don’t mind the bed

sheet I’m dressed in. If, however, I show up wrapped in a mattress, that means we’re ready to practice

landings.) The question is, “How do we tilt lift so as to make the airplane turn?” The answer is, “With

the ailerons.”

Banking on Ailerons

I see you have some popcorn left over, so let’s finish

it off by watching another video.

In the homework for Tutorial 2, click the Axes of

Flight video and watch the presentation.

Did you see the ailerons move on the wings?

Ailerons, shown in Figure 3, are the moveable, flap-

like appendages on the outer half of the wings that

allow the airplane to roll (no, the ailerons are not

used to wave to pilots in other airplanes). Ailerons

are controlled from inside the airplane by the

joystick (or control wheel). Picture this: moving the joystick to the left raises the aileron on the left

wing while simultaneously lowering the aileron on the right wing. When one goes up, the other goes

down. Don’t worry, this doesn’t mean they’re broken. They’re designed to work this way.

Remember what happened last time you stuck your hand out the window of a moving car? Yes,

everyone thought you were preparing to turn. In actuality, you were doing an aerodynamic

experiment. (Too bad the police officer didn’t see it that way.) Twisting your hand upward (so the front

edge is higher) simulates the position of a lowered aileron, which forces the hand, as well as the

wing, upward. Twisting your hand downward simulates the position of a raised aileron, which forces

the hand, as well as the wing, downward. This is how the airplane rolls to the right or left about its

longitudinal axis—the long axis running from the tail to the airplane’s nose.

It’s the roll and eventual bank that tilts the lifting force to the right or left. To turn, you simply deflect

the joystick (when I say “deflect” I mean to lean it slowly) in the desired direction of the turn and roll

the airplane until reaching a specific bank angle. Then you return the joystick to its neutral (center)

position and the airplane usually remains established at this bank angle. If the airplane drifts from the

desired bank, then give the joystick a nudge or two to maintain the bank angle. Let’s give this a try.

Figure 3

AILERONS