Travel

Small Aircraft Control Surfaces

Anyone who has held their hand out of a car into the wind to play airplane already has a fundamental impression of control surfaces on the airplane.

When the heel of the palm went down, the airpressure under the hand pushed the hand up. That’s called lift. The airflow over/under the hand changes with the shape of the hand or airfoil. If you had little cut-outs near your wrist, there wouldn’t be as much lift.

The tail section contains control surfaces for keeping the plane stable and controllable.

1) Horizontal: The horizontal, non-moving part is called the stabilizer, and it prevents uncontrolled up-and-down motion of the nose. The small hinged sections on each side are called elevators, which work in unison. It is controlled by the cockpit control wheel/stick and increases or decreases lift. When forward pressure is applied on the wheel, the elevators move downward, which increases the length of the tail causing more lift, which forces the tail upward, causing the nose to drop. There is also a small hinged section in the elevator which is controlled by a small vertical wheel on the cockpit console which is used to finetune the elebator trim. Hense the name trim tab.

2) Vertical: The vertical non-moving part which prevents the nose from uncontrolled swinging side to side. The large hinged section is the rudder. The rudder is controlled by the foot pedals in the cockpit, and deflects the tail to the right or left.

The wings generate most of the lift to hold the plane in the air. Different models of aircraft will have wings of different shapes and in different vertical locations. On a Cessna, the wing is high, and on a Piper, it is low. On an F14, the can change from a forward angle to “swept back”.

On most small planes, the wings also carry the fuel.

There are many control surfaces on a wing:

1) The aileron is the hinged part of the back of the wing towards the tip which is used to roll the wings from side to side. There is one on each side of the plane and they work opposite of each other. When one moves up, the other moves down.

2) Flaps are the hinged sections on the back of the wing near the fuselage. Flaps are deployed downward on takeoff and landing to increase the lift produced by the wing and allows the plane to fly at slower speeds.

3) Spoilers and Slats are used on high performance/commercial aircraft and also changed the aerodynamics of the wing.

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Posted by Wetaskiwin Airport - April 4, 2010 at 12:25 pm

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Online Airline Guide

Many of you travel through different modes of transport such as car, bus, train etc. Traveling through air is considered to be luxurious and also reduces the time span of your travel. It’s very fast and convenient while you travel via air. While you plan to travel via air, airlines guide helps you to know the different places your flight shall make a halt, flight schedules and other necessary information.

Most of the airline companies have launched their online websites where you can find all the latest information with the click of your mouse. Such online air travel guide informs the following:

1. If you want to know the shortest route or flight duration between your departure and destination place, you can easily find it online.

2. You can find the direct destination from where you depart just by entering the correct information about the places in the boxes you find on the website.

3. You could easily find the terminal from where your flight departs from and arrive into just by entering the online code and flight number.

4. You have the ease to find all the routes an airline flow on a particular date just by entering the name of the airline.

5. You can find all the destinations that you need to fly by selecting the maximum amount of time you want to fly.

6. You can also find airlines that fly direct on specific routes.

7. You can find first and last flights of any particular airline on a specific day.

8. If you want to know which airline is operating your flight you can easily find it with the help of airlines guide.

9. All the relevant information about air fares, hotels and restaurants on the airports and maps and directions of your perspective flight.

10. You will find it very beneficial in case if you are carrying much luggage as it also gives cargo information.

In each way, considering an airlines guide is very beneficial to plan out your future air travel.

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Posted by Wetaskiwin Airport - March 30, 2010 at 12:12 pm

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Low Cost Airline. Low service level?

Low cost airlines are now common place in our society and since there launch, traveling to foreign countries is now possible for the masses.

Easy Jet are considered to be the founders of low cost air travel, starting there operations from London Luton Airport. Over the years, Easy Jet has grown and now flies to many European countries. As Easy Jet grew, more and more airlines jumped on the bandwagon. Ryan Air, BMI Baby and FlyBe to name a few.

Not so long ago, I had cause to travel from the UK to France on a regular basis. As there were low cost airlines operating from my local airport, East Midlands, I decided to sample a flight and flew with BMI Baby. At that time, BMI Baby, the low cost arm of BMI (British Midland International), were flying to Paris CDG. It was a really convenient service and took about 1 hour. The flight I would regularly take, left the UK at 16:00 and would arrive in Paris at 18:00 local time. I can’t quite remember how many journeys I made with BMI Baby, but I would hazard a guess at about 12 – 15 times.

When BMI Baby launched there low cost operation from East Midlands, the fares were offered at ridiculous prices. Ridiculous to the point that they were offering seats for nothing! Unfortunately there is the issue of tax, so the flight was not actually free. Never the less, a return flight from the UK to France usually cost somewhere in the region of about £50 – £60, including tax. Seems incredible how they could actually make any money from their flights!

Although the costs were low, I felt that the service levels were quite high. My experience flying with BMI Baby was nearly always great. Although the flight is labeled as a no frills flight, the staff were very courteous and food and drink were always available for the short flights. The punctuality was excellent too!

BMI Baby stopped operating the flight from East Midlands to Paris and was replaced by there parent company BMI. In my experience, as soon as BMI Baby stopped flying and handed over the baton to BMI, which in effect is the same company, the prices escalated. It was very disappointing to lose the service as I had always enjoyed flying with them and found the prices easy on the pocket. I have since found alternative ways to travel from the UK to France, but if BMI Baby decide to come back, I will be tempted to come back too!

For people considering moving to another country as an expat, or simply looking at buying a holiday home abroad, there is no doubt that the low cost airlines have opened the door to another world. Another world which was not imaginable not so long ago. Low cost airlines, low service levels? Not in my experience.

Bon voyage!

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Posted by Wetaskiwin Airport - March 28, 2010 at 2:05 am

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