How Airplane Ailerons Work

In order to efficiently and successfully achieve lift and adjust the orientation of an aircraft for flight, the aerodynamic forces acting upon the airplane must be manipulated. In early aircraft, turning was often conducted through the warping of the aircraft wings, though this method proved to be inefficient and could risk failure. In modern aircraft, pilots can now rely on aircraft parts such as ailerons, which are one of the primary flight controls of an aircraft that allow for the governing of the longitudinal axis (roll). In this blog, we will discuss what airplane ailerons are, as well as how they provide aircraft control to the pilot.

In general, an aircraft is able to achieve lift through the airfoil shape of the wing, as air above the wing exerts less pressure than the air moving below, causing the wing to be forced upwards. When a pilot wants to create more lift to rise in altitude, they can either adjust the velocity at which the aircraft is travelling, or they can increase their angle of attack. The angle of attack refers to the airplane pitch and the angle between the wing chord line and the relative wind, and the chord line is the boundary line from the wing leading edge to the wing trailing edge. With an aileron mounted on the wing trailing edge, the chord line can be adjusted by moving the aileron down. As the aileron adjusts, the angle of attack at the aileron is increased, causing more lift to be produced. As ailerons are typically placed at the outer aircraft wingtip, adjusting the aileron will allow for the aircraft to change its roll. While operating the steering wheel or flight controls from within the cockpit, moving the controls left should cause the left aileron to move upwards, and the will rise when the controls are shifted right.

While utilizing ailerons is useful for adjusting the roll of the airplane and increasing the angle of attack, doing so also causes an increase in drag. Drag is the opposing force of air against all moving aircraft parts, and the drag caused by lift is called induced drag. When ailerons are right aileron actuated, the aircraft wingtip will go up, causing the nose to adjust away from the turn. As this turn is unwanted by the pilot, it is called adverse yaw. While the amount of adverse yaw may vary by aircraft model and type, rudders are often implemented in order to control the yaw of the nose.

While some confuse ailerons with other aviation parts such as flaps due to their placement on the trailing edge of the wing, they both provide different functionalities for flight. With a flap, the chord line of the wing is also manipulated like with ailerons, but they extend uniformly on each aircraft wingtip in order to help the aircraft slow down its airspeed in order for safe steep airplane pitch approaches during landing operations. Flaps are also considered a secondary flight control surface, meaning that they are not always required. On some aircraft, both the flaps and ailerons may be combined together in single flight controls called flaperons.

With well-maintained ailerons and flight control surfaces, an aircraft can safely be operated and controlled by the pilot from the cockpit. If you are in need of premium ailerons and aerospace parts that you can rely on to carry out your operations, look no further than ASAP 360 Unlimited. ASAP 360 Unlimited is a premier online distributor of aircraft parts, and we can help you source the new, used, and obsolete items that you need with competitive pricing and rapid lead-times. Explore our robust part catalogues at your leisure, and you may begin the purchasing process at any time by filling out and submitting an Instant RFQ form through our website.