AIRCRAFT NOMENCLATURE

50 mph. By contrast, today’s high-performance planes have speeds in excess of 2,000 mph. AIRCRAFT NOMENCLATURE In this section, you will learn the basic parts of aircraft and how the Navy identifies aircraft. Fixed-Wing Aircraft Nomenclature A fixed-wing aircraft (fig. 8-39) may be divided into three basic parts—fuselage, wings, and empennage (tail). FUSELAGE.—The fuselage is the main body of the aircraft, containing the cockpit and, if there is one, the cabin. On virtually all naval fighter and attack aircraft operational today, the engines and some of the fuel tanks are mounted within the fuselage. WINGS.—Wings are the primary lifting devices of an aircraft, although some lift is derived from the fuselage and tail. Located on the trailing (rear) edge of the wings are flaps that may be used to give extra lift on takeoff or to slow the aircraft in flight or landings; ailerons that control the roll or bank of the aircraft; and trim tabs used to aerodynamically unload the control surfaces to relieve some of the pilot’s work. On the leading (front) edge of the wing may be found auxiliary lifting devices, resembling flaps, which are used to increase camber (curvature) of the wing for added lift on takeoff. Most Navy jet aircraft carry their bomb loads on pylons (called stations) under the wings and, in some cases, under the fuselage. Some jets have missile stations on the sides of the fuselage. Fuel cells are located in the wings; additional external tanks can be fitted for extra range. Larger jets may have their engines slung beneath the wings in pods. Some low-wing aircraft have their main landing gear retract into the wings, while the nose wheel retracts into the fuselage. On most high-wing aircraft all gear retracts into the fuselage. EMPENNAGE.—The empennage consists of the stabilizing fins mounted on the tail section of the fuselage. These include the vertical stabilizer on which is generally mounted the rudder that is used to control yaw, or direction of the nose about the vertical axis; and the horizontal stabilizer, on the trailing edge of which are the elevators that determine the pitch (climb or dive). Some supersonic aircraft may have a full delta wing. In that case, there is no horizontal stabilizer and the elevators and ailerons are combined into control surfaces called elevons. In aircraft with internally mounted jet engines, exhausts normally are in the tail. High-performance jets have afterburners that give additional thrust at the cost of greatly increased fuel consumption. Rudder, ailerons, and elevators are collectively grouped as control surfaces. The “stick” or a similar device in the cockpit controls these surfaces, while foot pedals control the rudder. On high-performance aircraft, aerodynamic pressures on these surfaces become too great for a pilot to overcome manually; hence, all high-speed models today have power-assisted controls. Rotary-Wing Aircraft Nomenclature The aerodynamics of rotary-wing aircraft (fig. 8-40) are considerably more complex than those of fixed-wing aircraft. A helicopter essentially consists of a fuselage, main rotor or rotors, and often a tail rotor. FUSELAGE.—As in fixed-wing aircraft, the fuselage contains the cockpit and cabin. MAIN ROTOR.—The main rotor is the approximate equivalent of the wing of a fixed-wing aircraft. Each rotor blade is an airfoil, like a wing, and 8-33 Figure 8-39. Fixed-wing aircraft. Student Notes: