Few people know how an airplane works. Most are not interested at all. The main thing is that it flies, and the principle of the device is of little interest. But there are people who cannot understand how such a huge iron machine rises into the air and rushes at great speed. Let's try to figure it out.
Main parts
Any modern airliner consists of the following parts:
- fuselage;
- wings;
- power plants (engines);
- plumage;
- take-off and landing device;
- control systems.
Each of the parts takes part in the flight of the liner. In addition to these main parts, there are thousands of different systems responsible for managing, safety, creating normal conditions for passengers and crew, etc.
The basic principle
In theory, there is nothing complicated in the design of an airplane, thanks to which it takes off into the air. The main element of the liner is its engines, which provide great traction, allowing you to accelerate the car to huge speeds. It is due to the high speed that the plane takes off. So, two engines accelerate the car on the runway, which is why the plane is gaining high speed. Then the flaps on the wings drop down. They perceive a large load of oncoming air, which causes a large lifting force, which tears the liner off the ground.
That is, two engines accelerate the plane, the flaps on the wings allow you to change the thrust vector and direct the liner up. So in a nutshell you can describe the design of the aircraft for dummies.
Fuselage
Now consider the main structural parts of the liner. Let's start with the fuselage.
The fuselage is a body that consists of different parts. It accommodates passengers, crew, there is a luggage compartment where things are stored. The fuselage is a fairly complex system that must be durable and airtight. If its sheathing in flight is destroyed, this can lead to human casualties, therefore, much attention is paid to ensuring the tightness of the fuselage when constructing a vessel. Generally speaking, this is a sealed “box” where passengers, equipment, cargo are located. It is this one that needs to be overtaken from point "A" to point "B".
Wings
Wings or wing (often in aircraft there is only one wing, which is mistaken for two) - the device of the aircraft, which provides aerodynamic stability of the liner and allows them to control. Thanks to the wings, aerodynamic lift is also provided.
The principle of their action is based on Newton’s third law: air particles collide with the lower surface of the wing, bounce down, pushing the wing up. Together with him, the plane itself goes up. The flaps (plumage) of the wings allow you to adjust the lifting force. The angle of their rise changes the pilot from the cockpit.
Tail
The plumage is only on the wings, but also on the tail. Technically, the tail is keel and stabilizer. The latter has two consoles, thanks to which the pilot can save or change the current height of the vessel under different atmospheric conditions.
The keel on the tail is responsible for maintaining the direct direction of the vessel. If the pilot needs to slightly rotate the plane, then he uses the keel.
Chassis
The device of a passenger aircraft also includes a landing gear - a takeoff and landing device. In fact, it’s just a wheelbase, which allows the aircraft to accelerate during take-off and not fall apart when landing. Of course, the chassis is not just wheels, but a rather complicated mechanism that must take on enormous loads when landing the aircraft. This element also has a cleaning / opening mechanism. After take-off, landing gear must be removed to reduce air resistance.
Engines
One of the most complex elements in technical and technological terms is the engine. Most often, aircraft use two or three power plants. The operating principle of a jet engine is extremely complex, therefore it is impossible to explain. A whole course of lectures must be devoted to this. But in a nutshell, his work looks like this: aviation kerosene in the wings of an airplane (most often the fuel is in them) is fed to power plants (engines), where it is mixed with air and enriched with oxygen, ignited. In this case, a large amount of energy is released, which pushes the plane.
Each engine has tremendous power. In theory, even a single propulsion system is enough to make the plane fly, and the presence of two or three engines at once is partly due to safety reasons. In the world there are many cases when one of the two engines refused to work, and pilots without any problems planted an airplane with just one of them.
Conclusion
In brief, the airplane’s design is simple: the engines push the airplane, the wings change the thrust vector and create lift. As a result, the car rises into the air and flies. When it is necessary to lower the landing, the pilot slows down the engine and slightly changes the lift vector with the help of flaps and a stabilizer on the wing. When approaching the ground, the pilot activates the landing gear, and the aircraft successfully touches the runway cover.
All this sounds very simple, but in fact the technical structure of the aircraft is much more complicated. The engineers are assigned tasks of high complexity, since in order to safely raise and land such a machine, it is necessary to conduct serious calculations and ensure the operation of all systems, including security and life support systems.
In total, thousands of systems are implemented in the aircraft, each of which is calculated to the smallest detail, and you can list them all for a very long time. For example, the vessel has a system for dropping oxygen masks, which automatically works during depressurization. Extinguishing mechanisms for engines in case of fire, interior heating devices, orientation in space, etc. Modern liners are equipped with smart software that can even take the liner out of the so-called “corkscrew” - a situation in which control is partially lost.
It is almost impossible to make out all this in a small article, but the general structure of the aircraft is now, perhaps, understandable.