In this FAA Part 107 exam tutorial, I will cover flight control.
This topic is part of the loading and performance section for your exam.
A lot of the material covered in this tutorial is similar to that in the study guide
I used to prepare for and successfully pass the FAA Part 107 exam with a 90% score.
Also, there are many other YouTube tutorials I made to help you prepare for the exam.
I linked all of these resources in the description and above.
Subscribe to our channel.
We will have more tutorials on loading and performance that will help you prepare for
your exam.
Pilots must ensure that objects attached to the drone are secure before flying.
The pilot also must make sure that these objects do not have a negative effect on aircraft's
flight.
Also, the pilot must close and lock all panels and doors on the drone.
The FAA advises remote pilots to check manufacturer guidelines for drone performance.
Such guidelines may include a drone’s climb, launch, range, endurance and landing.
Manufacturer recommendations and guidelines may not be standardized.
They also can be even unavailable depending on the drone model.
If unavailable, the FAA encourages remote pilots to find drone performance data from
other sources.
These could be data published by other users for the same model.
The next important topic I will cover is airplane flight control systems.
These systems can be primary or secondary.
The primary flight control system consists of aileron, elevator (or stabilator) and rudder.
Before explaining them, let’s go over the three possible axes of rotation for the airplane.
Whenever an aircraft makes a maneuver, it rotates around one or more of the three possible
axes.
Think of these axes as imaginary lines that pass through the aircraft’s center of gravity.
As for the center of gravity, think of it as this.
It is a point at which you can attach a string and suspend the airplane in the air in a balanced
position.
The first axis is the longitudinal axis.
It extends through the aircraft’s fuselage (or main body) from the nose to the tail.
The second one is the lateral axis.
By lateral, we mean from side to side.
So imagine you are sitting on an airplane.
The lateral axis goes through the airplane’s center of gravity from one wing to another.
The final third axis is the vertical axis.
This axis passes through the center of gravity in a vertical direction.
The first motion is rolling or banking.
If you look at this picture, we see that the airplane rolls from side to side.
Those little fins on the aircraft wings that flip up and down are ailerons.
They control the roll or bank of the aircraft.
Imagine again a line going through the airplane from nose to tail, which is the longitudinal
axis.
This is exactly the line along which the aircraft makes its rolling or banking motion.
The next important concept to understand is airplane stability.
First, consider the aircraft that is in a steady unaccelerated flight.
In such a state, the opposing forces exerting pressure on the aircraft are in balance.
This state is equilibrium.
But, there can be disturbances to aircraft equilibrium.
Typical disturbances could be gusts of wind or turbulence.
With equilibrium disturbed, the aircraft reacts to it by veering off the course.
Or it can return to its initial state.
Stability refers to this reaction of an aircraft.
The notion of stability can be very technical and involved.
Luckily, we do not need to know all the nitty gritty details of it.
Let’s come back to our rolling or banking concept.
Again, the airplane uses aileron to roll or bank along the longitudinal axis like so.
What we see is the disturbance of equilibrium along the lateral axis.
It must be disturbance along the lateral axis because the airplane’s wings are no longer
even.
One wing is lower than the other as the banking or rolling motion happens.
But, the pilot can roll back to the opposite side and restore the initial equilibrium of
airplane like so.
Thus, aileron uses rolling motion to stabilize the airplane along its lateral axis.
The conclusion is that aileron provides lateral stability.
The next primary flight control is the elevator or sometimes called stabilator.
Elevators are small wings that can flap up and down on the airplane’s tail.
Stabilator controls the airplane’s pitch.
Pitching generates upward or downward movement of the aircraft.
This happens along the lateral axis like so.
Imagine a line going from one wing to another through the center of gravity of an aircraft.
The pitching movement will involve rotation along it.
Hence, the elevator provides pitching movement along the lateral axis like so.
What about the type of stability that the elevator provides?
The pitching movement disturbs airplane’s equilibrium along its longitudinal axis.
Why so you may ask?
Because the aircraft's movement up or down makes it deviate from this axis.
Thus, pilots can use the elevator to restore the aircraft's stability along the longitudinal
axis.
The third and final primary control surface is the rudder.
A rudder is a flat sheet of material attached to aircraft’s tail like so.
The airplane’s movement that the rudder generates is yawing.
A yaw motion is a side-to-side movement of the aircraft’s nose as shown in this animation.
The yawing motion happens along the vertical axis.
This imaginary vertical line passes through the aircraft's center of gravity.
Rudder provides direction stability of the airplane through this yawing movement.
In fact, the steering wheel of a car is exactly like a rudder on the airplane.
If there is a gust of wind hitting your car on the left side, your car will start veering
to the right.
To stabilize the direction of your car, you would steer the wheel to the left.
Exactly the same logic applies to airplanes, only swap the notion of a steering wheel to
the rudder.
There is also the secondary control system.
It consists of various wing flaps, leading edge devices, trim devices and spoilers.
They are there to improve the airplane’s performance characteristics.
You are unlikely to get tested on secondary control systems.
Here is the table that summarizes primary flight control systems that we went over.
Make sure you know this table well.
I came up with my own system to remember these concepts.
The first is to link the primary control to the motion.
For instance, aileron kind of rhymes with roll.
Ron turns into roll.
Rolling means going sideways.
I know that sideways means lateral movement.
Thus, aileron provides lateral stability.
As for the axis of rotation, I remember that airplanes are very long along their main tube,
or fuselage.
I associated the word long with longitudinal axis.
As the airplane banks, it rolls along its longitudinal axis.
You can come up with your own stories and associate them with these concepts to remember.
Let’s test your understanding of the airplane’s loading and control systems.
The first question wants to know what the remote pilot must do before each flight.
You can immediately see that choices A and B are incorrect.
ATC clearance and site supervisor’s approval are not necessary for each flight.
But, making sure that the objects on your drone are secure is always a must.
This makes choice C the answer.
The next question wants to know the purpose of a rudder on an aircraft.
We can see that choices B and C are incorrect.
Recall, aileron controls the airplane’s roll or bank.
Elevator or stabilator controls pitch.
At the same time, rudder controls the aircraft’s yawing movement along the vertical axis.
This makes choice A the answer.
The next question tests your knowledge of stability that the aileron provides.
Aileron creates rolling or banking movement, as the aircraft rotates over longitudinal
axis.
Also, aileron provides stability over the lateral axis.
This immediately rules out choice A. Choice B is incorrect because the rudder generates
movement around the vertical axis.
It also provides directional stability.
Choice C is the correct one.
As the airplane’s banks or rolls, the pilot can restore its stability along the lateral
axis.
Recall that this axis goes from wing to wing through the aircraft's center of gravity.
The next question wants to know which flight control has the lateral axis of rotation.
We can immediately rule out choice B. Spoilers are secondary flight control systems.
Choice A is incorrect either.
Aileron provides the banking movement.
This means that the airplane rotates along its longitudinal axis.
Choice C is the correct one.
Stabilator provides upward and downward movement called pitching.
As the airplane’s nose dives down or up, it does so over its lateral axis.
The last question wants know which primary control provides directional stability.
You can immediately rule out choice C. Trims represent secondary flight control systems.
Choice B is incorrect either.
Elevator gives an airplane a pitching motion by diving down or up along the lateral axis.
As the aircraft pitches, the longitudinal axis is getting disturbed.
Thus, the pilot can restore the longitudinal stability with the elevator.
This makes choice A the answer.
A rudder gives an airplane a yawing motion, like a steering wheel does for a car.
By rotating the aircraft along the vertical axis, the rudder provides directional stability.
That is it for today’s tutorial.
Please give it a like and subscribe to our channel.
We often post tutorials for the FAA part 107 exam and travel guides.
We also share other useful content for world travelers.
Thank you for watching!