Control reversal: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 04:44, 7 February 2004

Revision as of 06:01, 4 March 2004

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Incorrectly connected controls is another common cause of this problem. It is a recurring problem after maintenance on aircraft, notably homebuilt designs that are being flown for the first time after some minor work. However it is not entirely uncommon on commercial aircraft, and has been the cause of several near-accidents.

Another version of the problem occurs when the amount of airflow over the [[wing]] becomes great enough that the force generated by the [[aileron]]s is enough to twist the wing itself. For instance when the aileron is defelecteddeflected upwards in order to make that wing move down, the wing twists in the opposite direction. The net result is that the airflow is directdirected down instead of up, meaning thatand the wing moves upward, opposite of what was expected. This form of control reversal is often lumped in with a number of "high speed" effects as [[compressibility]].

This problem was notorious on the [[Supermarine Spitfire]]. A series of upgrades to the wing structure helped eliviatedalleviate the problem to some degree, but improvements in engine power typically offset it. This continued until a new internal design was introduced on the late-war Mark XIV version that cured it entirely.

Finally the [[Wright Brothers]] suffered yet another form of control reversal, one normally referred to as [[Aileron|adverse yaw]]. In their pre-[[Wright Flier|Flier]] gliders they continued to encounter a problem where the glider would start to turn one direction, then suddenly reverse direction and spin into the ground. They eventually cured the problem by adding a moving rudder system, now found on all aircraft.