ESCUELA DE AVIACION INEC

TALENTO HUMANO AL SERVICIO AERONAUTICO

AIRCRAFT FORCES
TOPIC 1

LIFT: SUSTENTACION THRUST: EMPUJE (FUERZA DE TRACCION)

WEIGHT : PESO DRAG: RESISTENCIA

ACTIVITY # 1
Register the following information in your notebook

• Weight
Weight is a force that is always directed toward the center of the earth.

• Lift
To overcome the weight force, airplanes generate an opposing force called lift. Lift is
generated by the motion of the airplane through the air and is an aerodynamic force.

• Drag: is a mechanical force generated by a solid object moving through a fluid opposite
to the thrust.

• Thrust
To overcome drag, airplanes use a propulsion system to generate a force called thrust.

By Daniel Velez
 ESCUELA DE AVIACION INEC
TALENTO HUMANO AL SERVICIO AERONAUTICO

AIRCRAFT AXES AND ROTATIONS (AXES MOVEMENTS)

TOPIC 2

The following information refers to the aircraft AXES MOVEMENTS

AXIS ROTATION SPANISH

LATERAL/TRANSVERSAL/ PITCH CABECEO

HORIZONTAL

LONGITUDINAL ROLL ALABEO

VERTICAL YAW GUIÑADA

ACTIVITY # 2 Watch the video and prepare yourself to discuss about it.
Attached I am adding a YouTube link to watch a very useful and self-explanatory video about this
topic. The video is in English so below you are going to find the information in Spanish to
understand the content. Read it before going through the video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IkPWZjUQlw

Subtitulos del video

La aeronave es una maquina maravillosa, capaz de volar en cualquier dirección rotando en tres
dimensiones llamadas ejes de movimiento

La ubicación de aproximación de masa de un avión es un punto llamado centro de gravedad, así

que, si suspendes un avión en el centro de gravedad por una línea como esta, la aeronave
posiblemente se mantendrá perfectamente balanceada. Cada uno de los tres ejes se mueven de
acuerdo al centro de gravedad. Los principales ejes del avión son: eje normal (vertical) que cae
de arriba a abajo, eje lateral paralelo a los planos (alas) y eje longitudinal desplegable de cola a
nariz. Cada eje es perpendicular a los otros dos ejes vamos a verlos individualmente. La rotación
sobre el eje lateral es llamada cabeceo, este movimiento cambia la dirección vertical de la nariz
de la aeronave. La rotación sobre el eje normal (vertical) es llamada guiñada, este es el
movimiento de la nariz del avión de un lado al otro. La rotación sobre el eje longitudinal es
llamada alabeo que se refiere al movimiento de las alas de la aeronave, cuando un ala sube la
opuesta baja así que en resumen estos son los tres principales ejes de movimiento

By Daniel Velez
 ESCUELA DE AVIACION INEC
TALENTO HUMANO AL SERVICIO AERONAUTICO

ACTIVITY 3
Read the information below and look for unknown vocabulary to understand the text and write
the information in your notebook. This information is going to be included in upcoming graded
activities.

AXES OF AN AIRCRAFT

The axes of an aircraft are three imaginary lines that pass through an aircraft’s CG. The axes can be
considered as imaginary axes around which the aircraft turns. The three axes pass through the CG
at 90° angles to each other. The axis passes through the CG and parallel to a line from nose to tail
is the longitudinal axis, the axis that passes parallel to a line from wingtip to wingtip is the lateral
axis, and the axis that passes through the CG at right angles to the other two axes is the vertical
axis. Whenever an aircraft changes its flight attitude or position in flight, it rotates about one or
more of the three axes.

The motion about the aircraft’s longitudinal axis is “roll,” the motion about its lateral axis
is “pitch,” and the motion about its vertical axis is “yaw.” Yaw is the left and right movement of the
aircraft’s nose.
 
The three motions of the conventional airplane (roll, pitch, and yaw) are controlled by three
control surfaces. Roll is controlled by the ailerons; pitch is controlled by the elevators; yaw is

controlled by the rudder. The use of these controls is explained in Chapter 6, Flight Controls. Other
types of aircraft may utilize different methods of controlling the movements about the various
axes. https://www.flightliteracy.com/axes-of-an-aircraft/

TOPIC 3: Based on the topics practice before, observe the picture below and try to understand it
by yourself taking into account the that the letter in black is the aircraft part and letter in red is
the aircraft’s function.

By Daniel Velez
 ESCUELA DE AVIACION INEC
TALENTO HUMANO AL SERVICIO AERONAUTICO

ACTIVITY # 4
Translate the following information to understand the aircraft´s parts and meanings and start
your own aeronautical vocabulary in the back part of your English notebook based on the
technical words you do not understand.

• The wings generate most of the lift to hold the plane in the air.  Modern airliners
use winglets on the tips of the wings to reduce drag (aerodynamic force produced in the
air)

• The turbine engines, which are located beneath the wings, provide the thrust (force) to
overcome drag and push the airplane forward through the air.

• To control and maneuver the aircraft, smaller wings are located at the tail of the plane.
The tail usually has a fixed horizontal piece, called the horizontal stabilizer, and a fixed
vertical piece, called the vertical stabilizer. The stabilizers' job is to provide stability for the
aircraft, to keep it flying straight.

• Slats: are used at takeoff and landing to produce additional force.

• Rudder:  it is used to deflect the tail to the left and right as viewed from the front of the
fuselage.

• The fuselage or body of the airplane, holds all the pieces together. The pilots sit in
the cockpit at the front of the fuselage. Passengers and cargo are carried in the rear of the
fuselage. Some aircraft carry fuel in the fuselage; others carry the fuel in the wings.

• Aileron: it is used to roll the wings from side to side.

• The vertical stabilizer keeps the nose of the plane from swinging from side to side, which
is called YAW.

• The horizontal stabilizer prevents an up-and-down motion of the nose, which is called

PITCH.

• Flaps: Are deployed downward on take off and landing to increase the amount of force
produced by the wing

• Spoilers: are small plates that are used to disrupt the flow over the wing and to change
the amount of force by decreasing the lift.

• Elevator: It is used to deflect the tail up and down to change pitch.

By Daniel Velez
 ESCUELA DE AVIACION INEC
TALENTO HUMANO AL SERVICIO AERONAUTICO

GOO
D
LUCK

By Daniel Velez