The Anatomy of an Aeroplane

We do some pretty crazy stuff up in the air! From extreme aerobatics and simulated combat flights to beautiful scenic joy flights over Sydney harbour. In this blog post, we wanted to share a little bit of the theory behind how aircraft fly. If you have ever looked at an aeroplane and wondered how it defies gravity as it soars through the sky you’re not alone.

Just as a driver needs to understand how to manipulate the steering wheel and engine controls in a car a pilot must understand and know how to manipulate the aircraft and engine controls. You probably already know the basic components of an aircraft. but did you know the ‘body’ of the aircraft is actually called the fuselage, and the ‘tail’ of the aircraft is called the empennage?

The fuselage is the main body of the aircraft to which the wings and undercarriage are attached. The empennage is the tail section where the horizontal tailplane (stabilizer), elevator, vertical tail fin and rudder are attached.

Okay, so now we know the basic layout of the aircraft, how does the pilot ‘steer’ the aeroplane? The Extra and Pittts Special that we operate for our Extreme aerobatic and scenic Joy flights are both equipped with a ‘stick’ style flight control. This is similar to what you would have seen in fighter pilot movies like Top Gun. The stick allows the pilot to control the ailerons and elevator. They also normally have some buttons on them for radios and other ‘essential’ items that the pilot should be able to operate without letting go of the stick. There are also a set of pedals that allow the pilot to control the rudder, the brakes and often a steerable nose or tailwheel to make ground handling easier.

The can pilot manipulate the stick and pedals to control pitch, roll and yaw. For example, moving the stick back or forward controls pitch (nose up or nose down), moving the stick left and right controls roll (rolling left or right) and pushing the pedals left or right controls yaw (left or right).

If you are interested in aircraft and how they fly why not come and see it first hand? Our pilots always love to chat about aeroplanes and would love to share their knowledge with you.