The Aeroplane Speaks Part 14

UNDERCARRIAGE.--The undercarriage must be very carefully aligned as laid down in the specifications.

1. The aeroplane must be placed in its flying position and sufficiently high to ensure the wheels being off the ground when rigged. When in this position the axle must be horizontal and the bracing wires adjusted to secure the various set measurements stated in the specifications.

2. Make sure that the struts bed well down into their sockets.

3. Make sure that the shock absorbers are of equal tension. In the case of rubber shock absorbers, both the number of turns and the lengths must be equal.

HOW TO DIAGNOSE FAULTS IN FLIGHT, STABILITY, AND CONTROL.

DIRECTIONAL STABILITY will be badly affected if there is more drift (_i.e._, resistance) on one side of the aeroplane than there is on the other side. The aeroplane will tend to turn towards the side having the most drift. This may be caused as follows:

1. The angle of incidence of the main surface or the tail surface may be wrong. The greater the angle of incidence, the greater the drift. The less the angle, the less the drift.

2. If the alignment of the fuselage, fin in front of the rudder, the struts or stream-line wires, or, in the case of the Maurice Farman, the front outriggers, are not absolutely correct--that is to say, if they are turned a little to the left or to the right instead of being in line with the direction of flight--then they will act as a rudder and cause the aeroplane to turn off its course.

3. If any part of the surface is distorted, it will cause the aeroplane to turn off its course. The surface is cambered, _i.e._, curved, to pa.s.s through the air with the least possible drift. If, owing perhaps to the leading edge, spars, or trailing edge becoming bent, the curvature is spoiled, that will result in changing the amount of drift on one side of the aeroplane, which will then have a tendency to turn off its course.

LATERAL INSTABILITY (FLYING ONE WING DOWN).--The only possible reason for such a condition is a difference in the lifts of right and left wings. That may be caused as follows:

1. The angle of incidence may be wrong. If it is too great, it will produce more lift than on the other side of the aeroplane; and if too small, it will produce less lift than on the other side--the result being that, in either case, the aeroplane will try to fly one wing down.

2. _Distorted Surfaces._--If some part of the surface is distorted, then its camber is spoiled, and the lift will not be the same on both sides of the aeroplane, and that, of course, will cause it to fly one wing down.

Longitudinal Instability may be due to the following reasons:

1. _The stagger may be wrong._ The top surface may have drifted back a little owing to some of the wires, probably the incidence wires, having elongated their loops or having pulled the fittings into the wood. If the top surface is not staggered forward to the correct degree, then consequently the whole of its lift is too far back, and it will then have a tendency to lift up the tail of the machine too much. The aeroplane would then be said to be "nose-heavy."

A 1/4-inch area in the stagger will make a very considerable difference to the longitudinal stability.

2. If _the angle of incidence_ of the main surface is not right, it will have a bad effect, especially in the case of an aeroplane with a lifting tail-plane.

If the angle is too great, it will produce an excess of lift, and that may lift up the nose of the aeroplane and result in a tendency to fly "tail-down." If the angle is too small, it will produce a decreased lift, and the aeroplane may have a tendency to fly "nose-down."

3. _The fuselage_ may have become warped upward or downward, thus giving the tail-plane an incorrect angle of incidence. If it has too much angle, it will lift too much, and the aeroplane will be "nose-heavy." If it has too little angle, then it will not lift enough, and the aeroplane will be "tail-heavy."

4. (The least likely reason.) _The tail-plane_ may be mounted upon the fuselage at a wrong angle of incidence, in which case it must be corrected. If nose-heavy, it should be given a smaller angle of incidence. If tail-heavy, it should be given a larger angle; but care should be taken not to give it too great an angle, because the longitudinal stability entirely depends upon the tail-plane being set at a much smaller angle of incidence than is the main surface, and if that difference is decreased too much, the aeroplane will become uncontrollable longitudinally. Sometimes the tail-plane is mounted on the aeroplane at the same angle as the main surface, but it actually engages the air at a lesser angle, owing to the air being deflected downwards by the main surface. There is then, in effect, a longitudinal dihedral as explained and ill.u.s.trated in Chapter I.

CLIMBS BADLY.--Such a condition is, apart from engine or propeller trouble, probably due to (1) distorted surfaces, or (2) too small an angle of incidence.

FLIGHT SPEED POOR.--Such a condition is, apart from engine or propeller trouble, probably due to (1) distorted surfaces, (2) too great an angle of incidence, or (3) dirt or mud, and consequently excessive skin-friction.

INEFFICIENT CONTROL is probably due to (1) wrong setting of control surfaces, (2) distortion of control surfaces, or (3) control cables being badly tensioned.

WILL NOT "TAXI" STRAIGHT.--If the aeroplane is uncontrollable on the ground, it is probably due to (1) alignment of undercarriage being wrong, or (2) unequal tension of shock absorbers.

CHAPTER IV

THE PROPELLER, OR "AIR-SCREW"

The sole object of the propeller is to translate the power of the engine into thrust.

The propeller screws through the air, and its blades, being set at an angle inclined to the direction of motion, secure a reaction, as in the case of the aeroplane's lifting surface.

This reaction may be conveniently divided into two component parts or values, namely, Thrust and Drift (see ill.u.s.tration overleaf).

The Thrust is opposed to the Drift of the aeroplane, and must be equal and opposite to it at flying speed. If it falls off in power, then the flying speed must decrease to a velocity, at which the aeroplane drift equals the decreased thrust. The Drift of the propeller may be conveniently divided into the following component values:

_Active Drift_, produced by the useful thrusting part of the propeller.

_Pa.s.sive Drift_, produced by all the rest of the propeller, _i.e._, by its detrimental surface.

_Skin-Friction_, produced by the friction of the air with roughness of surface.

_Eddies_ attending the movement of the air caused by the action of the propeller.

_Cavitation_ (very marked at excessive speed of revolution). A tendency of the propeller to produce a cavity or semi-vacuum in which it revolves, the thrust decreasing with increase of speed and cavitation.

THRUST-DRIFT RATIO.--The proportion of thrust to drift is of paramount importance, for it expresses the efficiency of the propeller. It is affected by the following factors:

_Speed of Revolution._--The greater the speed, the greater the proportion of drift to thrust. This is due to the increase with speed of the pa.s.sive drift, which carries with it no increase in thrust. For this reason propellers are often geared down to revolve at a lower speed than that of the engine.

_Angle of Incidence._--The same reasons as in the case of the aeroplane surface.

_Aspect Ratio._--Ditto.

_Camber._--Ditto.

[Ill.u.s.tration: M, Direction of motion of propeller (rotary).

R, Direction of reaction.

T, Direction of thrust.

AD, Direction of the resistance of the air to the pa.s.sage of the aeroplane, _i.e._, aeroplane drift.

D, Direction of propeller drift (rotary).

P, Engine power, opposed to propeller drift and transmitted to the propeller through the propeller shaft.]

In addition to the above factors there are, when it comes to actually designing a propeller, mechanical difficulties to consider. For instance, the blades must be of a certain strength and consequent thickness. That, in itself, limits the aspect ratio, for it will necessitate a chord long enough in proportion to the thickness to make a good camber possible. Again, the diameter of the propeller must be limited, having regard to the fact that greater diameters than those used to-day would not only result in excessive weight of construction, but would also necessitate a very high undercarriage to keep the propeller off the ground, and such undercarriage would not only produce excessive drift, but would also tend to make the aeroplane stand on its nose when alighting. The latter difficulty cannot be overcome by mounting the propeller higher, as the centre of its thrust must be approximately coincident with the centre of aeroplane drift.

MAINTENANCE OF EFFICIENCY.

The following conditions must be observed:

1. PITCH ANGLE.--The angle, at any given point on the propeller, at which the blade is set is known as the pitch angle, and it must be correct to half a degree if reasonable efficiency is to be maintained.