Flaperons

I just don't get it. Can anyone successfully explain how flaperons
work? Are they better or worse than seperate flaps? What are the pro's
and con's? It seems to me if one fails you have no recovery.
Lou

"Lou Parker" wrote in message
om...
I just don't get it. Can anyone successfully explain how flaperons
work? Are they better or worse than seperate flaps? What are the pro's
and con's? It seems to me if one fails you have no recovery.
Lou

At least in sailplanes, they work very well. My Nimbus 2C droops the
ailerons with the flaps but at a lesser rate which introduces a large
effective wing twist at low speeds.

The upside of flaperons is that the whole span is flapped which improves low
speed performance and the total aileron area is larger which improves roll
authority.

The down side is when you need a lot of aileron at a time when full flaps
are deployed they the roll response heavy and sluggish. The solution is to
hold off on full flaps until you are on short final.

Bill Daniels

"Lou Parker" wrote in message
om...
I just don't get it. Can anyone successfully explain how flaperons
work? Are they better or worse than seperate flaps? What are the pro's
and con's? It seems to me if one fails you have no recovery.
Lou

My experience is on the A-6 (series) military aircraft that has a Flaperon
System. As the stick is moved Right, the Right Flaperon gradually comes up,
killing some of the lift on the right wing, causes a loss of lift, the wing
drops, and the A/C banks Right. These surfaces are what you would think a
'spoiler' would look like and operate much like an Aileron.

A completely separate system causes both Flaperons to 'popup' on touchdown
while landing 'shorebased'. This kills the lift (as soon as the wheels
touchdown) and allows the aircraft to quickly 'settle into the gear' so the
Anti-Skid system can work effectively, thus slowing the A/C safely.

An added note: the Flaperons are really 'misnamed' because (at least in the
case of the A-6) they have nothing to do with Flaps. The A-6 (and many other
Naval Aircraft) have Flaps (on the trailing edge) and Slats (on the leading
edge).

Hope this helps.

Larry
AECS (AW/SW/MTS)
USN 'Retired'
20 years if gettin 'em off the pointy end
AND safely home again!

"Larry" wrote in message
...

An added note: the Flaperons are really 'misnamed' because (at least in
the
case of the A-6) they have nothing to do with Flaps. The A-6 (and many
other
Naval Aircraft) have Flaps (on the trailing edge) and Slats (on the
leading
edge).

Hope this helps.

Larry
AECS (AW/SW/MTS)
USN 'Retired'
20 years if gettin 'em off the pointy end
AND safely home again!


Larry,

You are correct. The A-6 Flaperons are indeed misnamed. In reality they
are spoilers very similar in design to the glide slope control spoilers used
on Schweizer sailplanes.

Wayne
http://www.soaridaho.com/Schreder

Retired A-6 Bombardier

In article _q4ld.24439$V41.4860@attbi_s52,
"Bill Daniels" wrote:


[snip]
The down side is when you need a lot of aileron at a time when full flaps
are deployed they the roll response heavy and sluggish. The solution is to
hold off on full flaps until you are on short final.


always a good idea

The solution is to
hold off on full flaps until you are on short final.


always a good idea

Of course if you are really good, and are flying a real airplane, to hell with
the flaps. Slip it in. Can always "unslip," you know, but "unflapping" is
looking for trouble.

Quent

"QDurham" wrote in message
...
The solution is to
hold off on full flaps until you are on short final.


always a good idea

Of course if you are really good, and are flying a real airplane, to hell
with
the flaps. Slip it in. Can always "unslip," you know, but "unflapping" is
looking for trouble.

Quent

Actually, the dive brakes on my sailplane will convert the 50:1 glider (30:1
with approach flaps) to 5:1 and back in the blink of an eye. Slips aren't
needed or, for that matter, very effective.

Bill Daniels

QDurham wrote:
The solution is to

hold off on full flaps until you are on short final.


always a good idea


Of course if you are really good, and are flying a real airplane, to hell with
the flaps. Slip it in. Can always "unslip," you know, but "unflapping" is
looking for trouble.

How effective a slip is depends on what how much rudder you have and how big
the sides of your aircraft is. A lot of go fast planes and high performance
gliders don't get too much drag out of a slip.

I just don't get it. Can anyone successfully explain how flaperons
work? Are they better or worse than seperate flaps? What are the pro's
and con's? It seems to me if one fails you have no recovery.
Lou

Lou,

I have flown several gliders with flaperons but no airplanes so equipped.
The glider I have the most time in is the Apis 13, this has a wing span of 13
meters about 42.5 ft.

The roll rate is great because the entire trailing edge acts as a aileron, and
the flaps really work well because they are the full span of the trailing edge,
so independently I get very good results for these controls.

When thermaling with a notch or two of flap I see little if any reduction in
roll rate, Yes the aileron that is going up does not go as far up as if the
flaps were at the zero setting, but it does not seem to matter.

Bill Daniels mentioned his glider, which has a 20 meter wing, that is quite
heavy. It has, (for a glider) a relatively slow roll rate anyway. The Apis is
much lighter and nimble and so roll control with full flaps is just fine, in
fact they make the glider a real blast to fly.

The mechanism is quite simple. Each flaperon is driven from its root end by a
torque rod, the flaperons are center hinged. The flaperons on the Apis are of
carbon fiber so torque loads are easily handled.

If you are near a glider club look at a DG brand glider, they use flaperons a
lot in their gliders.

I do not know if they are more effective than separate flaps and ailerons but
they do cover a larger part of the wing's trailing edge so in some or maybe
even most circumstances I think they maybe more effective.

So far I have had no reason to complain.

Robert Mudd

"Wayne Paul" wrote in message
...

"Larry" wrote in message
...

An added note: the Flaperons are really 'misnamed' because (at least in
the
case of the A-6) they have nothing to do with Flaps. The A-6 (and many
other
Naval Aircraft) have Flaps (on the trailing edge) and Slats (on the
leading
edge).

Hope this helps.

Larry
AECS (AW/SW/MTS)
USN 'Retired'
20 years if gettin 'em off the pointy end
AND safely home again!


Larry,

You are correct. The A-6 Flaperons are indeed misnamed. In reality they
are spoilers very similar in design to the glide slope control spoilers
used
on Schweizer sailplanes.

Wayne
http://www.soaridaho.com/Schreder

Retired A-6 Bombardier


I can recall spending many a late night out there re-rigging the control
surfaces on the Prowler (Navy EA-6B) when I worked in Quality Assurance. The
Airframes guys would make an adjustment and we'd have to witness the
'throws' to ensure all was within specs. That dam Hydraulic Genny was
screaming and the hydraulics were whining- It's no wonder I lost most of my
hearing.

All that 'so we could 'make the flight schedule'. Now it's somebody else's
turn to 'wrench on those jets'.


Larry
AECS (AW/SW/MTS)
USN 'Retired'
20 years if gettin 'em off the pointy end
AND safely home again!