Flight Controls Flashcards
The fly-by-wire system was designed and certified to render the new generation of aircraft even more
safe, cost effective, and pleasant to fly.
Flight control surfaces are all :
‐ Electrically-controlled, and
‐ Hydraulically-actuated.
The stabilizer and rudder can also be mechanically-controlled.
Pilots use sidesticks to fly the aircraft in pitch and roll (and in yaw, indirectly, through ___
turn coordination).
However, when in normal law, regardless of the pilot’s input, the computers will prevent excessive maneuvers and exceedance of the safe envelope in pitch and roll axis.
However, as on conventional aircraft, the __ has no such protection.
rudder
___ flight control computers process pilot and autopilot inputs according to normal, alternate, or direct flight control laws.
Seven
FLIGHT CONTROLS COMPUTERS
2 ELACs : (Elevator Aileron Computer)
Normal elevator and stabilizer control. Aileron control.
FLIGHT CONTROLS COMPUTERS
3 SECs : (Spoilers Elevator Computer)
Spoilers control.
Standby elevator and stabilizer control.
FLIGHT CONTROLS COMPUTERS
2 FACs : (Flight Augmentation Computer)
Electrical rudder control.
FLIGHT CONTROLS
COMPUTERS
2 FCDC
Flight Control Data Concentrators (FCDC) acquire data from the ELACs and SECs and send it to
the electronic instrument system (EIS) and the centralized fault display system (CFDS).
Two elevators and the Trimmable Horizontal Stabilizer (THS) control the aircraft in pitch. The maximum elevator deflection is
30 ° nose up, and 17 ° nose down. The maximum THS deflection is 13.5 ° nose up, and 4 ° nose down.
‐ In normal operations, ___ controls the elevators and the horizontal stabilizer, and the green and yellow hydraulic jacks drive the left and right elevator surfaces respectively. The THS is driven by N° 1 of three electric motors.
ELAC2
‐ If a failure occurs in ELAC2, or in the associated hydraulic systems, or with the hydraulic jacks, the system shifts pitch control to
ELAC1. ELAC1 then controls the elevators via the blue hydraulic jacks and controls the THS via the N° 2 electric motor.
‐ If neither ELAC1 nor ELAC2 is available, the system shifts pitch control either to
SEC1 or to SEC2, (depending on the status of the associated circuits), and to THS motor N° 2 or N° 3.
Mechanical control of the THS is available from the pitch trim wheel at any time, if either
the green or yellow hydraulic system is functioning.
Mechanical control from the pitch trim wheel has priority over electrical control.
One aileron and four spoilers on each wing control the aircraft about the roll axis. The maximum deflection of the ailerons is ___
25 °.
The ailerons extend ___ down when the flaps are extended (aileron droop).
The maximum deflection of the spoilers is ___ .
5 ° / 35 °
(The purpose of aileron droop is to use the ailerons as wing flaps. Wing flaps increase the lift generated by the wings at low speed.)
‐ The ___ normally controls the ailerons.
If ELAC1 fails, the system automatically transfers aileron control to ELAC2. If both ELACs fail, the ailerons revert to the ___ .
ELAC 1 / damping mode
(Damping Mode: Servojack follows surface movement.)
‐ SEC3 controls the N° 2 spoilers, SEC1 the N° 3 and 4 spoilers, and SEC2 the N° 5 spoilers. If a SEC fails, the spoilers it controls are ___
automatically retracted.
The flight crew controls the speedbrakes with the speed brake lever. The speedbrakes are
spoilers 2, 3 and 4.
Speedbrake extension is inhibited, if one of the following occurs:
6 points
‐ SEC1 and SEC3 both are faulty, or
‐ An elevator (L or R) is faulty, or
‐ ANGLE-OF-ATTACK PROTECTION IS ACTIVE, OR
‐ FLAPS ARE IN CONFIGURATION FULL (3 or FULL A321) , OR
‐ THRUST LEVERS ARE ABOVE MCT POSITION, OR
‐ ALPHA FLOOR IS ACTIVATED.
If an inhibition occurs when the speedbrakes are extended, they retract automatically and stay retracted until the inhibition condition disappears and the flight crew resets the lever (the speedbrakes can be extended again ___ after the lever is reset).
10 s or more
When the aircraft is flying faster than 315 kt or M 0.75 with the autopilot engaged, the speedbrake retraction rate is reduced (retraction from FULL to CLEAN takes about ___ ).
25 s
The maximum speedbrake deflection in manual flight is:
- 40 ° for spoilers 3 and 4
- 20 ° for spoiler 2.
(A321 The maximum deflection for the spoilers 2, 3 and 4 is 25 °)
The maximum speedbrake deflection with the autopilot engaged is:
- 25 ° for spoilers 3 and 4
- 12.5 ° for spoiler 2.
(A321 The maximum deflection for the spoilers 2, 3 and 4 is 25 °)
For these surfaces (which perform both roll and speedbrake functions) the ___ has priority: When the sum of a roll order and a simultaneous speedbrake order on one surface is more than the maximum deflection available in flight, the symmetric speedbrake on the other wing is retracted until the difference between the two surfaces is equal to the roll order.
roll function