Flap your Wings and Fly...

Flaps. Best used when actually attached to an aircraft...

It's time to see what effect flaps have on the aircraft. Flaps are located on both wings and they move together symmetrically i.e. You can't have flaps at 10 degrees on your left wing and at 15 degrees on your right wing!

How do flaps work?

Flaps change the shape of the wings and thus the airflow around them. This alters the lift and drag generated. One way to put it is that flaps create new wings!

Flaps get used to generate lift when the aircraft is travelling at slow speeds. This helps reduce take-off and landing distances. They can also be used to increase drag which steepens the descent path when landing. Another thing it helps with is that it improves forward vision because the nose can be at a lower attitude.

...like this.

These can be useful all at the same time - flying slowly safely, steepening the descent path and improving forward vision while on an approach, for example.

We'll take a further look at flaps in an upcoming post.

In other news, my Saitek Yoke arrived in the mail today which means I can get back into the skies! As Chris Palmer of Angle of Attack says - Throttle on! (Go check out their fantastic stuff)