Why do some aircraft have their trailing-edge devices (flaps or similar) exist as a separate piece on the trailing edge of the plane, while for others it is integrated into the wing and it looks like the wing “opens up/splits apart”?
In: Engineering
My understanding is limited, but Some planes have flaps and ailerons. Flaps enable the plane to stay aloft at slower speeds by increasing their surface area, which is helpful when you’re landing and whatnot. Ailerons are ‘control surfaces,’ which are a way the pilot steers the plane.
Some planes have flaperons. The flaps and ailerons are part of the same assembly. So to deploy the ‘flaps,’ the whole flaperon assembly slides out of the wing and it looks much different than what you see on wings that have flaps and ailerons separate from one another.
Sorry if I got that wrong, hopefully it will inspire another redditor to correct me.
Those are two separate devices. The first one, which is the one that extends past the trailing edge of the wing, is a flap. Flaps provide additional camber (curvature) to the wing and often increase wing area to increase lift at lower angles of attack. These are useful on takeoff and landing. Look up Fowler flaps and split flaps plus your favorite commercial aircraft for pictures.
The thing that splits apart from the top of a wing is a spoiler on larger aircraft. Those reduce lift on the wing and add drag the slow the aircraft down. You’ll see these deployed on landing.
There are split flaps which split apart from the bottom, but those aren’t as common anymore due to the high amount of drag they add. Even smaller aircraft use slotted flaps.
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