Airplane Components (Fuselage-Wings)

Airplane Components
The major components of an airplane are:
• the fuselage.
• the wings.
• the empennage (tail section).
• the flight controls.
• the landing gear.
• the engine and propeller.


Fuselage
The fuselage is the body of the airplane to which the wings, empennage, engine and
landing gear are attached. It contains a cabin with seats for the pilot and passengers
plus cockpit controls and instruments. It may also contain a baggage compartment.
The fuselage of many modern training airplanes is of semi-monocoque construction, a
light framework covered by a skin (usually aluminum) that absorbs much of the stress.
It is a combination of the best features of a strut-type structure, in which the internal
framework absorbs almost all of the stress, and a monocoque structure which, like an
eggshell, has no internal structure and the stress is carried entirely by the skin.


Wings
The wings are designed to cope with the flight loads of lift and drag. They also may
support other external devices such as engines (on multi-engine airplanes) and flaps.
Wings generally have one or more internal spars which are attached to the fuselage
and extend to the wingtips. The spars carry the major loads, which are upward bending
because of the lift, and downward bending because of wing-mounted engines and fuel.
The wings in most airplanes also contain fuel tanks installed between the curved
upper and lower surfaces. This is an efficient use of the space available, and the weight
of the fuel in the tanks also provides a downward force on the wing structure that
reduces the upward bending effect of the lift forces.
In addition to the spar(s), some wings also have external struts connecting them to
the fuselage to provide extra strength by transmitting some of the wing loads to the
fuselage.
Ribs, roughly perpendicular to the wing spar(s), assisted by stringers running parallel
to the spars, provide the airfoil shape and stiffen the skin which is attached to them.
The ribs transmit loads between the skin and the spar(s).
Monoplanes are designed with a single set of wings placed so that the airplane
is known as a high-wing, low-wing, or mid-wing monoplane. Biplanes, such as the
Pitts Special, are designed with a double set of wings. The Cessna 172 is a high-wing
monoplane; the Piper Warrior is a low-wing monoplane.