Alternative methods to control pitch in heavier-than-air craft?
Howdy, Flutherites! I hope someone on here is knowledgeable about aircraft. :) I am interested in understanding basic flight controls in heavier-than-air craft. The details of my question are kinda long, but necessary.
I understand there are three axes of movement—pitch, yaw and roll—and their coordinating controls which allow aircraft flight. And also power.
Roll on an airplane is controlled by its ailerons and the yaw by the rudder. Right? And pitch is normally controlled by elevators. I guess there are also flaps on jets, which can increase lift, and they’re different from ailerons in that they move together, not in opposite directions.
I hope I got that right, heh.
Beyond this, my question is whether there are other ways of performing pitch maneuvers besides using elevators? For example, in Battlestar Galactica there’s the Colonial Viper. What’s neat about it (besides that it can obviously operate in outer space and make FTL jumps) is that it can take off vertically from an idle position. I guess it would use vertical thrusters to do this?
In the case of the Viper, is it just using a combination of vertical and longitudinal thrusters to achieve pitch? Or what is it doing, exactly? (Or its pilot, rather.) And does it even have elevators? I guess I’m just wondering what the basic controls on something like that would be in comparison to, say, a biplane or a jet. :/
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Maybe thrust vectoring / manoeuvering thrusters?
And canards.
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Well a Colonial Viper would probably use elevators while flying in atmosphere, and use thrusters in space. Thrusters offset from the vehicle’s centre of gravity create a moment, and thus, rotation. Of course, in space, it would also be possible to simply translate the entire spacecraft up and down and side to side rather than having to pitch and roll in order to change direction like an aircraft.
Given sufficient space and assorted launching and arresting apparata, you could use a pendulum.
You might also be able to alter pitch (though probably not to any great degree) by shifting ballast around.
If my ten seconds of Googling are correct, modern engineers have addressed this problem with the Vernier thruster.
Popular in sci-fi is the gravity drive – the spacecraft essentially ‘falls’ into whatever place it needs to be, at whichever angle.
Look at the Harrier Jump Jet or the V-22 Osprey That will give you a good idea.
You can also move a mass inside the aircraft like pumping fuel between 2 bladders – fore and aft.
it’s called trim oops maybe not
Reaction Control Systems are what most spacecraft use for heading control. Some spacecraft use reaction wheels for attitude control. Spacecraft can also use differential thrust. Differential thrust varies the thrust output of different engines on a craft in order to change heading. The Colonial Viper could use any one of these in space or in the air (though most of these controls would not do much in an atmosphere since the wings and tail of the Viper are inherently stabilizing). Since most sci-fi spacecraft spend most of their time in space, not a lot of them have aerodynamic control surfaces. Since the new BSG spacecraft are based on the old ones from the original series there wasn’t a lot done to make the ships more plausible.
Heh, I had some new terms thrown at me. Thanks for all the answers, btw. I’ll have to look into some of those a little deeper…
@worriedguy: that Harrier Jump Jet sure is interesting, especially the vertical take-off/landing capability and that GE Axisymmetric Vectoring Exhaust Nozzle. O_O Sweet Jesus. (And I like how its jet engine is called the Pegasus. Ties in nicely with the whole BSG theme. ^_^)
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