Unit 6: Basic Aerodynamic Components - Practice Quiz

1 What is an airfoil?

2 What is the chord line of an airfoil?

3 Which part of an airfoil first meets the airflow?

4 What is the trailing edge of a wing?

5 What does the camber of an airfoil describe?

6 Which statement describes a symmetrical airfoil?

7 Where is a high wing mounted?

8 Where is a low wing mounted?

9 What is a monoplane?

10 What is a biplane?

11 What is wing dihedral?

12 What is the wingspan of an aircraft?

13 What is the main purpose of the fuselage?

14 Why are many fuselages given a streamlined shape?

15 Which primary control surface controls roll?

16 Which primary control surface controls pitch?

17 Which primary control surface controls yaw?

18 Where are ailerons normally located?

19 What is the main purpose of wing flaps?

20 To which fixed surface is the rudder attached?

21 A cambered airfoil is held at a geometric angle of attack of . What aerodynamic behavior is most likely?

22 An aerobatic aircraft must perform similarly during upright and inverted flight. Which airfoil configuration is most suitable?

23 Two wings have equal area, but Wing X has a greater span than Wing Y. At the same lift and speed, what advantage does Wing X generally have?

24 Why are swept wings commonly used on aircraft designed for high-subsonic flight?

25 A gust raises the right wing of an aircraft with positive dihedral. What natural response helps restore level flight?

26 A wing is built with a smaller incidence angle at the tip than at the root. What is the main purpose of this washout?

27 Compared with an untapered wing of similar span and area, why might a designer choose a moderately tapered wing?

28 An aircraft needs to fly more slowly during landing without losing lift. Which wing-configuration change best supports this requirement?

29 Which stall characteristic is generally associated with a simple rectangular wing?

30 Winglets are added to the tips of a transport aircraft. What improvement is primarily expected during efficient cruise?

31 A designer replaces a blunt fuselage shape with a smoothly tapered form while keeping volume similar. What is the main aerodynamic benefit?

32 Why do many pressurized aircraft use a fuselage with a nearly circular cross-section?

33 In a semi-monocoque fuselage, how are flight and landing loads mainly carried?

34 A pilot pulls the control column backward in conventional flight. Which control surface moves to initiate the expected response?

35 During a right roll, the aircraft initially yaws left because the down-going aileron produces extra drag. What control input corrects this adverse yaw?

36 An aircraft is disturbed so that its nose points left while its wings remain nearly level. Which primary control surface directly corrects this motion?

37 A pilot must maintain constant elevator pressure during level cruise. What adjustment would most directly reduce this continuous effort?

38 How do differential ailerons help reduce adverse yaw during a turn?

39 A pilot deploys spoilers symmetrically during descent. What combination of effects should be expected?

40 Cargo is moved rearward so the center of gravity approaches the aircraft's aft limit. What handling change is most likely?

41 A tailless aircraft must trim near its design lift coefficient without maintaining a large upward elevon deflection. Which airfoil change most directly supports this requirement?

42 At the same lift coefficient, a wing is redesigned from and to and . Using , how does induced drag change?

43 A wing at Mach has a leading-edge sweep of . Under the simplified normal-flow criterion, what Mach number primarily governs its section compressibility effects?

44 A highly tapered wing stalls first near its tips, causing early aileron ineffectiveness. Which geometric modification most directly promotes root-first stall while preserving the planform?

45 For an ideal planar wing with fixed span, area, and lift in incompressible flow, which spanwise loading minimizes induced drag?

46 A swept-back wing experiences tip separation before root separation. Why can this produce a rapid nose-up tendency?

47 An aircraft enters ground effect while speed and lift coefficient are held constant by adjusting attitude. Which aerodynamic change is expected?

48 Why can a slotted flap reach a higher maximum lift coefficient than a similarly deflected plain flap?

49 A laminar-flow wing performs well when clean but suffers an unexpectedly large cruise-drag increase after insect contamination near the leading edge. What is the principal cause?

50 Using , estimate the finite-wing lift-curve slope for per radian, , and .

51 A transonic aircraft has a sharp increase in total cross-sectional area where its wing joins the fuselage. Which redesign best applies the area rule?

52 Why does indefinitely increasing a subsonic fuselage's fineness ratio not guarantee lower total drag?

53 A new equipment fairing adds substantial side area well ahead of the center of gravity. What is the most likely directional-stability consequence, and how should it be corrected?

54 During a roll command, an aileron system produces upward deflection on one wing but only downward deflection on the other, with no leading-edge projection. What system is this, and what is its main purpose?

55 To hold a conventional elevator trailing edge upward for steady nose-up trim without continuous control force, which trim-tab deflection is normally required?

56 An all-moving stabilator is too sensitive at high speed. Which modification increases stick-force gradient without replacing the stabilator?

57 For a conventional V-tail with correctly mixed ruddervators, which command relationship is required?

58 A tailless aircraft mixes elevons according to and . If and , what deflections are commanded?

59 After one engine fails, the remaining engine produces of thrust at a lateral offset of . If the rudder moment is , with , , , and per radian, what rudder deflection balances the yawing moment?

60 At very high dynamic pressure, downward aileron deflection causes a flexible wing to twist so strongly that the local angle of attack decreases and the commanded roll reverses. Which diagnosis and remedy are most appropriate?