Sorry about the delay folks, but AES has now got himself organised and got the promised piccies. I’ve compressed them all for web viewing (hence the “ … -C” in each title). I hope they’ll be clear to see OK here.
A310-1-C
This is the first shot of an Airbus A310 undergoing heavy maintenance. For info this particular aeroplane is/was operated by Air India after having started its life newly built for Swissair. The A310 is the 2nd “Scarebus” that Airbus produced (after the original A300) and this “stretched” model, the -300, seats roughly 220 in 2 or 3 classes over a medium range (e.g. Zurich to the Middle East). I took this pic because it clearly shows the LE Slats that I was talking about before. Here they’re fully deployed (“drooped”). If I remember correctly (it’s quite a few years since I had anything to do with A310s) they go down in 3 steps, ending up with 10 degrees down as shown here. The funny little vaguely triangle-shaped curved surface right up against the fuselage at the wing root is called a Kruger flap, and like the rest of the LE Slats, it increases the curvature (“camber”) of the front of the wing. BTW, I see that in my absence you’ve been discussing various types of gas turbine, so it may interest you to know that the “big hole” below the wing is where the No. 1 engine goes (it’s away in the shop for overhaul). The big outer round bit that’s left hanging from the pylon is the back end of the bypass duct, i.e. the rear of the engine nacelle. The “small hole” in the middle shows where the back end of the core of the engine, including its jet pipe, will fit. Big difference between the diameter of the fan at the front of the engine and the engine core at the centre isn’t there? This aircraft has Pratt & Whitney JT9D high-bypass ratio engines of about 50,000 lbs thrust each. There is of course another engine on the RH wing (otherwise the aeroplane would only go round & round in circles! ;-)
A310-2-C
View of the same aeroplane from above & behind. First, the inboard TE Flap has been removed and is sitting on a pair of cradles on the floor. More on that in a mo. The next “flap” hanging down but still fitted to the aeroplane is the Inboard Aileron. This provides roll control throughout all flight phases. Being a bit of a “barn door” surface it’s “hydraulically geared” so that up & down movements are quite large at low speeds (say up to about 220 mph) but are then much restricted above that speed. Next, on the upper surface of the wings there are 5 oblong “empty spaces”. These are the “Speed Brake/Spoiler” panels. They’re more or less flat panels, each powered by a hydraulic actuator. On landing, once the on-ground sensor says the aeroplane is firmly on the ground and the wheel-spin sensor confirms that they are turning at above about 140 mph, all 5 will be automatically raised to their max, about 60 degrees. This is “Spoiler” (or “lift-dumping”) mode. During high-speed flight (above about 220 mph) the 3 most outboard spoilers become “assistant ailerons” and are raised (by progressively smaller amounts as we move out along the wing towards the tip) to assist the “proper” (Inboard) aileron with roll control. The angle that these are raised to varies with the speed and their individual position along the wing. The outboard 4 of those 5 panels can also be raised to various angles (as signalled by the pilot) to act as Speed Brakes, for example during descent, when it may be necessary to slow down quickly to obey ATC instructions, or to quickly get below the max allowable Flaps lowering speed.
The pic does not show it (the wing tip is hidden under the balcony I was standing on) but believe me, this aeroplane has no Outboard Aileron out near the wing tip. Someone will no doubt ask me why, and being a smart a**e I will answer “ ’cos it makes the wing more efficient”; but when someone then asks “how’s that then?” I’ll have to reply that I’m not an aerodynamicist and don’t really understand it all. But the A310 is not the only aeroplane without Ailerons in the usual place (on/near the wing tip) but it’s one of the few that I know anything at all about.
The other apparently one big surface hanging down at an angle from the TE of the wing is the rest of the TE Flaps. More on those in pic A310-3-C.
A310-3-C
View of the same aeroplane from above & behind. First, the inboard TE Flap has been removed and is sitting on a pair of cradles on the floor. More on that in a mo. The next “flap” hanging down but still fitted to the aeroplane is the Inboard Aileron. This provides roll control throughout all flight phases. Being a bit of a “barn door” surface it’s “hydraulically geared” so that up & down movements are quite large at low speeds (say up to about 220 mph) but are then much restricted above that speed. Next, on the upper surface of the wings there are 5 oblong “empty spaces”. These are the “Speed Brake/Spoiler” panels. They’re more or less flat panels, each powered by a hydraulic actuator. On landing, once the on-ground sensor says the aeroplane is firmly on the ground and the wheel-spin sensor confirms that they are turning at above about 140 mph, all 5 will be automatically raised to their max, about 60 degrees. This is “Spoiler” (or “lift-dumping”) mode. During high-speed flight (above about 220 mph) the 3 most outboard spoilers become “assistant ailerons” and are raised (by progressively smaller amounts as we move out along the wing towards the tip) to assist the “proper” (Inboard) aileron with roll control. The angle that these are raised to varies with the speed and their individual position along the wing. The outboard 4 of those 5 panels can also be raised to various angles (as signalled by the pilot) to act as Speed Brakes, for example during descent, when it may be necessary to slow down quickly to obey ATC instructions, or to quickly get below the max allowable Flaps lowering speed.
The pic does not show it (the wing tip is hidden under the balcony I was standing on) but believe me, this aeroplane has no Outboard Aileron out near the wing tip. Someone will no doubt ask me why, and being a smart a**e I will answer “ ’cos it makes the wing more efficient”; but when someone then asks “how’s that then?” I’ll have to reply that I’m not an aerodynamicist and don’t really understand it all. But the A310 is not the only aeroplane without Ailerons in the usual place (on/near the wing tip) but it’s one of the few that I know anything at all about.
The other apparently one big surface hanging down at an angle from the TE of the wing is the rest of the TE Flaps. More on those in pic A310-3-C.
See "Part 2"