3 ms·

> The back of the wings can be adjusted to steer your paper airplane. Bend the wings up to make the airplane dive and bend the wings down to make the airplane c

by throwaway019254 3y ago

> The back of the wings can be adjusted to steer your paper airplane. Bend the wings up to make the airplane dive and bend the wings down to make the airplane climb. Isn't it the other way around?

hug 3y ago
I’m so curious as to the answer here. My intuition says you’re right, but my second-questioning brain says “maybe the people who run a site about nothing but paper planes got it right the first time”. Is there something about the aerodynamics of paper planes that I don’t understand? Probably!
- moconnor 3y ago
  The site is wrong. Ailerons up makes the nose rotate upwards and the plane climb and vice versa. This is easy to try!
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
chkgk 3y ago
If the elevator is behind the center of mass/lift they need to push the back down, so they need to point up to raise the nose of the aircraft (other side of cg/cl). If the surfaces are in the front of cg/cl, they need to do the opposite. To pull the nose up, they would have to point downwards.
- davethedevguy 3y ago
  Exactly. The site calls them ailerons (presumably because they are on the wing and can roll the plane) but they are quite far back from the cg and so function more like elevators when used together. Concorde worked this way [1], and called them 'elevons'. When I used to work on Tornados these were called 'tailerons'. [1] https://www.heritageconcorde.com/roll-pitch-and-yaw https://www.heritageconcorde.com/roll-pitch-and-yaw Edit: The original site actually describes them correctly here, so I assume the text on the front-page is just a typo: https://www.foldnfly.com/lounge/steer-aim.php#elevon https://www.foldnfly.com/lounge/steer-aim.php#elevon
  - paulddraper 3y ago
    More accurately, they are "elevons." (And yes that's a word)
black6 3y ago
You would think that the quasi-ailerons would deflect the air to change the direction of flight, but it changes the chord line and aerodynamic characteristics of the wing.

> The back of the wings can be adjusted to steer your paper airplane. Bend the wings up to make the airplane dive and bend the wings down to make the airplane climb. Isn't it the other way around?

hug 3y ago

I’m so curious as to the answer here. My intuition says you’re right, but my second-questioning brain says “maybe the people who run a site about nothing but paper planes got it right the first time”. Is there something about the aerodynamics of paper planes that I don’t understand? Probably!

moconnor 3y ago
The site is wrong. Ailerons up makes the nose rotate upwards and the plane climb and vice versa. This is easy to try!

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

chkgk 3y ago

If the elevator is behind the center of mass/lift they need to push the back down, so they need to point up to raise the nose of the aircraft (other side of cg/cl). If the surfaces are in the front of cg/cl, they need to do the opposite. To pull the nose up, they would have to point downwards.

davethedevguy 3y ago
Exactly. The site calls them ailerons (presumably because they are on the wing and can roll the plane) but they are quite far back from the cg and so function more like elevators when used together. Concorde worked this way [1], and called them 'elevons'. When I used to work on Tornados these were called 'tailerons'. [1] https://www.heritageconcorde.com/roll-pitch-and-yaw https://www.heritageconcorde.com/roll-pitch-and-yaw Edit: The original site actually describes them correctly here, so I assume the text on the front-page is just a typo: https://www.foldnfly.com/lounge/steer-aim.php#elevon https://www.foldnfly.com/lounge/steer-aim.php#elevon
- paulddraper 3y ago
  More accurately, they are "elevons." (And yes that's a word)

black6 3y ago

You would think that the quasi-ailerons would deflect the air to change the direction of flight, but it changes the chord line and aerodynamic characteristics of the wing.