What do flaps do on airplanes

Read More. Call Us: Skip to content. The Purpose of Wing Flaps To better understand how they work, you must familiarize yourself with the purpose of wing flaps. Wing Flaps During Landings In addition to takeoffs, wing flaps are used during landings. In Conclusion Wing flaps may feature a small and simple design, but they serve an important purpose.

More Popular Posts. November 12, Products. How is Aluminum Metal Anodized? This produces a flap which can optimise both takeoff partial extension for optimal lift and landing full extension for optimal lift and drag performance.

This type of flap or one of its variations is found on most large aircraft. Double Slotted Fowler Flap - This design improves the performance of the Fowler flap by incorporating the boundary layer energising features of the slotted flap. Category : General. For high-speed flight, they are retracted to reduce drag. Q: If during taxi for takeoff, you notice the flaps are not extended, should you call a flight attendant? A: There are times when keeping the flaps retracted while taxiing is the correct action.

Examples include when there is snow or ice on the taxiway or when the airplane is going to be de-iced. Flaps remain retracted until near the runway to prevent damage to them. For example, the Cessna allows the pilot to select flaps at 0 degrees, 10 degrees, 20 degrees, or 30 degrees. Other planes may have settings like up, approach, and landing. Those settings correspond to set degrees, of course, but the designers decided to simplify the setup in the cockpit.

In most aircraft, landing without flaps is not a big deal. Flap versus no-flap approaches are probably indistinguishable to someone outside of the plane. A no-flap approach may require the pilot to fly a few knots faster on their final landing approach.

They may also use a few hundred more feet of the runway before stopping as a result. Table of Contents What Are Flaps? What Are Flaps Used For? How Do Flaps Work? Editorial Team Basic Designs of Flaps. Related Article:. Notice how the flap lever lower center is clearly marked and shaped like a flap!

Editorial Team Notice the slotted flaps on this Airbus. More Like This Airplanes.