Re: possiblility the ailerons can move in the same direction at the same time

Greetings:

References:
Aeronautics Learning Laboratory for Science Technology and Research (ALLSTAR).
This NASA sponsored site is enhanced for the latest technologies on the Internet.

http://www.allstar.fiu.edu/

See How It Flys web book has detailed technical information for pilots and engineers.

http://www.monmouth.com/~jsd/f ly/how/

Your questions address the leading edge of current aeronautical technology. The ALLSTAR
reference is at the highschool, beginning college level. The See How It Flys reference
gets very technical, as are your questions, and both references should be of interest to you.
Typical aileron movement is generally less 30 degrees up and 30 degrees down for a
total deflection of less than 60 degrees. The control surface movement specifications
for each aircraft type, which are determined during certification, is set by the
FAA in the USA or it's European equivalent the SNIAS.

Typically military research projects take 10 to 15 years to be incorporated into
production aircraft and commercial aircraft control functions replicate the control
functions of military aircraft with about a 10 to 15 year lag. For example, Digital
fly-by-wire was first tested by NASA in the early 1970s on an F-8 fighter and was
first used in a production aircraft in the F-16 in the 1980s. Commercial application
of fly-by-wire was first used by Airbus in the 1990s.

http://www.dfrc.nasa.gov/PAO/PAIS/HTML/FS-024-DFRC.

The Northrop flying wings of the 1940s and 50s first used dual function control
surfaces called Elevons.

ELEVON - A hinged device on the rear portion of an aircraft wing combining the
functions of an elevator and an aileron. Usually found on delta-wing aircraft,
it can be moved in the same direction on either side of the aircraft to obtain
longitudinal control, or differentially to obtain lateral control.

Surprisingly, the first mass produced aircraft with dual function control surfaces
was the Beechcraft Bonanza, a popular light aircraft that was produced in the 1960s
and 70s. The Bonanza had Vee shaped tail surfaces with control surfaces that
performed both as a rudder and as an elevator. By eliminating one tail surface the
Bonanza had very low drag for a light aircraft.

http:www.bonanza.org

During the late 1950s delta wing aircraft began to be developed and produced in large
numbers. These aircraft incorporated both Elevons and Flaperons.

FLAPERON - A hinged device on the rear portion of an aircraft wing combining the
functions of a flap and an aileron. Usually found on delta-wing aircraft, it can be
moved in the same direction on either side of the aircraft to obtain longitudinal
control, or differentially to obtain lateral control.

Elevons and flaperons were first used commercially on the Concorde during the mid-1970s.

http://www.concordesst.com/ inside/6.html

The most complex production aircraft with independent control surfaces is the F-117
Nighthawk stealth fighter. This fly-by-wire aircraft is fundamentally unstable and
requires independent computer control of each of the control surfaces to maintain stability. It
is doubtful that F-117 type control surfaces will be used on commercial aircraft
in the near future.

http://ww w.csd.uwo.ca/~pettypi/elevon/baugher_us/f117.html

Quote from F-117Web site.
The leading edge wing sweep on the Have Blue was 72.5 degrees, and the resulting low
aspect ratio gave a rather poor payload-range performance. In order to improve the
performance, the wing sweep was reduced to 67.5 degrees on the F-117A. The flying
surfaces on the F-117A consist of four elevons on the wing trailing edge (two inboard
and two outboard) and two all-flying rudders mounted in a V arrangement on the rear
fuselage. The elevons and the rudder are all faceted in order to reduce their radar
signature, and the hinge lines between the wings and the elevons are sealed with
flexible RAM. The four elevons can deflect upward or downward by 60 degrees, and the
rudders can deflect 30 degrees left or right. The elevons act in the pitch and roll
axes, whereas the rudders act in the yaw axis. The angle of attack during landing is
about 9 degrees. The elevons do not double as flaps, which makes the landing speed
of the F-117A rather high.

Best Regards, Your Mad Scientist
Adrian Popa