There are many components of an aircraft and they differ depending on the usage of the aircraft. The major components of an aircraft include fuselage, wings, an empennage, landing fear and a power plant. The fuselage is the component of the plane where the crew, passengers and cargo are. It is the central part of the plane and also where the wings and tail assemble. The wings are part of the plane that are attached to the fuselage and are the major components that support the airplane in flight. The wings may be attached at the top, middle or lower portion of the fuselage. Aircraft with a single set of wings are referred to as monoplane and aircraft with two sets are called biplanes. The number of wings that an aircraft has also varies. The main components of a wing are the spars, ribs, and stringers. The empennage is the entire tail group that consists of horizontal stabilizer, vertical stabilizer, rudder, trim tabs, and elevators. The movable surfaces are the rudder, the elevator, and one or more trim tabs. The rudder is used to move the airplanes nose left and right. The elevator is attached to the horizontal stabilizer and it is used to move the airplane's nose up or down during flight. Not all aircraft have elevators because they are not required. Aircraft without elevators incorporate a one-piece horizontal stabilizer that pivots from a central hinge point. This type of design is called a stabilator and is controlled from the wheel and acts just like an elevator. The trim tabs are part of the wing that are controlled from the flight deck and reduce control pressures.
The landing gear consists of wheels but sometimes can be floats that airplanes use for landing in water or snow. They consist of three wheels; two main wheels and a third wheel and are located on the front or rear of the airplane. If the third wheel is located in located on the nose, it is called a nose wheel. The purpose of the nose wheel is so the airplane can be controlled throughout operations while on the ground. Most aircraft control their steering by moving rudder pedals, whether nose wheel or tail wheel. However, some aircraft are steered by differential braking. The power plant consists of both the engine the propeller. The engine is covered by a cowling or a nacelle and its main purpose is to provide the power to turn the propeller. The propeller can be attached to either the front of the engine or can also be mounted on the rear of the engine as a pusher-type aircraft. This type of engine is called a pusher-type aircraft. The angle of a propeller is very significant because it impacts its effectiveness. The pitch is also important because it determines the distance a propeller would travel in one revolution if it were turning in a solid. These two factors combine measure the efficiency of the propeller.
Aircraft also have subcomponents that include the airframe, electrical system, flight controls and brakes. The airframe is the basic structure of an aircraft that is designed to withstand all aerodynamic forces and the stress that is imposed by the fuel, crew payload. The main function of the aircraft electrical system is to generate, regulate, and distribute electrical power throughout the aircraft. There are different power sources on aircraft, but they include: engine-driven alternating current (AC) generators, auxiliary power units (APUs) and external power. The brakes are multiple pads that are hydraulically squeezed toward each other with a rotating disk between them called a rotor.
