Aero-Terms!

Aero-Terms are designed to be a daily reminder of the terms, names, acronyms and explanations of the unique language that populates the aviation world. Aerospace, sport aviation, fixed wing, helo, you name it... it's all fair game.

Aero-Terms should serve as a quick but intriguing reminder of the terms you may use every day, or an introduction to an aspects of the Aero-World you may not yet be familiar with. ANN also encourages readers to go beyond the FMI link, and further research any intriguing terms.

Suggestions for future Aero-Terms are ALWAYS welcome, as are additions or discussion of the explanations given for each Aero-Term.

Control Surface

Any moveable surface on an aircraft which controls its motion about one of the three principal axes. Ailerons, elevators, and the rudder are examples of control surfaces. In addition, other type of roll control surfaces are roll spoilers that dump lift on one wing or another (as opposed to ailerons), spoilerons (combined spoiler and aileron), and Flaperon (combined flap and aileron).

Other combined controls include the ruddervator (combined elevator and rudder as on the "V" tailed Beech Model 35) and elevons combining elevator and ailerons. Other subsidiary controls are pitch, roll, and rudder trim tabs and the adjustable pitch tailplane (the whole tailplane moves to trim the pitch axis).

FMI: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:Glossary_of_aviation,_aerospace,_and_aeronautics