Wing position on the fuselage
| Type | Examples | Pros / cons |
|---|---|---|
| High wing | Cessna 152/172/182, Pilatus PC-12 | Better view downward; easy boarding; tank above engine → gravity feed; view upward in turn worse |
| Low wing | Piper PA-28, Beech Bonanza, Aquila A210, DA40 | Better view upward; in belly landing the wing absorbs first; electric pump usually needed (tank below engine) |
| Mid wing | Grob G115, some aerobatic types | Symmetric aerodynamics, good for aerobatics |
| Strut-braced high wing | Cessna 152/172, Maule, many trainers | External strut between fuselage and wing absorbs bending → lighter wing structure |
| Biplane | Boeing Stearman, Pitts Special | High lift at low span; higher drag |
Configuration types are: mid wing, high wing, low wing, strut-braced high wing.
Wing definitions
- Wingspan: tip-to-tip distance.
- Chord: line from leading to trailing edge.
- Wing thickness: the distance between the lower and upper sides of the wing at the thickest part of the airfoil. Often expressed as % of chord (typically 12-18 % for GA trainers).
- Angle of attack: angle between chord and free stream.
Wing construction
| Type | Description | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Cantilever | No external struts; all loads through the wing root | Low-wings (PA-28, DA40); some high-wings (C177 Cardinal) |
| Strut-braced | External strut takes bending loads, wing root less loaded | Cessna 152/172, Maule, many high-wings |
Main structural parts of a wing:
- Spar — main beam along the wing, carries bending load (see §1.5)
- Ribs — transverse parts that give the wing its profile shape and transfer aero load to the spar
- Skin — outer surface, carries shear and compression in stressed-skin construction
- Stringers — longitudinal stiffeners between spar and skin
Materials for wings — strength comparison
The most common materials have different strengths:
| Material | Strength | Weight | Application |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wood (plywood) | low | light | Historic and ultralight |
| Magnesium | moderate | very light | Rare — corrosion-prone |
| Aluminium alloys | high | medium | Standard in GA (e.g. C172, PA-28) |
| CFRP (Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastic) | very high (higher than aluminium, magnesium, or wood) | light | Modern high-performance aircraft (DA40/42, Cirrus SR20/22), airliners (787, A350) |
CFRP has, in strength-to-weight, the highest strength of common aircraft materials and is increasingly used in modern aircraft.
Tail types (empennage configurations)
The empennage consists of the horizontal and vertical stabilisers. There are four main configurations:
| Type | Description | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Standard tail (conventional) | Horizontal and vertical stabiliser at the rear, classic "+" form — sometimes called "Cross tail" | C172, PA-28 |
| T-tail | Horizontal stabiliser on top of the vertical fin | PA-44 Seminole, some DA40 variants, Boeing 727 |
| V-tail (butterfly) | Two diagonal stabiliser surfaces replace horizontal + vertical — combine pitch and yaw | Beech Bonanza V35, glider ASW20 |
| Cross tail | Synonymous with standard tail in some sources — horizontal and vertical stabilisers perpendicular at the rear |
Empennage — moving parts
- Horizontal stabiliser + moving elevator OR stabilator (whole stabiliser moves, e.g. PA-28R).
- Vertical stabiliser + moving rudder.
- The moving part of the horizontal stabiliser is the elevator — with a stabilator the entire stabiliser moves.