fuselage

is an aircraft's main body section. It holds crew, passengers, and cargo. In single-engine aircraft
it will usually contain an engine, as well, although in some amphibious aircraft the single
engine is mounted on a pylon attached to the fuselage, which in turn is used as a floating hull.
The fuselage also serves to position control and stabilization surfaces in specific relationships
to lifting surfaces, which is required for aircraft stability and maneuverability.

Monocoque Construction:

‘Monocoque’ is a French word meaning ‘single shell’. All the loads are taken by a
stressed skin with just light internal frames or formers to give the required shape.
To be a ‘true’ Monocoque the structure would have no apertures at all.

Although it practicaly can carry more load, the drawback of this type is that it may
require maitenance more compared to the other designs, as the sturcture needs to be
reinforced in order to maintain the structural integrity.

(machinedesign.com)

3. Semi-Monocoque Construction.

As aircraft became larger, the pure Monocoque was found not to be strong enough.
Designers came with a new concept to make fuselage stronger; the Longerons run
lengthwise along the fuselage joining the frames together (see picture below for more
detail). The light alloy skin is attached to the frames and longerons by riveting or
adhesive bonding. Doublers are required when cut-outs are made to provide access
panels, doors or windows. Bulkheads isolate different sections of the aircraft, for
instance the engine compartment from the passenger compartment. Bulkheads are of
much stronger construction than frames or formers, as the loads upon them are so much
greater.

WING STRUCTURES
Wing construction is basically the same in all types of aircraft. Most modern aircraft have all metal
wings, but many older aircraft had wood and fabric wings. Ailerons and flaps will be studied later in this
chapter.

fig 1 - 5 wood and fabric wing structure

To maintain its all-important aerodynamic shape, a wing must be designed and built to hold its shape
even under extreme stress. Basically, the wing is a framework composed chiefly of spars, ribs, and
(possibly) stringers (see figure 1-5). Spars are the main members of the wing. They extend lengthwise
of the wing (crosswise of the fuselage). All the load carried by the wing is ultimately taken by the spars.
In flight, the force of the air acts against the skin. From the skin, this force is transmitted to the ribs
and then to the spars.

Most wing structures have two spars, the front spar and the rear spar. The front spar is found near the
leading edge while the rear spar is about two-thirds the distance to the trailing edge. Depending on the
design of the flight loads, some of the all-metal wings have as many as five spars. In addition to the
main spars, there is a short structural member which is called an aileron spar.

The ribs are the parts of a wing which support the covering and provide the airfoil shape. These ribs are
called forming ribs. and their primary purpose is to provide shape. Some may have an additional purpose
of bearing flight stress, and these are called compression ribs.

The most simple wing structures will be found on light civilian aircraft. High-stress types of military
aircraft will have the most complex and strongest wing structure.

NACELLE OR PODS

is a housing, separate from the fuselage, that holds engines, fuel, or equipment on an
aircraft. In some cases—for instance in the typical "Farman" type "pusher" aircraft, or
the World War II-era P-38 Lightning—an aircraft's cockpit may also be housed in a
nacelle, which essentially fills the function of a conventional fuselage. The covering is
typically aerodynamically shaped

A nacelle was an outboard engine housing structure on a spacecraft. The nacelles in

warp-capable shuttles and starships housed the warp coils of the vessel's warp drive.
Warp nacelles were also sometimes known as power nacelles, antimatter nacelles,
warp drive pods, or space/warp propulsion units during the 23rd century. (TOS:
"The Doomsday Machine", "Bread and Circuses"; TNG: "Datalore") Impulse nacelles
of a sublight shuttlecraft housed the ship's impulse driver engines. (TNG: "In Theory",
"Descent" display graphic)
The warp coils in warp nacelles created a subspace displacement field, which "warped"
the space around the vessel allowing it to "ride" on a spatial distortion, and travel faster
than the speed of light. (ENT: "Cold Front") While not always present on starships,
warp nacelles were the most common component of warp flight, dating as far back as
Zefram Cochrane's original warp ship, the Phoenix, circa 2063. (Star Trek: First
Contact)

EMPENNAGE

The empennage, commonly called the tail assembly (see figure 1-7), is the rear section of the body of
the airplane. Its main purpose is to give stability to the aircraft. The fixed parts are the horizontal
stabilizer and the vertical stabilizer or fin.

The front, fixed section is called the horizontal stabilizer and is used to prevent the airplane from
pitching up or down.

The rear section is called the elevator and is usually hinged to the horizontal stabilizer. The elevator is
a movable airfoil that controls the up-and-down motion of the aircraft's nose.

fig 1 - 7 empennage structure

The vertical tail structure is divided into the vertical stabilizer and the rudder. The front section is
called the vertical stabilizer and is used to prevent the aircraft from yawing back and forth. The
principle behind its operation is much like the principle of a deep keel on a sailboat. In light, single-
engine aircraft, it also serves to offset the tendency of the aircraft to roll in the opposite direction in
which the propeller is rotating.

The rear section of the vertical structure is the rudder. It is a movable airfoil that is used to turn the
aircraft.
Sometimes the fixed stabilizer and separate movable elevators are replaced by a single moving
horizontal tail known as a Stabilator. The Piper Pa28 is an example.