Understanding the technical terms
It is more than worthwhile getting to know some of the technical terms you will encounter in the world of radio-controlled flight.
Dihedral: This is the upward angle of the wings, or tailplane, from the horizontal (shallow ‘v’ shape).
While the physics of dihedral are complicated, suffice here to say that it is a major contributor to the stability of the plane. That means it is more stable when it rolls to the left or to the right. Most wings only have a few degrees of dihedral, which is just enough to return your plane to level during small disturbances, like in windy conditions. If you didn’t have dihedral, you would spend much more ‘hands-on’ time keeping your wings level.
The three principal movements of an aircraft are “roll” (ailerons), “yaw” (rudder) and “pitch” (elevators):
The Ailerons: The Ailerons (‘flaps’) are the narrow, hinged strips on the rear end of the wing that allow the plane to change direction and then helps it maintain balance during flight. The aircraft’s ‘longitudinal axis’ is along the length of the fuselage starting from the cockpit and ending at the tail. Rotation about this ‘longitudinal axis’ is called “roll.” Ailerons control “roll”. They are set up so that as the aileron on one wing moves up, the aileron on the other wing moves down, thus altering the relative shape of each wing, allowing the aircraft to roll to the left or right.
The Rudder: The moving section on the back half of the fin is the rudder and it is used to control the plane’s ‘yaw’, that is, pointing the nose of the plane to the left or to the right. When the rudder is angled to the right, the nose of the plane reciprocally turns to the right and vice versa.
The Elevators: Elevators are flight-control surfaces usually hinged on the tailplane or horizontal stabiliser, and they control the ‘pitch’ that makes the plane go up and down. Pulling back on the ‘assigned stick’ of the transmitter (Tx) brings the nose up and pushing forward puts the nose lower.