A spinner is an aircraft component, a streamlined fairing fitted over a propeller hub or at the centre of a turbofan engine. Spinners both make the aircraft overall more streamlined, thereby reducing aerodynamic drag, and also smooth the airflow so that it enters the air intakes more efficiently. Spinners also fulfill an aesthetic role on some aircraft designs. [1] [2] [3]
Piston-powered aircraft often have spinners of one of two basic designs. The large spinner fits over the propeller, while the smaller skull cap style is directly attached to the propeller and just covers the propeller mounting bolts. [3]
The spinner may be constructed from aluminium or fibreglass. Often softer grades of aluminium are used to reduce the tendency to crack in service. Early fibreglass spinners introduced as kits for the homebuilt aircraft market in the early 1990s initially developed a poor reputation for cracking. More recent models have resolved these problems and they now function as well as aluminium ones do. [2] [3]
The normal method of installation of a large spinner on a light aircraft involves installing a circular spinner back plate over the engine driveshaft, then the propeller, followed by a spinner front plate. The spinner dome is then mounted over this assembly and secured with screws to the back and front plates. Small plates are usually fitted behind the propeller to fill in the spinner dome cutouts and are secured to the backplate again with screws. Some spinner designs do not incorporate the front plate, although these are not suitable for higher-powered engines. [2] [3]
The loss of a spinner in flight has caused damage to aircraft as well as accidents. If the spinner becomes partially detached then damage to the engine cowling can result, along with a high degree of vibration that results in the need for an immediate engine shut-down and a forced landing. In cases where the spinner has completely departed the aircraft it often impacts the airframe or the windshield, with potentially catastrophic results. [2]
Because of their role as a rotating component and the risk of cracking and failure due to engine vibration, spinners require regular inspection, particularly of the back plate as well as the spinner dome itself. [2]
The first spinners were fitted to aircraft in the early 1910s. originally to reduce drag caused by the large-diameter rotary engines of that era, and also were prominent on World War I-era aircraft, like the Morane-Saulnier N French monoplane fighter, and for the Central Powers, Robert Thelen's Albatros D.I through D.V series of fighter designs. In some cases spinners were found to block airflow to the engine, causing overheating, [4] a problem later solved by careful aerodynamic design. [5]
An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air. It counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or, in a few cases, direct downward thrust from its engines. Common examples of aircraft include airplanes, helicopters, airships, gliders, paramotors, and hot air balloons.
A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple planes.
The BMW 801 was a powerful German 41.8-litre (2,550 cu in) air-cooled 14-cylinder-radial aircraft engine built by BMW and used in a number of German Luftwaffe aircraft of World War II. Production versions of the twin-row engine generated between 1,560 and 2,000 PS. It was the most produced radial engine of Germany in World War II with more than 61,000 built.
A T-tail is an empennage configuration in which the tailplane is mounted to the top of the fin. The arrangement looks like the capital letter T, hence the name. The T-tail differs from the standard configuration in which the tailplane is mounted to the fuselage at the base of the fin.
In aeronautics, a ducted fan is a thrust-generating mechanical fan or propeller mounted within a cylindrical duct or shroud. Other terms include ducted propeller or shrouded propeller. When used in vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) applications it is also known as a shrouded rotor.
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In aeronautical and naval engineering, pusher configuration is the term used to describe a drivetrain of air- or watercraft with its propulsion device(s) after its engine(s). This is in contrast to the more conventional tractor configuration, which places them in front.
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In aeronautics, air brakes or speed brakes are a type of flight control surface used on an aircraft to increase the drag on the aircraft. When extended into the airstream, air brakes cause an increase in the drag on the aircraft. When not in use, they conform to the local streamlined profile of the aircraft in order to help minimize drag.
An airplane or aeroplane, informally plane, is a fixed-wing aircraft that is propelled forward by thrust from a jet engine, propeller, or rocket engine. Airplanes come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and wing configurations. The broad spectrum of uses for airplanes includes recreation, transportation of goods and people, military, and research. Worldwide, commercial aviation transports more than four billion passengers annually on airliners and transports more than 200 billion tonne-kilometers of cargo annually, which is less than 1% of the world's cargo movement. Most airplanes are flown by a pilot on board the aircraft, but some are designed to be remotely or computer-controlled such as drones.
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In aeronautics, an aircraft propeller, also called an airscrew, converts rotary motion from an engine or other power source into a swirling slipstream which pushes the propeller forwards or backwards. It comprises a rotating power-driven hub, to which are attached several radial airfoil-section blades such that the whole assembly rotates about a longitudinal axis. The blade pitch may be fixed, manually variable to a few set positions, or of the automatically variable "constant-speed" type.
In aeronautics, a canard is a wing configuration in which a small forewing or foreplane is placed forward of the main wing of a fixed-wing aircraft or a weapon. The term "canard" may be used to describe the aircraft itself, the wing configuration, or the foreplane. Canard wings are also extensively used in guided missiles and smart bombs.
A subsonic aircraft is an aircraft with a maximum speed less than the speed of sound. The term technically describes an aircraft that flies below its critical Mach number, typically around Mach 0.8. All current civil aircraft, including airliners, helicopters, future passenger drones, personal air vehicles and airships, as well as many military types, are subsonic.
The Dunne D.5 was a British experimental aircraft built in 1910. A tailless swept-wing biplane, it was designed by J. W. Dunne and built by Short Brothers at Leysdown for his company, the Blair Atholl Aeroplane Syndicate Ltd. Like its military predecessors it was driven by twin pusher propellers, but it had a considerably more powerful engine.
The wing configuration of a fixed-wing aircraft is its arrangement of lifting and related surfaces.
A glider or sailplane is a type of glider aircraft used in the leisure activity and sport of gliding. This unpowered aircraft can use naturally occurring currents of rising air in the atmosphere to gain altitude. Sailplanes are aerodynamically streamlined and so can fly a significant distance forward for a small decrease in altitude.
During World War II, aviation firmly established itself as a critical component of modern warfare from the Battle of Britain in the early stages to the great aircraft carrier battles between American and Japanese Pacific fleets and the final delivery of nuclear weapons. The major combatants. Germany and Japan on the one side and Britain, the United States and the USSR on the other manufactured huge air forces which engaged in pitched battles both with each other and with the opposing ground forces. Bombing established itself as a major strategic force, and this was also the first war in which the aircraft carrier played a significant role.
