The tail houses both the vertical and horizontal stabilizers. They are fixed pieces which work to keep the aircraft stable in the air. The vertical stabilizer is responsible for ensuring the nose of the plane from moving side to side. This movement is called yaw.Additional information can be found at http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111903374004576582411580023254.html. The horizontal stabilizer is responsible for the up and down movement of the nose of an aircraft. This movement is called the pitch. Too much movement in any of these directions can have a detrimental effect on any aircraft.

The Wright Brothers created their first aircraft with the horizontal stabilizer in front of the wings. This was, of course, effective as evidenced by their successful flight. When the horizontal stabilizer is located in front of the wings it is called a canard. Canard is a French word that means “duck.’

Stabilizers are an integral part of an airplane that helps to keep the craft stable when in the air. Without horizontal and vertical stabilizers, a plane would have no control over the nose of the craft which would result in a crash.

A slat is responsible for increasing or decreasing the lift of a plane. They are movable parts located on the front of each wing and are attached with a metal hinge which allows for free movement.Additional information can be found at http://stevebeckow.com/2011/09/lumir-g-janku-ancient-aircraft/. The flaps are located on the rear of each wing and are attached in the same manner. The flaps also help control lift of the plane. Both of these parts together affect drag as well. These moveable parts are used to get the plane off the ground and to lower the plane and then keep it on the ground when landing.

Ailerons are used to bank, or turn, the airplane. They are connected to the lateral edge of the wing by hinges. Normally you see one aileron pointed downward and the other pointed upward to keep the plane flying in a straight and level direction.

The spoiler is one more part that-s located on the wing of aircraft. The spoiler is between the slat and flap and affects lift. Spoilers are used to turn the aircraft just as ailerons are but spoilers act faster than ailerons. The trade off is when spoilers are used to turn the craft, the plane loses altitude.

The events of September 11, 2001 had an extremely pronounced impact on many things, airline cockpit design and safety implementations were greatly effected as well. The cockpits in most airlines have now been fortified in such manner that breaking into them using traditional means would be impossible.

While an airline’s cockpit may look like an endless sea of gauges and switches to most, to a pilot every single knob and switch serves an extremely valuable purpose in properly piloting an airliner. Many of the modern instruments in an airliner cockpit have been calibrated in finely tuned ways, more so than was possible even as little as 20 years ago.

In an effort to reduce the dependency of the flight crew on one set of controls and flight information, there is often a second set of controls in a lesser used space of the cockpit. This redundancy is in place in case the first set fails.More info here: Cockpit Chronicles: A ‘new’ pilot’s first trip on the line

The P-51 served in the European and Pacific theatres of war and finished the campaign as B-29 escorts to Japan. The Mustang served in Korea, almost eliminating the North Korean Yak’s until MiG 15′s arrived. Today there are still many P-51′s flying and the distinctive sound of the Merlin is still heard as the silver fighters amaze another generation.