I'm a beginner flight student, but like many here, I've been interested in aviation for as long as I can remember (I'm 19 now) and consider myself fairly savvy (for someone without a pilot's license yet) when it comes to flight.
That said, I've got an admittedly dumb question regarding exactly how the control surfaces work to affect roll, pitch, and yaw.
I've always understood the control surfaces to work in the context of Newton's Third Law of Motion (For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction yadda yadda yadda...). So for example, if the elevator is deflected downward, the air flowing under the horizontal stabilizer is deflected slightly downward when it hits the elevator. The downward deflected air particles thus exert an opposite force on the horizontal stabilizer, pushing it up, and therefore pitching the nose down.
Now, the textbook (
The Pilot's Manual 2: Ground School) I recently starting reading in preperation for starting my flying lessons offered a somewhat different explanation for how the control surfaces change roll, pitch, and yaw. It basically said that the control surfaces change the shape of an airfoil to alter the lift force of that particular airfoil. So for example, if the elevator is deflected downward, the camber of the airfoil (horizontal stabilizer) is increased, thus it produces more lift and raises the rear of the aircraft, therefore pitching the nose down.
So which explanation is (more) correct? They both
seem logical to me and my limited aerodynamic knowledge. Is it possible that neither explanation is totally wrong?
If the way I've always understood it is totally wrong, then I've been severely misinformed for a long time.
Thanks for any help!