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What Type of Wing to Use for a RC Canard Airplane?

A canard plane is a form of fixed-wing aircraft that features a pair of small wings in the forward position with a pair of larger ones in the back. The rear wing on either side is known as the main wing while the forward wing is actually called the canard, which is the French word for "duck." This format also applies to radio-controlled, or RC, aircraft.

Canard Wing
- By definition any fixed-wing aircraft with a set of smaller front wings, from the Wright Flyer, the very first plane to ever fly in 1903, to the Saab 3 Viggen, a Swedish fighter jet retired in 2005, is called a canard. The smaller, canard wings in the front perform the role played by the horizontal stabilizers typically positioned on a plane's tail. The plane's center of gravity is then placed near the front of the main wings in the rear. On RC aircraft, the canard wings typically can also actuate in the same manner as wing flaps, so that the canard wings can affect the elevation of the aircraft.
Wing Bottoms
- Typically wings come in three side shapes: flat-bottomed, semi-symmetrical and symmetrical. Flat-bottomed wings include a contoured top side, with a steep leading edge and sloping back edge, and a completely flat underside. Semi-symmetrical wings have a slightly rounded front edge, flat bottom and flat rear side. Symmetrical wings have the same arc of slope on the top and bottom to create a less resistant edge. For beginning RC fliers the flat-bottom wings provide the most control by restricting airflow. More experienced fliers should choose a symmetrical wing to minimize drag under the wing.
Wing Shape
- Canard wings typically fall into the same basic categories as main wings. Swept wings uses a quadrilateral design with the rear of the outer end placed slightly behind the rear edge at the wing's base. Delta wings have a triangular shape. Straight wings have a slight narrowing toward the outer ends, but include a considerably more boxy shape. In most radio-controlled aircraft, which obviously don't have the same power or control as full-sized, manual aircraft, straight wings are used in the canard position because they can maximize stability.
Wing Position
- Wing position refers to the height of the wings on the aircraft body. Wings placed completely above the body are called parasol while the other positions, high, mid and low, refer to the mounting of the wing on the body. Typically canard wings are placed on a different plane than the main wings, allowing them to function as horizontal stabilizes. Those canard wings which begin on the same mounting level as the main wings may extend upward away from the body. When mounting canard wings to an RC aircraft, place them slightly higher or lower than the main wings to increase stability during flight.

Aviation