Theleading-edge droop flap is a device on theleading edge of aircraft wings designed to improve airflow at high angles of attack. The droop flap is similar to theleading-edge slat and theKrueger flap, but with the difference that the entire leading edge section rotates downwards, whereas the slat and Krueger flap are panels which move away from the wing leading edge when it is deployed.[1]
A leading-edge droop flap comprises the rounded front part of a wing, in movable form. TheAirbus A380 has droop flaps between the fuselage and each inboard engine, at the leading edge of the thickest part of each wing.[1][2] Early variants of theHawker Siddeley Trident had two droop flaps on the outboard of each wing and aKrueger flap on the section closest to the fuselage.[3]
Droop flaps function with other high-lift devices on an aircraft to increase thecamber of the wing and reduce thestalling speed. On the Airbus A380, the first stage of lift device selection deploys the droop flaps (calleddroop noses by Airbus) and leading-edge slats located further out on the wing; with the mainflaps starting to extend when the second stage is selected. The variable sections on the A380 may be drooped to a position 22 or 25 degrees lower than their stowed position.[2] Another function of droop flaps on the A380 is to change thestall characteristics of the wing.[4] The A380's designers found that the airflow between the engines wasseparating from the wing surface prior to the airflow between the engine and the fuselage, an undesirable characteristic. Adding droop between the engine and the fuselage fixed the problem; whereas using a leading-edge slat would not have done so because of the gap (or slot) created between a slat and the wing when a slat is deployed.[4]