Independently deflectable control surfaces are located on the trailing
edge of the wing of a blended wing-body aircraft. The reconfiguration
control system of the present invention controls the deflection of each
control surface to optimize the spanwise lift distribution across the
wing for each of several flight conditions, e.g., cruise, pitch maneuver,
and high lift at low speed. The control surfaces are deflected and
reconfigured to their predetermined optimal positions when the aircraft
is in each of the aforementioned flight conditions. With respect to
cruise, the reconfiguration control system will maximize the lift to drag
ratio and keep the aircraft trimmed at a stable angle of attack. In a
pitch maneuver, the control surfaces are deflected to pitch the aircraft
and increase lift. Moreover, this increased lift has its spanwise center
of pressure shifted inboard relative to its location for cruise. This
inboard shifting reduces the increased bending moment about the
aircraft's x-axis occasioned by the increased pitch force acting normal
to the wing. To optimize high lift at low speed, during take-off and
landing for example, the control surfaces are reconfigured to increase
the local maximum coefficient of lift at stall-critical spanwise
locations while providing pitch trim with control surfaces that are not
stall critical.