How to Use aileron in a Sentence

aileron

noun
  • There is an entry point that left a small round hole in one side of the aileron as well as damage at the likely exit point on the other side.
    — Kris Van Cleave, CBS News, 24 Feb. 2026
  • The goal of the X-65 is to study how to do away with things like rudders, flaps, ailerons and other control surfaces.
    — New Atlas, 25 Nov. 2025
  • The program wants to understand how a plane performs without flaps, rudders, ailerons, or other moving surfaces that normally control motion.
    — Sujita Sinha, Interesting Engineering, 26 Nov. 2025
  • Soon after, as aircraft became heavier, engineers switched to stiff wings controlled by rigid flaps and ailerons, and morphing these surfaces proved impractical.
    — IEEE Spectrum, 31 Aug. 2016
  • Their job is to program the movable parts on an airplane’s tail and wings—the rudder, elevators, and nearly two dozen ailerons, flaperons, and spoilers—to smooth out its flight automatically when turbulence hits.
    — Burkhard Bilger, New Yorker, 2 Mar. 2026
  • Intended for builders ages 8 and up, the set includes 333 pieces that can be made into a model of a bush plane, featuring realistic mechanisms like a spinning propeller and adjustable ailerons.
    — Mia Huelsbeck, PEOPLE, 23 May 2026
  • Though some new airliners allow pilots to make minute adjustments to ailerons and flaps to reduce drag while cruising, pilots still can’t truly tailor the aerodynamic performance of traditional wings in response to warmer temperatures, higher altitudes, or stronger wind speeds.
    — IEEE Spectrum, 31 Aug. 2016

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'aileron.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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