I have just flown from London to Sydney in the A380 (Emirates, very,very good too, particularly liked the bar area, very useful on the 14 hour slog DXB-SYD ! Incredibly quiet too, beginning to wonder if the engines had stopped when climb power was selected after T/O ! ) and was able to see the aileron operation which was rather interesting, particularly after this thread. As the the first stage of flaps were extended at the beginning of the approach, the outboard ailerons (which are each of 3 sections) drooped by about 10 degrees. On landing when the spoilers were raised for lift dumping (max weight on wheels, max brake effectiveness) the ailerons rose by about 25 degrees. As the spoilers were stowed after runway claarance, flaps went back to droop, then during taxi in as the flaps were retracted the ailerons went back to neutral, aligned with the outboard wing trailing edge section. FBW working ! From the upper deck, inboard seat, I couldn't see if the A380 was fitted with high speed, inboard ailerons as are Boeings.

It was interesting to see that the three sections of aileron moved at quite different speeds (I guess they are powered from different hyd, systems.) when they were "active" during the approach but were perfectly aligned when no control input was being made.

Proof, indeed, of how aileron angle can be used to vary lift to obtain best performance advantage.

Regards,

David.