If the right wing fell off an aircraft would it spin 2 the left because of the weight or spin right due 2 lift

Answer 1

There are four forces acting on a powered aircraft in flight: thrust, drag, lift, and gravity. In a normal level flight at a constant speed, drag=thrust and lift=gravity.

If the right wing were to fall off, hypothetically speaking, it would initially roll to the right due to the loss of lift on the right. Then the left wing and tail would help to stabilize the plane in a left side high/tail high attitude as gravity very quickly overcomes the lift capabilities of the one remaining wing and plummet to earth. The first thing to hit the ground would be the right side of the nose, provided the plane didn't break up in mid air.

The plane can not spin to the left because the left wing does not have any "weight" - it is only producing lift and drag in flight. The center of lift and the lateral center of gravity are so far apart that it would have to roll to the right. It would not spin, as spinning is a completely different aeronautical phenomenen caused by one wing stalling.

Any plane with the engines on the wings, including the vast majority of commercial jets, would initially yaw to the right as well due to the resulting dissymmetry of thrust, but that would be a secondary result to the the gravity overcoming the lift.

Fortunately wings do not fall off aircraft and I sure don't worry about it!

A question for "getz rockzz" - I'd sure like to hear more details on your comments about planes landing safely after losing a wing. There are some examples of military planes landing safely with bullet holes and parts of wings missing, but I have never heard of an entire wing - "A grade pilot" or not!.

EDIT 1: Thanks sc0tt.rm for the info on the F-15D. That's an amazing story. There had to be a little bit of lift on the right side from a combination of the twin tails, the engine nacelle, and the bit of a wing stub left over after the collision. That pilot must have kissed the ground!

Answer 2

Thats an intresting question actually. I bin thinkin about it and i think it would depend what phase of flight the aircraft is in. If its lifting off, then the aeroplane would be creating lift, so it would spin to the right. If its landing then its lsing height so gravity has a greater factor than lift, so it would spin to the left. However if its maintaining height i.e. all lift and gravity are equal then i don't really know. i think it would spin left as the aerodynamics of the plane would have been destroyed by the wing being removed.
However to be a killjoy, if the right wing fell of the aircraft, likelyhood is that the aircraft would break up b4 you get your answer. The wings form a structural part of the aircraft and if one fell of it really would put a lot of force on all other parts.

Answer 3

The moment the lift from the right wing is gone, the lift of the left wing would make it roll right, then it becomes a free for all with parts of the airplane shearing off left and right. There are three accidents that come to mind: The first is American Flight 191 taking off from Chicago. The DC-10 left engine fell off on take off taking with it all the hydraulics for the leading edge lift devices, as opposed to popular belief the DC-10 rolled left, not yawed, and this is at full takeoff power. The wing itself did not fall off, but the stall of the wing simulates pretty clearly the loss of the wing. The second is of a Spitz loosing its two right wings in an airshow in Ohio and it started rolling right before it hit the ground. Finally a video from the thirties that shows a GeeBee (a small plane with short stubby wings and a huge engine made for flying fast). It too lost a wing about two hundred feet of the ground, and then rolled towards the lost wing, I think it was the right wing. These three accidents are different in the way that one has three engines, one has two wings per side and the other is a single engine, single wing plane. It rolls... that is it...

Answer 4

Small Single Engine Aircraft:
It will nose dive to the right due to no lift from right wing.

Twin Engine Aircraft:
It will start spinning to the right because of the weight of the engine, if the right wing is unable to sustain the lift unbalance.

There have been instances when aircraft with wing tips damaged have flown well, even wings riddled with bullets were able to sustain the flight...but there is a lot of difference in Commercial and Fighter aircrafts. Fighter aircrafts can sustain the flights as compared to a missile...speed is vey high but commercial aircrafts cannot sustain flights like this.

Answer 5

It would spin to the left because of drag. Lift vs. Drag determines the shape of an aircrafts wing. Unfortunately once the other wing is gone it's unlikely that the one wing will produce any appreciable lift. drag on the remaining wing would pull it to the left. (But at this point it's a moot point because no airplane has ever landed like that) During WWII bombers did successfully land with critical damage in the wings and tails but not missing entire structures.

Answer 6

It would definitely ROLL to the right due to the left wing producing lift. As far as eventually going into a spin, it would depend on lots of factors. Engine placement, tail configuration, etc...

Here is a famous single wing landing by an Israeli F-15. Although it was acting more like a rocket, then a plane.

http://kg.typepad.com/banter/2005/11/f15_lands_with_.html

Answer 7

Aircraft would roll 90 - 100 degrees right, nose would yaw and fall towards the vertical, then the aircraft would rotate clockwise around its lateral axis until the other wing sheared off due to excessive loads imposed on its structure by the airflow, or the aircraft made a very deep, but relatively small hole in the ground with a wing trench alongside. o---

Answer 8

It would roll to the right (lift from the remaining left wing), yaw to the left (drag from the remaining left wing) and pitch down (total lift now less than with both wings). In some high performance aircraft (military jets) full left rudder, back pressure on stick and left pressure on stick might keep the plane in flight.

Answer 9

If it completely fell off, the right side would drop and it would tumble out of the sky. You're going to need at least some wing on the right side to have it spin. If a third of the right wing fell off, it would spiral downwards turning to the right.

Answer 10

Spin to the right...extreme nose down...
Very quickly the spin would devolve into a pretty much straight down fall with the left wing up in air...fusalage down.
Wouldn't want to be there..and NO..no pilot in the world..not even me could bring'er home without a right wing!