after flying several times the fear is still there...i want in simple explanation how a plane stays in the air. i think that will ease my fears a little bit.
2006-11-13 06:19:22 · 9 answers · asked by Anonymous in Cars & Transportation ➔ Aircraft
The air is accelerated over the top of the wings and this creates a vacuum which holds the wings (and the aircraft) up. The air under the wing is usually a vacuum too but much smaller.
The process of creating this vacuum requires forward motion which creates drag which tends to slow the aircraft down. The engines produce thrust by accelerating an air mass reaward, creating a low pressure area in front and high pressure area behind the aircraft.
If the engines lose power, the aircraft can still maintain lift by decending and using gravity to overcome drag. This has happened a couple of times on airliners and all passengers survived and the aircraft are still flying today.
The only airliner that has used the vortex effect for lift, described above, was the Concorde when it flew very slow for takeoff and landing. All aircraft create vortexes, but most don't use them to produce lift.
2006-11-13 07:45:16 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 1⤋
The lift provided by the wings is the result of what is known as the Bernoulli (sp?) principle. When the air has to pass over the top of the wing, it travels farther than the air passing under the wing. This causes the air on top to have a lower pressure than the air on the bottom, lifting the wings up along with the rest of the plane. It is amazing that something as thin as air can generate enough pressure to lift something as heavy as an airliner. A helicopter has the wing shape built into the overhead rotor so that as the rotor spins on top of the craft, it creates lift using the same principle as the wings of a plane.
2006-11-13 06:31:47 · answer #2 · answered by rac 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
It is simple. It has to do with presure change. When air travels over a surface, it creates a low presure zone. Air from a high presure zone will rush in to fill the low presure zone. The way the wings in airplanes are designed (curved on top and streight on bottom), it makes the air go over the top a little bit faster then air going on the bottom. Thus, a low presure zone is created over the top of the wing and the high presure under the wing will push the wing up.
If you take a piece of paper and blow across the top, the paper will float up. The wing does the exact same thing.
PC
2006-11-13 15:38:29 · answer #3 · answered by peter c 1 · 2⤊ 0⤋
The engines push air back, causing the plane to go forward. The shape of the wing causes more air to pass under it than over it, causing lift.
I have flown at least 50 times, maybe 100 times and I'm still here. Haven't even had the slightest excitement about a possible crash. No doubt you've heard that statistically, it is the safest way to travel. Would it help if I told you that a plane has all kinds of redundancy built in. Redundancy means that shoudl some part or system fail, there is an back-up part or system to take over,
You need not worry about the plane going down. There are countless people such as entertainers, pilots, etc. who log hundreds of thousands of miles in the air year after year.
Next time you fly, you may want to ask a hostess if you can go into the cockpit, although I'm not sure if they still allow such visits considering the current state of affairs.
2006-11-13 06:24:24 · answer #4 · answered by vinny_the_hack 5 · 0⤊ 3⤋
Hey peter c, what about planes with fully symetrical wings that are the same on the top as they are on the bottom like the Edge 540 or Extra 300 or a fighter jet such as the F-15?
2006-11-13 16:26:10 · answer #5 · answered by barfoeng 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
planes stay in the air because of the lift created by the wings, the engines do most of the work in the air but the wings created lift to get it off then ground and keep it off the ground.
2006-11-13 06:22:12 · answer #6 · answered by zackattack_1988 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
While the Bernoulli effect is often attributed to the concept of flight, the vortex effect is actually a more accurate description. If you hold your hand out of a moving car window, you will feel the air push against the palm of your hand. By angling it slightly upward, the air will push your hand upward. An airplane wing works in precisely the same manner.
2006-11-13 06:26:39 · answer #7 · answered by hallmanjj 4 · 3⤊ 3⤋
the shape of the wing creates lift, by having higher pressure under it an low pressure above it :)
2006-11-13 06:23:37 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
lift thrust and drag
2006-11-13 07:53:47 · answer #9 · answered by vwj73 3 · 1⤊ 1⤋