How do planes fly so high in a thin atmosphere if they need lots of air to generate lift?

Question

How do planes fly so high in a thin atmosphere if they need lots of air to generate lift?

In: 0

Answer 1

Speed mostly. As you go up in altitude, the air gets less dense. In turn the plane moves faster through the air to generate lift. In the aviation world this is the difference between indicated airspeed and true airspeed.

Not that its very ELI5 but if you look at the formula for lift, velocity is squared. It is one of the biggest factors to creating lift for a plane. Wing area/design would be the next big factor.