I think I understand how airplane wings create lift when taking off, but I can’t wrap my head around how they stay in the air once they reach cruising altitude.
My understanding of how wings work during takeoff is: by changing the wing’s angle of attack, air molecules under the wing are deflected down, in turn creating lift on the wing. And air molecules that go over the wing are not met with that resistance from the wing, so they move faster than the molecules underneath, creating a pressure difference which also helps generate lift.
But when the airplane reaches cruising altitude, the wings seem pretty much horizontal, so it seems the angle of attack is not nearly as large as it was during takeoff. So at that point how do the wings generate enough lift to stay in the air?
Thank you
Edit: I’m studying mechanical engineering and have taken a fluid mechanics class so I have a little bit of background knowledge, but am still having a hard time understanding this
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The idea about creating lift by deflecting air downwards remains exactly the same, just for steady level flight, just instead of creating enough lift to make the plane travel upwards it just needs enough lift to balance out with the plane’s weight.
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