if an airplane wing is curved on top to create lower pressure to provide lift, how can some airplanes fly upside down?
In: 1
Stunt planes have symmetrical wings.
They still have an aerofoil (teardrop) shape but instead of relying on the shape itself to produce lift while flying in a straight line, the wing relies on angle of attack.
The wing is tilted up slightly into the wind creating the same effective as a normal wing. Lower air pressure on top and higher pressure underneath generates lift.
When flying upside down they merely point the plane down (towards the sky) to keep generating lift
One of the major downsides being this is inefficient as it generates a fair amount of drag reducing the planes top speed.
Jet fighters and the like can also fly upside down, but only briefly before they run into problems. The main issue is that they rely on gravity to help run fuel from the wings into the engines and pumps, so after 10-30 secs this becomes a real problem.
Aircraft designed to fly upside down have an airfoil that produces nearly as much lift in normal flight as it does inverted. It relies more on thrust and elevator input to climb in normal flight, whereas a ‘normal’ airplane could fly with very relatively little horsepower but a more efficient airfoil.
I’m other words, an aerobatic airplane has an airfoil that is much more symmetrical than is typical in most airplanes.
Because it’s not the shape of the wing that produces lift. The particular wing shape is chosen for efficiency and smooth flying.
The actual act of flying only requires one thing: pushing air down. Any wing can do that as long as it’s going fast enough
Because that’s only part of why they fly.
Plane wings push air down, the air pushes the planes up.
Curved wings are more efficient at this as they can pull some air from above the wing and deflect it down.
But simply having tilted wings can push it down. So flying upside down is just as possible but less efficient when the wings make the proper angle with the airstream.
Latest Answers