Usually planes are able to fly when air moves across the wings which generates lift. But how do fighter jets able to maintain lift while performing aerobatic maneuvers?

Question

Usually planes are able to fly when air moves across the wings which generates lift. But how do fighter jets able to maintain lift while performing aerobatic maneuvers?

In: 342

Answer 1

I’ll ELY15
I’m not an aerospace expert, but as a physicist (and teacher), my first thought is “what are you asking?” The term ‘lift’ likely has a specific meaning in the field which likely is subtly different from what that means to me intuitively, which may be yet more different from what you are asking.
To me, ‘lift’ implies a situation where the net force on the object points up(or at least ‘more up than down’) which causes an upward acceleration. In this case, the answer to how they “maintain lift” would be that dont.
If what you’re asking is more like how I would say “maintain altitude,” ie not fall out of the sky, the answer is a mix of that they actually kind of do (hey may fall a little bit but the amount fallen in time it takes to do the maneuver is small and safe) and what many others have explained: that they don’t fall (much) because of the immense forward thrust and consequent immense drag.
disclaimer: This is not ELI5, but I hope someone finds it helpful 🙂