Why does the back of the wing on a commercial airliner extend out during landing procedures? What effect does it have on the aircraft?

Question

Why does the back of the wing on a commercial airliner extend out during landing procedures? What effect does it have on the aircraft?

In: Engineering

Answer 1

Put your hand out the car window when your dad’s driving 55. First, make it flat, even with the ground. Then slowly turn your hand up and down. What flaps do is kind of make it so the wind pushes your hand up more. Even when your dad slows down to 45, your hand still gets pushed up. And maybe even down to 35. So what flaps do is make it so the wind pushes the plane up even when the plane is going slower like when it’s landing and lets it have more control at those speeds too.