Wing Loading – The total weight of the airplane divided by the planform area of the wing.
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Posted in Aircraft | Tagged Aerodynamics
Pressure Coefficient – The pressure coefficient is a non-dimensional form of the pressure. It is defined as the difference of the free stream and local static pressures all divided by the dynamic pressure.
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Posted in Aircraft | Tagged Aerodynamics
Q-Corner or Coffin Corner is a term used to describe operations at high altitudes where low indicated airspeeds yield high true airspeeds (MACH number) at high angles of attack. The high angle of attack results in flow separation which causes buffet. Turning maneuvers at these altitudes increase the angle of attack and result in stability [...]
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Posted in Aircraft | Tagged Aerodynamics, Aircraft
MACH -Named after Ernst Mach, a 19th century Austrian physicist, is the ratio of an aircraft’s true speed as compared to the local speed of sound at a given time or place. MACH number (MACH Speed) is a decimal number (M) representing the true airspeed (TAS) relationship to the local speed of sound (e.g., TAS [...]
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Posted in Aircraft | Tagged Aerodynamics, Aircraft, Airspeed, Systems
Drag Divergence is a phenomenon that occurs when an airfoil’s drag increases sharply and requires substantial increases in power (thrust) to produce further increases in speed. This is not to be confused with MACH crit. The drag increase is due to the unstable formation of shock waves that transform a large amount of energy into [...]
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Posted in Aircraft | Tagged Aerodynamics
Mean Aerodynamic Chord – MAC- In relation to the aerodynamics of a wing, the average length of the chord on tapered swept-back wings is known as the mean aerodynamic chord (MAC). Business jets and commercial transport airplanes have wings that are tapered and that are swept back, so the width of their wings is different along their entire length. The width is greatest where the wing meets the fuselage and progressively decreases toward the tip.
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Posted in Aircraft | Tagged Aerodynamics, Aircraft
Bernoulli’s Principle has a practical application in Aviation.Bernoulli’s Principle explains how the pressure of a moving fluid varies with its speed of motion. Bernoulli, a Swiss mathematician, explained how the pressure of a moving fluid (liquid or gas) varies with its speed of motion. It states that as the velocity of a moving fluid (liquid or gas) increases, the pressure within the fluid decreases
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Posted in Aircraft, Featured, Video | Tagged Aerodynamics, Aeronautical Science, FAA Pilot's Handbook
Magnus effect – The Magnus Effect is the lifting force produced when a rotating cylinder produces a pressure differential. This is the same effect that makes a baseball curve or a golf ball slice. When a rotating cylinder or ball is spinning in a fluid, it creates a boundary layer around itself, and the boundary layer [...]
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Posted in Aircraft, Featured, Video | Tagged Aerodynamics, Aeronautical Science, FAA Pilot's Handbook
V-speeds or Velocity-speeds are standard terms used to define airspeeds important or useful to the operation of aircraft The actual speeds represented by these designators are true airspeeds specific to a particular model of aircraft, and are expressed in terms of the aircraft’s indicated airspeed, so that pilots may use them directly, without having to [...]
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Posted in Aircraft | Tagged Aerodynamics, Aircraft, Flying
The span is the total length of the wing usually from one wing tip to another.
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Posted in Aircraft | Tagged Aerodynamics, Aircraft
