Aircraft are man-made vehicles intended to operate while flying through Earth's atmosphere.
All types of flying machines, both heavier-than-air and lighter-than-air, vehicles are included such as:
- Airplanes
- Blimps
- Helicopters
- Balloons
Questions tagged [aircraft]
307 questions
295
votes
17 answers
What really allows airplanes to fly?
What aerodynamic effects actually contribute to producing the lift on an airplane?
I know there's a common belief that lift comes from the Bernoulli effect, where air moving over the wings is at reduced pressure because it's forced to travel further…
David Z
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59
votes
7 answers
Is the weight of the aircraft flying in the sky transferred to the ground?
Is the weight of the aircraft flying in the sky transferred to the ground? Is the weight of people swimming in the pool also transferred to the ground? How can we prove it?
enbin
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57
votes
4 answers
Why are aerodynamic / streamlined shapes always stumpy at the front?
I'm building an autonomous boat, to which I now add a keel below it with a weight at the bottom. I was wondering about the shape that weight should get. Most of the time aerodynamic shapes take some shape like this:
The usual explanation is that…
kramer65
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47
votes
2 answers
How can airplanes fly upside down?
I've read many times, including here on this very site that the commonly known explanation of flight is wrong, and that airplanes can fly because the shape of their wings deflects air down. This makes sense, but as far as I can tell it doesn't…
Javier
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35
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16 answers
What does a wing do that an engine can't?
This isn't a question of how a wing works -- vortex flow, Bernoulli's principle, all of that jazz. Instead, it's a question of why we need a wing at all. A wing produces lift, but why is that necessary?
I got to this by thinking of an airplane at a…
yshavit
- 472
27
votes
4 answers
Does the rotation of the earth dramatically affect airplane flight time?
Say I'm flying from Sydney, to Los Angeles (S2LA), back to Sydney (LA2S).
During S2LA, travelling with the rotation of the earth, would the flight time be longer than LA2S on account of Los Angeles turning/moving away from our position?
Or, in the…
Ben
- 1,001
25
votes
12 answers
Why do spacecrafts take off with rockets instead of just ascending like an aircraft until they reach space?
I guess it's not a very educated question, but I never quite understood why spacecrafts have to shoot up and can't just reach space by simply continuing an upwards ascent like an airplane.
clueless
- 251
24
votes
7 answers
Why planes have propellers in front but watercraft have them behind?
Why do propeller airplanes mostly have their propellers in front (of the fuselage or wings) while ships and boats mostly have them at the back?
I realize that there are aircraft with pusher configurations but they are relatively rare.
Gnubie
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22
votes
6 answers
Is speed of propeller-driven airplane limited by the speed of sound?
Mine line of thoughts goes like this:
A propeller is effectively pushing itself away from molecules of air.
The best any propeller can do is to create total vacuum in the front of itself.
The maximum suction pressure of vacuum you can get is…
daniel.sedlacek
- 1,968
20
votes
7 answers
Why aren't helicopter blades tapered?
From my understanding helicopter blades work similar to a planes wings, ie the air going over is faster due to the shape. So my question is why then are the blades rectangular? ie they are the same width the whole length of the blade? I feel like it…
Aequitas
- 973
20
votes
2 answers
Why can't supersonic planes "just fly higher" to go faster while maintaining cost?
First post to this site, and I've got at most a high school background in physics - I really appreciate any answer, but I may not be able to follow you if you're too advanced.
I suppose this goes for regular planes too, but I'm especially interested…
jdowdell
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20
votes
8 answers
How much effect does the Bernoulli effect have on lift?
I understand that the Bernoulli effect is a flawed explanation for the cause of lift, and does not cause much at all, but how much?
Is there any experimental data on the force caused by the Bernoulli effect? Maybe implicitly through data of the…
Meow
- 1,596
20
votes
4 answers
Why do jet engines sound louder on the ground than inside the aircraft?
Everyone is familiar with the whirring sound of jet engines when seeing an aircraft taking off from a nearby airport. It is distinctly very loud on the ground and one can hear it even when the airplane is miles away.
Although one can hear a 'white…
kedarps
- 321
19
votes
1 answer
Why is an airfoil shaped like a teardrop?
I understand the reason airfoils are cambered on the top: to create lift. But one would assume this would result in aircraft wings having a semicircle-shaped design. Why is the cross-section of an airfoil instead more reminiscent of a teardrop on…
James Davis
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18
votes
3 answers
What causes an aircraft to roll when rudder is applied
When continuous rudder is applied in a typical light aircraft during straight and level flight at "normal" flying speeds and altitudes, the primary effect is that the aircraft will yaw to the left - so it's flying "sideways" to some extent.
It is…
Johan
- 281