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What Is Bernoulli’s Principle? A Simple Guide for Pilots

Pilot Institute

Airfoils use this principle, with faster airflow over the top creating lower pressure. Wing Camber Wing camber defines how much more curved the wings upper surface is compared to the lower surface. Engineers use Bernoullis principle to shape airfoils to optimize the pressure difference needed for efficient lift generation.

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Chord Line in Aviation? What It Is and Why It Is Important

Pilot Institute

In general, the chord line is used as an easy-to-understand reference when referring to the properties of a wing or airfoil. The Difference Between a Chord Line and a Camber Line The chord line is a straight line that crosses the leading and trailing edges of the airfoil. What Is the Chord Line in Aviation? And heres the thing.

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Tailless Aircraft: How Airplanes Fly Without a Tail

Pilot Institute

Use of Reflex Airfoils Ever notice how many tailless aircraft have wings that curve at the trailing edge? This type of design is a reflex airfoil. The reflexed shape of the airfoil usually causes a positive (nose-up) pitching moment coefficient at its aerodynamic center. Flying wings dont have tails or elevators.

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Mach Number Explained: What It Is and Why Pilots Use It

Pilot Institute

Making the wing relatively flat on top with a blunter leading edge and more curvature on the bottom gives you a supercritical airfoil. For most aircraft with highly cambered wings or thick profiles, airflow accelerates over the top of the wing. Even the wing cross-section can be designed to redirect shock waves.

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The Role of Newton’s Third Law in Aviation

Pilot Institute

They are designed with a special shape called an airfoil, which encourages passing air to turn and deflect downward. One is the upper wing surfaces curvature compared to the lower surface, called wing camber. High camber generally promotes more airflow deflection, thanks to something called Bernoullis Principle.

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The Most Misunderstood Aerodynamic Concepts

Flight Training Central

When he created his principle of differential pressure, he had no thoughts about its future application to the development of airfoils and lift production. With some imagination this looks a bit like the top of an airfoil. In the case of our airfoil, we’ll assume that the fluid is air and that the air is relatively still.

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Why Aircraft Sometimes Takeoff With More Flaps Than Usual

Simple Flying

Hinged panels at the wing’s trailing and leading edges transform a sleek airfoil into a low-speed lift sail. Increasing camber, flaps propel an airliner to lift off at lower speeds, trading a little drag for a lot of lift. One of the most influential cockpit levers on a jet’s take-off is the flap handle.