Airfoil Drag Lift 
Pilot Institute
JUNE 4, 2025
A tailless airplane is one where everything needed to fly, like lift, control, and stability, is built into the main wing. In level flight, the aircraft is adjusted so that the wingtips dont add lift. This setup makes the wing less efficient overall, but it can reduce drag, weight, and cost compared to using a separate tail.
Pilot Institute
MARCH 28, 2025
When air flows over the aircraft wing, the shape of the airfoil creates low pressure above the wing and relatively higher pressure below the wing. This is called lift. Wingtip vortices are a byproduct of lift. Once the wing stops producing lift, the vortices dissipate instantly. How Are Wingtip Vortices Formed?
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Pilot Institute
MARCH 13, 2025
Many explanations on websites, videos, and even some textbooks oversimplify or misrepresent the true mechanics of lift. In reality, lift generation involves both Bernoullis principle and Newtons third law working together. Read on to understand Bernoullis principle and how it relates to lift the right way.
Vintage Aviation News
DECEMBER 29, 2024
Davis, who had developed a new wing, whose airfoil had a lower drag co-efficiency than other wing designs of the time, and which had already been used on the company’s Model 31/XP4Y Corregidor flying boat. The Davis Wing allowed for higher speeds and added lift at relatively low angles of attack.
Vintage Aviation News
APRIL 1, 2025
Studying historical aircraft helps students understand the development of flight and learn from early engineers about problems of lift, propulsion, stability, and material constraints. Often touted as the first successful powered aircraft, the Wright Flyer (1903) clearly shows lift, propulsion, and control.
Flight Training Central
MAY 7, 2024
The term 'angle of attack' is defined as the angle between the airplane's longitudinal axis and that of the air striking the airfoil. Air traveling faster over the curved upper surface of an airfoil causes lower pressure on the top surface. The horizontal component of lift. The vertical component of lift.
Flying Magazine
MAY 30, 2025
That combination of requirements was incompatible with very thin wings, and in the early days of aviation it was widelythough not universallybelieved that thin birdlike airfoils were best. When engines were weak and it was hard to get into the air at all, multiple wings were an obvious way to add lift without making the airplane much bigger.
Expert insights. Personalized for you.
52 
Let's personalize your content