Airfoil Pilot Tail 
Pilot Institute
JUNE 4, 2025
Have you ever seen an airplane with no tail and no vertical fin, but with just a sleek wing? They prove that with the right aerodynamic tricks, you dont need a tail to fly. A tailless aircraft may still have a fuselage and a vertical tail (fin and rudder). How does the tail do this? Ever wondered how it stays balanced?
Pilot Institute
JULY 11, 2025
Why do jet pilots talk about speed in terms of Mach number? Why don’t they use Indicated Airspeed just like the pilots who fly slower aircraft? Pilots switch to Mach number at high altitudes to avoid inaccuracies in IAS due to compressibility effects. And why should pilots be wary of Mach 1? Here’s why. Here’s why.
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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. Bill Wheatley, Consolidated’s Chief Test Pilot, co-pilot George Newman, and flight engineers Jack Kline and Bob Keith.
Pilot Institute
MARCH 28, 2025
Pilots avoid vortices by maintaining safe separation and adjusting flight paths. 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. Heavier, slower aircraft in clean configuration produce the most intense vortices.
Vintage Aviation News
APRIL 18, 2025
Initially flown by NASA test pilots, including Einar Enevoldson, the aircraft was later handed over to Grumman and Navy test pilots from Naval Air Station Patuxent River. This photo shows NASA’s F-14 (NASA tail number 991; Navy serial number 157991) flying over Rogers Dry Lake, accompanied by a Navy F-14.
Vintage Aviation News
APRIL 1, 2025
The delta wing’s large area (425 square feet), thin airfoil cross section, low weight, and structural strength made a great combination for a supersonic aircraft. The pilot also reported that the aircraft was sluggish and underpowered. It was built as a test bed for a proposed interceptor that never materialized.
Plane and Pilot
APRIL 14, 2025
The NXT was designed using computer-based computational fluid dynamics (CFD), NASA-derived airfoils, and was tested in the Lockheed wind tunnel to refine the aerodynamics. Just enough tail to do the job. Rolls-Royce ACCEL/NXT NEXT Jon Sharp retired from air racing in 2011 as the winningest pilot in the sports history.
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