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?
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. Originally flown under the historic schemes for All American and The Dragon and His Tail , it is now painted as Witchcraft.
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Vintage Aviation News
APRIL 18, 2025
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. NASA’s F-14 (tail number 991, Navy serial number 157991) in 1980, soon after its arrival at the Dryden Flight Research Center. View of the cockpit of NASA’s F-14, tail number 991.
Pilot Institute
JULY 11, 2025
Making the wing relatively flat on top with a blunter leading edge and more curvature on the bottom gives you a supercritical airfoil. The problem is that the tail itself might be in trouble. They couldn’t pull out because the tail wasn’t generating enough force in the high Mach regime. roughly) up to about Mach 5.0.
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. It was built as a test bed for a proposed interceptor that never materialized. The XF-92A was then used to test the delta-wing concept. Photo NACA/NASA
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. As seen from the aircrafts tail, the vortex rotates in the anti-clockwise direction on the right wingtip and the clockwise direction on the left wingtip. How Are Wingtip Vortices Formed?
Pilot Institute
APRIL 12, 2025
They are designed with a special shape called an airfoil, which encourages passing air to turn and deflect downward. This is why the typical airfoil shape has a curved top and a flat bottom, especially in slower-speed general aviation aircraft. Other Designs The tail rotor is not the only way to solve the torque reaction problem.
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