Pilot Institute

JULY 11, 2025

Lift, drag, and handling correlate well with IAS in the lower atmosphere. This type of wing redirects the shockwaves further aft on the wing, reducing drag. This is partly due to the steep rise in drag nearing M cr. on dry thrust alone. Indicated airspeed works reasonably well to estimate how the aircraft “feels” the air.

True Airspeed

Professional Pilot

JULY 7, 2025

However, with no room to navigate up the steep glacial valley, the pilots finessed the airplane over the hurdle with no more than 200 ft of clearance. Every pilot knows that aircraft fly because the forces of lift and thrust balance or exceed the weight and drag countering them.

Density Altitude

Pilot Institute

FEBRUARY 20, 2025

Or how do modern airplanes reduce dangerous effects like aileron flutter or adverse yaw? Unstable aircraft designs are better suited for high-maneuverability aircraft like aerobatic stunt airplanes or military fighters. The problem is that the aileron can only be deflected to a point after which the drag becomes significant.

Aileron

Pilot Institute

NOVEMBER 2, 2024

When the aircraft is in a high-drag configuration, a stall at a low altitude can be quite dangerous. We practice power-off stalls to help us identify the signs of a stall and the characteristics of your airplane when it stalls. Landing flaps add a lot of drag; removing this notch will help the aircraft accelerate quickly.

Descent

WayMan

MAY 25, 2025

The Main Parts of an Airplane While aircraft come in many designs and sizes, they all share several core components. Cockpit: Where Control Happens Cockpit, also known as the flight deck , is the nerve center of the airplane. The engine is what provides the thrust needed to move the aircraft forward.

Lift

Pilot Institute

APRIL 12, 2025

This principle is fundamental in generating lift, thrust, and maneuverability, allowing aircraft to fly. Application of Newton’s Third Law in Aviation When we talk about airplanes, we focus primarily on two forces: Lift (how the aircraft stays aloft). Thrust (how it moves forward). That force is called thrust.

Torque

Pilot Institute

NOVEMBER 16, 2024

If you dream of flying small airplanes on weekends or piloting commercial airliners with hundreds of passengers, you need certain pilot licenses to reach your aviation goals. During training, you’ll learn about Newton’s laws of motion, Bernoulli’s principle, and aerodynamic forces, including lift, thrust, and drag.

Pilot

Pilot Institute

FEBRUARY 15, 2025

Calm down and follow these steps: Apply maximum thrust immediately. Keep wings level to prevent unnecessary drag or instability. What do you do? Your top priority is to regain and maintain airspeed. Maintain pitch attitude based on wind shear escape guidance. Dont lower the nose! Avoid abrupt maneuvers. Be ready for a go-around.

Wind Shear

Aerotime

MARCH 27, 2025

Inside the aircraft were two rocket propellant tanks, twelve nitrogen spheres for fuel and cabin pressurization, the pilots pressurized cockpit, three pressure regulators, a retractable landing gear, the wing spar structure, a 6.000-pound-thrust rocket engine, and more than five hundred pounds of special flight-test instrumentation.

Pilot

Flying Magazine

JUNE 2, 2025

Concorde was a beautiful airplane, and it remains the object of much nostalgic admiration, but the world did not hurry to replace it. Now that ban, whose obtuse wording would apply even to a perfectly silent supersonic airplane if there were such a thing, is under new scrutiny, and NASA is studying ways of making sonic booms less annoying.

Drag

Pilot Institute

JUNE 12, 2025

A variable-sweep wing, also called a “swing wing,” is a type of airplane wing that can change its angle while flying. As you reach high speeds, especially near or above the speed of sound, you can then sweep the wings back to reduce drag. They delay the formation of shock waves that cause wave drag.

Weight-Shift-Control

Air Facts

JULY 30, 2025

(Mis)Adventures in the Birdbath Air Facts Journal When you operate and hangar an airplane over and near a body of salt water, you have to be concerned about the corrosion inherent to that environment. It helps to frequently wash your bird to keep corrosion from adversely affecting not only its appearance, but also its performance.

Runway

Flight Training Central

AUGUST 21, 2024

During your flight training, you’ll learn all about the 4 forces acting on the airplane in flight, including lift, thrust, weight and drag. This week’s tip takes a closer look at the aerodynamic forces that cause the rearward force of drag, including a breakdown of parasite vs. induced drag.

Drag

Flight Training Central

MAY 7, 2024

As much as it seems sometimes that airplanes fly by magic, it’s important for every pilot to understand at least the basic fundamentals of aerodynamics. The term 'angle of attack' is defined as the angle between the airplane's longitudinal axis and that of the air striking the airfoil. What force makes an airplane turn?

Longitudinal Axis

Flight Training Central

MAY 6, 2024

Low wing airplanes were designed by the very devil himself. You don’t have to hang around airports, airplanes or pilots very long until someone will crank up the high wing versus low wing debate. You don’t have to hang around airports, airplanes or pilots very long until someone will crank up the high wing versus low wing debate.

Drag

Northstar VFR

JANUARY 8, 2024

By Josh Page, CFI Whenever I’m in an airplane as a passenger or a pilot , I still marvel that this heavy machine can get off the ground, soar through the sky, and land at my destination. Understanding these four forces of flight will help you know how your airplane can actually take off and fly. Thrust Thrust is our forward motion.

Drag

Northstar VFR

JULY 21, 2024

The airplane rudder is one of the most misunderstood of the primary flight controls. The yaw of the airplane rotates around its vertical axis. The rudder is a movable flight control which is mounted on the trailing edge of the vertical stabilizer on the back of the airplane. The pilot controls the throttle to create thrust.

Rudder

Pilot's Life Blog

MARCH 15, 2024

Learn the basic structure of an airplane while in flight school at Leopard Aviation. From the navigation display to the wing structure, understanding all segments of an airplane is crucial in the aviation industry. This long, metal tube connects all the main components of an airplane.

Horizontal Stabilizer

Learn to Fly

JULY 11, 2024

An airplane will, however, always stall at the same angle of attack, called the critical angle of attack. Additionally, these devices can give a visual rendering of the energy management state of the airplane. This happens regardless of weight, bank angle, temperature, density altitude, or center of gravity.

Airfoil

Pilot Institute

MARCH 29, 2024

Thrust : The force generated by the engine that propels the aircraft forward. Drag : The aerodynamic force opposing the aircraft’s forward motion. This increases lift but comes at the cost of increased induced drag. Pilots must counteract the additional drag with more thrust to maintain altitude.

Lift

Vintage Aviation News

SEPTEMBER 29, 2024

However, there was still a gap in urban travel since airplanes needed long runways, and helicopters, while versatile, were slow and limited in range. The search for an aircraft that could take off and land anywhere like a helicopter, but could fly fast and far like a airplane was undertaken.

Runway

Pilot's Life Blog

DECEMBER 20, 2024

Aerodynamics and Flight Theory : Youll learn the basic principles behind flight, including the four forces: lift, thrust, drag, and weight. Youll also dive into concepts like stall recovery, climb performance, and how airplanes stay in the air. Aerodynamics and Flight Theory : This is the cornerstone of aviation education.

Pilot

Jetwhine

JANUARY 17, 2024

However, this airplane is also designed with systems simple enough—and handling qualities docile enough—to allow no-jet-time aviators to confidently solo in as little as 15 hours. ” The 3,800-pound-thrust Ukrainian-built AI25-TL engine needs an air-assisted start provided by the onboard Sapphire APU. Yeah, right, Maverick!

Knot

Plane and Pilot

JANUARY 7, 2025

All of which makes picking 10 airplanes for your fly-before-you-die list more than just a bit subjective. Meanwhile, Marc Cook, Plane & Pilot editor in chief, has 43 years in the left seat and had the good fortune to work a decade for AOPA and fly a bunch of interesting airplanes. T-6’s performat EAA AirVenture Oshkosh.

Airplanes

Air Facts

JULY 22, 2024

One was at the controls of an airplane alongside a CFI, and was preceded by flight planning and a preflight inspection. The Four Forces of Flight (Lift, Thrust, Drag & Gravity) obey Newton’s Three Laws of Motion. The kids learned that the precision required to fabricate airplane parts was on par with knee surgery.

Lift

Plane and Pilot

OCTOBER 9, 2024

We learn all about aerodynamics, thrust, drag, lift, and gravity, study flight manuals, emergency procedures, and FARs, take oral exams and check rides, and constantly review everything we can find about flying. But to an even greater degree than the sea, it is terribly unforgiving of any carelessness, incapacity or neglect.”

Runway

Pilot Institute

OCTOBER 12, 2024

A power-on stall occurs when the airplane’s nose rises too high, and the angle of attack becomes too steep, disrupting the airflow over the wings. Stalling with a high-power setting takes more effort since there is thrust and a high-energy slipstream from the propeller, which prevents boundary layer separation. You’ve got this.

Stability

Plane and Pilot

OCTOBER 3, 2024

Since then, the team has advanced the airplane into a kit, one made out of carbon fiber and incorporating more than 1400 hours of the prototype’s operation. But now they are, and as no other Experimental—or certified airplane for that matter—can do what the Gweduck can, it’s time to take a good look at the program.

Airplanes

One Mile at a Time

JUNE 14, 2025

No thrust, no power, and/or no lift? When an experienced captain says that a plane has no thrust and is losing power, what can we really conclude from that? If one were to take that at face value, that would suggest that the plane was actually losing engine power and thrust, meaning there was some sort of issue with engines.

Thrust

Plane and Pilot

MARCH 4, 2025

The rest is just lift, drag, thrust, weather, and navigation. But first, take stock of your airplane and skills. Argentina is a superb trip on its own, but Buenos Aires for small airplanes is like choosing to combine the worst of Washington, D.C., Oh, and some money. Plus, theres next to no high terrain to run into.

Flight Plan