Air Facts

MAY 14, 2025

At pattern altitude, I leveled off, and our airspeed stabilized at 300 KIAS. The G-loading and added drag slowed us below the gear limit speed (240 KIAS). When I turned onto the outside downwind, about two miles west of the inside downwind, the jet slowed its acceleration but continued climbing. I have 230 gallons times 6.5

AGL

Pilot Institute

FEBRUARY 20, 2025

What Is Aircraft Stability? Stability is the aircrafts tendency to maintain its attitude or orientation. This means that they have to be effective enough to counter the aircrafts inherent lateral stability. Lateral stability depends on the aircrafts design. What Materials Are Used in Ailerons?

Aileron

Vintage Aviation News

FEBRUARY 12, 2025

The airship initially recovered, dumping ballast and stabilizing at 700 feet above the sea and returning to its cruising altitude of 1,600 feet, but the ship was sent into another plunge, falling a rate of 14 feet per second tail-down. Then, off Big Sur, near Monterey Bay, the USS Macon was caught in a storm.

Lift

Pilot Institute

APRIL 12, 2025

The reaction in the form of increased thrust allows the aircraft to overcome drag and accelerate or climb. Spoilers are panels on the top of wings that pilots can raise to spoil lift and increase drag. The mass of air and exhaust gases thrown ahead push back on the aircraft ( reaction ), effectively increasing drag.

Torque

Pilot Institute

NOVEMBER 2, 2024

When the aircraft is in a high-drag configuration, a stall at a low altitude can be quite dangerous. Landing flaps add a lot of drag; removing this notch will help the aircraft accelerate quickly. But in a power-off stall, you have to pitch down to allow the airspeed to increase and stabilize the aircraft.

Descent

Pilot Institute

FEBRUARY 15, 2025

At first, you might experience a strong headwind, which briefly increases your airspeed and gives you a false sense of stability. Keep wings level to prevent unnecessary drag or instability. Flying Into a Microburst From your point of view, what happens if you fly into a microburst? Within seconds, everything changes.

Wind Shear

Pilot's Life Blog

JANUARY 5, 2025

Full flaps provide maximum lift and stability, allowing the aircraft to fly slower without stalling. Managing the critical engine, which is the engine closest to the aircrafts wingtip, is key to reducing drag and maintaining control. This is a critical step when learning how to land a Piper Seminole.

Descent

CFI Academy

MAY 12, 2025

Once you’ve adjusted power and pitch, the aircraft won’t respond instantly — especially in high-drag, low-speed configurations. Instructor Tip: Use terms like “stabilize and scan” or “set and observe” to reinforce the importance of patience during these exercises. What to teach: Introduce the concept of “lag time” in aircraft response.

Drag

WayMan

MAY 25, 2025

Empennage: The Tail Assembly Located at the back of the aircraft, the empennage (or tail assembly ) includes the vertical stabilizer , horizontal stabilizer , rudder , and elevator. These parts help the aircraft maintain its stability in flight. Pilots learn to manage these systems as part of advanced training.

Lift

CFI Academy

MAY 12, 2025

Once youve adjusted power and pitch, the aircraft wont respond instantly especially in high-drag, low-speed configurations. Instructor Tip: Use terms like stabilize and scan or set and observe to reinforce the importance of patience during these exercises. Teaching students to wait and watch the response helps reduce correction loops.

Drag

Aerotime

MARCH 27, 2025

Through their research, engineers at Bell Aircraft discovered that bullets could maintain stability at supersonic speeds due to their shape, leading them to design the fuselage of the X-1 along similar lines. These helped to minimize drag and ensure aerodynamic efficiency at high speeds.

Pilot

Vintage Aviation News

FEBRUARY 11, 2025

The aircraft exhibited poor directional stability (which was solved through the later addition of a ventral tail fin) at low speeds and oil sometimes splattered on the canopy’s windscreen. On May 18, 1945, the T-31 turboprop was finally ready and by June 11, the aircraft was ready to begin testing with its intended engine at Muroc.

Thrust

Flying Magazine

JUNE 30, 2025

Ailerons are actuated by pushrods that run through the wing struts, reducing aerodynamic drag and giving the responsive ailerons a solid feel. On takeoff, the NX fuselage is already level rather than in the high-drag, nose high position. The manual flaps have four positions, up, 16 degrees, 33 degrees, and 46 degrees.

Gross Weight

Vintage Aviation News

MAY 2, 2025

Langley was particularly focused on structural loads, while Ames concentrated on dynamic stability. The drag chute was used on landings to help brake the airplane’s speed. Boeing B-47A Stratojet NACA 150 landing at Edwards Air Force Base, California. The B-47A fuselage was 106 feet 11 inches in length.

Gross Weight

Flying Magazine

JUNE 2, 2025

Approaching and passing through Mach 1, however, an airplane acquires, in addition to the drag it already has, a new kind of drag, called wave drag. READ MORE: Boom Goes Supersonic, Makes Civil Aviation History Wave drag is part of what made the speed of sound a barrier in the 1950s.

Drag

Pilot Institute

JUNE 12, 2025

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. But when you’re doing high-speed dashes, sweeping the wings back will reduce drag. We’ve only seen a decline in their use in the past decades.

Weight-Shift-Control

Vintage Aviation News

JANUARY 14, 2025

By this point, however, the vibration issues on takeoff and landing were not resolved, and in the air the design exhibited high transonic drag, greatly reducing its intended performance. It was also hoped that a seaplane fighter could also operate from remote areas that had no airbases but enough water for seaplane operations.

Cockpit

Pilot's Life Blog

JUNE 18, 2025

Landing gear is also retracted as the aircraft gains altitude to reduce drag and improve climb performance. Retract flaps to the go-around setting per POH, then raise remaining flaps as climb speed is stabilized. When should student pilots practice go-arounds?

Air Traffic Control

AV Web

DECEMBER 11, 2024

Once youve got the airplane stabilized but are unable to resolve the partial power loss, its time to start getting this thing on the ground. Both flaps and gear stay retracted until the runway is made, and only then do you add drag and land. Once the start locks engage, it can be impossible to feather the propeller and minimize drag.

Runway

Plane and Pilot

AUGUST 27, 2024

However, the capstone of all these efforts was the adoption of stabilized approach criteria and procedures on every approach and landing. So, What Is a Stabilized Approach? In fact, the verbal callout “stabilized” is part of the checklist. This definitely does not meet the FAA description of a stabilized approach and landing.

Stability

Simple Flying

JULY 23, 2024

Aircraft are fitted with wingtip devices, generally known as winglets or sharklets, to minimize aerodynamic drag and increase fuel efficiency, and state-of-the-art engines reduce sound and wear and tear. Significant advances in aviation technology have occurred over the last few decades.

Stability

Flying Magazine

APRIL 30, 2024

READ MORE: Interstate TDR Developed as Unusual Kamikaze Machine Moulton Taylor, the designer of the similarly configured roadable “Aerocar” that would fly a couple of years later, added that at idle a propeller mounted to the extreme aft end of the fuselage has the effect of an anti-spin drag chute, adding stability and aiding recovery from spins.

Drag

Flying Magazine

MAY 14, 2024

The most significant visual differences were the T-46’s high wing and the “H” tail, with twin vertical stabilizers mounted to the ends of the horizontal stabilizer that strongly resembled those of the company’s previous jet, the A-10 Thunderbolt II. As outlined in a U.S.

Horizontal Stabilizer

Vintage Aviation News

OCTOBER 21, 2024

Air Force photo) Devil’s in the Details The YB-49 design aimed to create a highly efficient aircraft with low drag by its rare all-wing configuration. However, the design faced major stability issues under various flight conditions, and after the two tragic incidents, it took another 41 years for the flying wing concept to see success.

Stability

Vintage Aviation News

OCTOBER 7, 2024

The unique cylindrical design of the fuselage allowed for a streamlined profile and reduced drag, increasing the overall efficiency. These drawbacks included the intubate propeller design, which induced so much aerodynamic drag, and also the aircraft’s top speed proved to be only 81 mph.

Airfoil

Flight Training Central

MAY 6, 2024

Those struts and wires create a lot of parasite drag, an anathema for aircraft whose design and mission is speed. Short field landings can be shorter because the drag robbing ground effect is lessened by the greater distance between the wing and ground. The bi-wing design has one serious flaw.

Lift

Aerotime

NOVEMBER 22, 2024

As the engines spool up, the crew will initially increase the power slightly to stabilize the engines and ensure that they power up as commanded, before increasing to full power and releasing the brakes, propelling the aircraft down the runway.

Cabin Crew

Vintage Aviation News

SEPTEMBER 3, 2024

The offset top wing offered the benefits of increased visibility to the pilot, and it was also claimed to have reduced interference drag between the top and bottom wings (though later evidence would argue the benefit as negligible.) The main perk was that this design just looked “cool”. Beech YC-43 assembly line, probably Model 17R.

Drag

Northstar VFR

JULY 21, 2024

The rudder is a movable flight control which is mounted on the trailing edge of the vertical stabilizer on the back of the airplane. Some new student pilots think the rudder and vertical stabilizer are the same thing. The vertical stabilizer is a vertical fixed part of the plane’s empennage. Why is the rudder so important?

Rudder

Plane and Pilot

SEPTEMBER 6, 2024

If there’s a hill to climb, there are two options: Leave the throttle alone, and the car (airplane) will climb the hill but slow down and stabilize at a slower speed going up the hill. And in a plane, aerodynamic drag will keep it from going any faster. Leave the power alone and gain speed, or reduce [it] to keep the speed the same.

Airplanes

Flying Magazine

APRIL 26, 2024

As is often the case with swept-wing jets, sometimes extra drag is required beyond gear and flaps. Older jets without winglets or shorter wingspans are much faster in roll and lack some stability in bank. There was no inherent stability. Live weather in XP12 has a defect where it rains all the time, regardless of actual METAR.

Crosswind

Pilot's Life Blog

MARCH 15, 2024

Below are other critical pieces of the wings that help give the plane additional lift, reduce drag, or achieve lower speeds in preparation for landing: Ailerons: A French word meaning “fin” or “little wing,” the aileron helps control the airplane’s roll. What are the basic parts of this section?

Horizontal Stabilizer

Vintage Aviation News

JULY 23, 2024

This is consistent with the theory, as a displaced torpedo would have bulged the bomb bay doors, which wind resistance could then have pealed back – leading to a rapid increase in drag preventing the aircraft from gaining altitude at sufficient speed.

Cockpit

Vintage Aviation News

OCTOBER 1, 2024

X and Y aircraft had rounded vertical stabilizers and wingtips while the production A and B models had squared surfaces. Additionally, the straight-wing design of the XP-59 caused drag issues, which limited its performance and speed. The Tizard Mission became the inspiration for the U.S. YP-59A in flight.

Jet

Vintage Aviation News

OCTOBER 11, 2024

This allowed for more stability and control, especially in hover. The streamlined nature of this configuration minimized drag while keeping the aircraft lightweight and maneuverable, increasing CR Twin’s range.

Tail

Fear of Landing

MARCH 22, 2024

One of the most revolutionary was the “area rule,” a concept that helped aircraft designers avoid the disruption in airflow and resulting drag caused by the attachment of the wings to the fuselage. Area Rule In the 1950s, NASA scientist Richard Whitcomb discovered several fundamental solutions to key aerodynamics challenges.

Wind Shear

Pilot Institute

NOVEMBER 1, 2024

And ice doesn’t just make things slippery, it messes with the airflow over the wings, cuts down on lift, and ramps up drag. This leads to a serious loss of lift and an increase in drag. This roughness adds to friction drag, which can reduce lift and increase drag by as much as 50% on a wing’s leading edge and upper surface.

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