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HOW DOES AN AIRCRAFT FLY???

HOW DOES AN AIRCRAFT FLY???

The question arises in our mind from our childhood days. We have seen aircraft flying in the sky and many of us have experienced the flight, but still we have the doubt that how does the aircraft flies?

Here is the answer for the question. An aircraft flies in the air due to the forces (air) acting on it. The aircraft’s body and structure is designed in a manner to produce a difference in pressure which creates lift.

So what is there in the design of aircraft?

Why other objects can’t fly in the air?

What is the science behind the flight of the aircraft?

Many people would not have noticed the shape of the aircraft. The truth lies behind the aircraft’s shape. The body, wing, tail and other components are designed in a way to accelerate the moving air, which does not create any disturbance to the aircraft in motion. When the aircraft flies the air passes smoothly over the surface of the aircraft.

Most of the aircraft components resemble an airfoil shape, which is used to accelerate the moving air thus making aircraft fly.


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Ok, how an airfoil accelerates the moving air?

An airfoil is an object designed to create a pressure difference when the air moves around it. The airfoil creates a low pressure in the upper surface and high pressure in the lower surface when the air flows around it. In nature air flows from high pressure area to a lower pressure area that’s why we experience storms and cyclones, the same concept is implemented in aeronautics. But due to the presence of wing in between the high and low pressure areas the wing the aircraft gets lifted.



The wing in general has ailerons, flaps, spoilers and slats etc. these devices control the pressure distribution around the wing and used to control the aircraft during the flight.Flaps provide lift while ailerons are used to turn the aircraft. Spoilers and slats are used to reduce the aircraft speed while landing.



To take off an aircraft the elevator in the tail plane is deflected upwards to move the nose of the plane upwards which changes the angle of the wing and air. This angle is called angle of attack. As the angle of attack increases lift is developed and by giving thrust from engine the aircraft is propelled. This created history in the transportation from continent to continent within a few hours.



The science behind the flight of an aircraft is Bernoulli’s theorem and Newton’s third law of motion.  

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