Fundamental Forces of Flight.
Fundamental Forces of Flight. Primarily 4 forces act on an aircraft: Weight Lift Thrust Drag Fig 1: Fundamental forces of flight WEIGHT: Weight of the aircraft is the force that acts at the center of gravity in downward direction (in the direction of acceleration due to gravity ). The direction is fixed and doesn’t change during the course of flight, as acceleration due to gravity always point towards the center of earth. LIFT: To counter the weight and allow the aircraft to be airborne and not to fall back to earth surface, aircraft must generate force opposite to weight and which is equal to or greater than weight. The lift force is generated by the wings when the airflow causes pressure difference in the upper and lower part of wing i.e. high pressure at lower part of wing and low pressure at upper part. This pressure difference generates lift. Lift acts perpendicular to the direction of motion of aircraft. THRUST: Thrust is the force that propels (or pulls)