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The 1902 Wright Glider shows its lift by pulling up. When a fluid flows around an object, the fluid exerts a force on the object. Lift is the component of this force that is perpendicular to the oncoming flow direction. [1] It contrasts with the drag force, which is the component of the force parallel to the flow direction.
It describes the aerodynamic efficiency under given flight conditions. The L/D ratio for any given body will vary according to these flight conditions. For an aerofoil wing or powered aircraft, the L/D is specified when in straight and level flight. For a glider it determines the glide ratio, of distance travelled against loss of height.
A glider flying faster or slower than this airspeed will cover less distance before landing. [14] [13] A graph showing the sink rate of an aircraft (typically a glider) against its airspeed is known as a polar curve. [14] Polar curves are used to compute the glider's minimum sink speed, best lift over drag (L/D), and speed to fly. [13]
The three axes of rotation in an aircraft. Flight dynamics is the science of air vehicle orientation and control in three dimensions. The three critical flight dynamics parameters are the angles of rotation in three dimensions about the vehicle's center of gravity (cg), known as pitch, roll and yaw.
Aircraft flight mechanics are relevant to fixed wing (gliders, aeroplanes) and rotary wing (helicopters) aircraft.An aeroplane (airplane in US usage), is defined in ICAO Document 9110 as, "a power-driven heavier than air aircraft, deriving its lift chiefly from aerodynamic reactions on surface which remain fixed under given conditions of flight".
In the definition of load factor, the lift is not simply that one generated by the aircraft's wing, instead it is the vector sum of the lift generated by the wing, the fuselage and the tailplane, [2]: 395 or in other words it is the component perpendicular to the airflow of the sum of all aerodynamic forces acting on the aircraft.
A tumblewing or "tumble wing" or "tumbling wing" is a glider or kite wing design which rotates about an axis transverse to the apparent wind, not necessarily horizontal. Tumble wings are frequently employed in wind turbines (such as the Savonius design ), and are also used in some types of confetti .
The pilot will use the polar curve information for the particular glider to derive the exact speeds to fly, minimum sink or maximum L/D, depending on the lift and sink conditions in which the glider is flying. A speed to fly ring (known as a 'MacCready Ring'), which is fitted around the aircraft's variometer, will indicate the optimum airspeed ...