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A fixed-wing aircraft may have more than one wing plane, stacked one above another: Biplane: two wing planes of similar size, stacked one above the other. The biplane is inherently lighter and stronger than a monoplane and was the most common configuration until the 1930s. The very first Wright Flyer I was a biplane.
Mean aerodynamic chord (MAC) is defined as: [6] = (), where y is the coordinate along the wing span and c is the chord at the coordinate y.Other terms are as for SMC. The MAC is a two-dimensional representation of the whole wing. The pressure distribution over the entire wing can be reduced to a single lift force
A fixed-wing aircraft increases or decreases the lift generated by the wings when it pitches nose up or down by increasing or decreasing the angle of attack (AOA). The roll angle is also known as bank angle on a fixed-wing aircraft, which usually "banks" to change the horizontal direction of flight.
The upward tilt of the wings and tailplane of an aircraft, as seen on this Boeing 737, is called dihedral angle. Schematic of dihedral and anhedral angle of an aircraft wing Measuring the dihedral angle. Dihedral angle is the upward angle from horizontal of the wings or tailplane of a fixed-wing aircraft.
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".
The aerodynamic center is the point at which the pitching moment coefficient for the airfoil does not vary with lift coefficient (i.e. angle of attack), making analysis simpler. [ 1 ] d C m d C L = 0 {\displaystyle {dC_{m} \over dC_{L}}=0} where C L {\displaystyle C_{L}} is the aircraft lift coefficient .
The significant aerodynamic properties of aircraft wings are summarised by two dimensionless quantities, the lift and drag coefficients C L and C D. Like other such aerodynamic quantities, they are functions only of the angle of attack α, the Reynolds number R e and the Mach number M. C L and C D can be plotted against α, or can be plotted ...
(This can be described as aerodynamic wash-in.) Winglets also promote a greater bending moment at the wing root, possibly necessitating a heavier wing structure. Installation of winglets may necessitate greater aerodynamic washout in order to provide the required resistance to spinning, or to optimise the spanwise lift distribution.