Moderators: richierich, ua900, PanAm_DC10, hOMSaR
-
- NameOmitted
- Posts: 1433
- Joined:
Please explain this photograph.
I've seen pictures of this maneuver before, but I don't understand the physics of it. Is the top aircraft essentially a rocket at this point? Are the wings providing any lift whatsoever?
What is the proximity to the top aircraft doing to the aerodynamics of the bottom one?
Re: Please explain this photograph.
Just because the wings may be optimized/cambered to provide more lift "upside-up" (against gravity) than upside down doesn't mean they won't provide any lift; lift is produced not only by the shape of the airfoil - which causes one side to experience a lower pressure than the other, causing this side to go up - but also by the angle of attack, the angle between the aircraft "centerline" and the relative wind (I guess you can call this the direction of travel). More lift requires a larger angle of attack, but can be lessened if flying faster.
In this case the top plane is flying fast enough that this angle of attack is very small, but indeed providing lift (else it'd crash on the bottom one!) Not just the wings, but the whole aircraft surface can and do provide lift.
Sorry if I'm saying anything you already know or I didn't understand your question and answered it differently ^^.
And actually I don't think the airfoils are very cambered in these two planes since they wouldn't be able to fly supersonic as intended otherwise...
As for the aerodynamics, I couldn't tell ya (need to pull out my applied aero book!), but I don't think they're flying supersonic or there would be some shockwave interference.
In this case the top plane is flying fast enough that this angle of attack is very small, but indeed providing lift (else it'd crash on the bottom one!) Not just the wings, but the whole aircraft surface can and do provide lift.
Sorry if I'm saying anything you already know or I didn't understand your question and answered it differently ^^.
And actually I don't think the airfoils are very cambered in these two planes since they wouldn't be able to fly supersonic as intended otherwise...
As for the aerodynamics, I couldn't tell ya (need to pull out my applied aero book!), but I don't think they're flying supersonic or there would be some shockwave interference.
Re: Please explain this photograph.
You may have seen this maneuver before in Top Gun. If you look close enough the pilot on the top is giving the other guy the bird 
I’m not going to get into aerodynamics, but the top aircraft absolutely is flying and creating lift like stated above.
As far as the proximity, don’t forgot that this is a zoomed in photo from the side. Those aircraft are likely staggered and I’m willing to bet that they aren’t even close enough for the top aircraft to have any effect whatsoever on the bottom one aerodynamically.
I’m not going to get into aerodynamics, but the top aircraft absolutely is flying and creating lift like stated above.
As far as the proximity, don’t forgot that this is a zoomed in photo from the side. Those aircraft are likely staggered and I’m willing to bet that they aren’t even close enough for the top aircraft to have any effect whatsoever on the bottom one aerodynamically.
Re: Please explain this photograph.
Some aerobatic aircraft even have symmetric profiles - these profiles generate no lift at zero Angle of Attack. Lift is only generated by increasing Angle of Attack (obviously they have to be mounted with a slight incidence, otherwise it would not be possible to takeoff with them). Obviously these profiles are very good for inverted flight, but a lot of general aviation aircraft (gliders, but also powered aircraft) even with "normal" profiles (and obviously, military aircraft as seen in this foto) are certified for inverted flight (some aircrafts are able to fly inverted from an aerodynamic point of view, but are unable to sustain inverted flight because the fuel system on some aircraft is depending on gravity, so the engine will eventually stop after a few seconds inverted).
-
- RetiredWeasel
- Posts: 942
- Joined:
Re: Please explain this photograph.
Even works with the gear down.....er, ...is that up...depends.
-
- Florianopolis
- Posts: 382
- Joined:
Re: Please explain this photograph.
If you put on your glasses and squint *really* hard you can see the exhaust nozzles on the upside-down guys are different than the right-side-up guys, because the thrust required to keep the thing going at the same speed is higher if you're upside down.
.
.
Re: Please explain this photograph.
Starlionblue wrote:
Listen Clark, Y argue it's my positive attitude that gets me up.
Who is online
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 25 guests