• eestileib
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    11 months ago

    Planes can fly upside-down without plummeting into the ground, which implies to me that angle of attack dominates.

    • GombeenSysadmin@feddit.uk
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      11 months ago

      Listen, this is how modern-day-flat-earth and birds-aren’t-real type shit starts.

      Let me just nip this in the bud with one word:

      DRAG*

      Thank you for coming to my ted talk.

      *No I’m not a man in women’s clothes. There aren’t any pockets there.

    • agamemnonymous
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      11 months ago

      It’s my understanding that both elements play a role, that the relative role of each element varies conditionally, and that the precise relativity is not a solved problem.

      • Donebrach@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        Listen, the actual physical process is neither airfoil or angle of attack; what is actually happening is the wings are pushing the earth itself to move to the desired location of the aircraft. The aircraft itself doesn’t move at all. This is why airplanes and helicopters can’t fly in outer space .