The following video will explain general aviation knowledge and an explanation to the question “How does an aircraft fly?” is given. If you think you have sufficient knowledge regarding aviation, skip this section.

How does an aircraft fly?

Now that we have discussed the main components and the forces on an aircraft I think you want to know the answer to the question; How does a plane fly? We have defined lift as an upward force created by the wings. But how is lift created? A simple question is which has been surrounded by controversy. There are many theories of how lift is generated and unfortunately, many of the theories found in encyclopedias, on web sites, and even in some textbooks are incorrect. Let me try to explain the phenomena lift to you.

When an object moves through a gas, the molecules of the gas are free to move about the object. Because the molecules move, there is a velocity associated with the gas. Within the gas, the velocity can have very different values at different places near the object. Bernoulli’s equation relates the pressure on the object to the local velocity; now as the velocity changes around the object, the pressure changes as well. Adding up (integrating) the pressure variation times the area around the entire body determines the aerodynamic force on the body. The lift is the component of the aerodynamic force which is perpendicular to the original flow direction of the gas. The drag is the component of the aerodynamic force which is parallel to the original flow direction of the gas. If you want to have a brief description of lift have a look at the NASA website which explains the wrong theories and finally the right interpretation of the explanation lift.