FlightAir Foils and the Angle of Attack

Wings

• The shape of a wing is called an “airfoil.”

• Airfoil: a streamlined shape with a rounded front edge and trailing back edge, designed to help lift or control an aircraft.

Airfoil

• The airfoil shape causes the Bernoulli principle to occur when an airplane moves.

• The airfoil has two characteristic parts:• The leading edge is the front edge of a

wing, usually rounded.

Airfoil

• The trailing edge is the back edge of a wing, usually sharply tapered.

Need more lift?

• A pilot can increase lift during flight by changing the tilt of the wing.

• When the leading edge of the wing is tilted up, the pressure above the wing is reduced, and more lift is created.

Up, up, and away!

• When the wing is tilted, the angle of attack is increased.

• Angle of attack is the angle created by the tilt of an aircraft’s wing.

• The wing’s edge forms one side of the angle and the air stream forms the other.

Angle of attack

• Increasing the angle of attack increases the lift.

• However, if the angle of attack is to big, the wing will stall and there will be no lift at all.

Too much attack

Review

• Airfoils cause lift and have two parts: leading edge and trailing edge

• Tilting the wing increases the angle of attack. A greater angle of attack increase lift.