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Old 20th Mar 2007, 23:31
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Plumb Bob
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Netherlands
Age: 74
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xfeed, you may want to clarify what you mean by “this speed”.

The airframe, more particularly the wings, can stir up a strong wake at low speeds, because we are talking of a strong wake over a short distance travelled per minute (compared with a long ‘thin’ wake at high speed).
Should a large sudden gust then occur, at a slow flying speed, the wing would simply temporarily lose some of its grip on the air – without breaking.
However, above a certain high speed, a sudden large gust (or, for that matter, a sudden large control input by the pilot) MAY be able to overload and in extreme cases bend or break the wing. That’s why such circumstances are avoided.

Flying into a strong and heavy building shears off any protruding parts like wings and tailplanes (which also are not really built to withstand great backwards forces), while the fuselage, acting with a lot of mass all concentrated on a fairly smal round spot, will try to force its way through the wall like some giant sort of spear.

Last edited by Plumb Bob; 20th Mar 2007 at 23:46.
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