Question on forces acting on an aircraft in climb
Hi Guys,
I was reading through Gary Bristow's book,Ace the Pilot Technical Interview and in the first chapter,there is a question asking about the forces acting on the airplane in flight and the answer is as follows:
"Drag,thrust,lift and weight.When thrust and drag are in equilibrium, an aircraft will maintain a steady speed.For an aircraft to accelerate,thrust must exceed the value of drag.When lift and weight are in equilibrium,an aircraft will maintain a steady,level attitude.For an aircraft to climb,lift must exceed weight of the aricraft. In a banked turn,weight is a constant,but lift is lost due to the effective reduction in wingspan.Therefore,to maintain altitude in a banked turn,the lift value needs to be restored by increasing speed and/or the angle of attack."
What I find peculiar is the part when he mentioned about the aircraft climbing.He states that lift must exceed the weight of the aircraft.But I supposed he failed to mentioned that thrust also plays a part when an aircraft climbs cause without thrust,your airspeed will decay and lift won't be enough to sustain the climb.That's what I feel.
However,I would like the opinion of fellow PPRUNERS on this topic as I feel that you guys are in a better position to answer.Thank you.