PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Why does a light aircraft descend faster than a heavy one?
Old 11th September 2001 | 01:12
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twistedenginestarter
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From: The 60s
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Look chaps. Lot's of people are watching us. So let's not make elementary mistakes.

The lift on a wing is a function of
  • wing shape
  • angle of attack
  • air density
  • freestream velocity
  • wing surface area

Lift = Cl 1/2 p v **2 S

Now you can see the only variables are angle of attack and speed. Unless you increase speed you must increase angle of attack to maintain the same glide angle if weight increases.

[ 10 September 2001: Message edited by: twistedenginestarter ]
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