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Old 3rd Feb 2017, 11:28
  #1965 (permalink)  
megan
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
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n5296s has posted elsewhere
Apparently landing Concorde in a strong headwind could lead to a very nasty surprise because of the huge relative height difference between the back of the wing and the rest of it. So the trailing edge is much more in ground effect than the rest. As it gets very close to the ground, the headwind reduces due to ground friction. At some point the part of the wing that is doing the most work drops out of - well, not the sky, but where it is.

I don't pretend to follow the detailed math/aerodynamics, but the net effect is a "did we land or were we shot down" landing.
Can someone knowledgeable relate what aerodynamic gremlins were at work?
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