The Physics of Flight
The Physics of Flight
This Demonstration displays the basic forces that act on an aircraft in flight: lift, weight, thrust, and drag. With any given settings of the sliders, we can find the point of equilibrium (where all the forces will cancel out). Reducing the weight of the aircraft, traveling at a high velocity, increasing wing area, and finding the ideal angle of attack cause the aircraft to reach its maximum altitude (or absolute ceiling). In a real-life setting, this altitude is extremely difficult to reach, and to be safe an aircraft rarely attempts to fly near its absolute ceiling, but this Demonstration shows which factors influence the lift and drag forces on an aircraft.
In order to travel at a constant altitude, the lift (red vector) must always equal the weight (blue vector). To travel at a constant speed, the thrust (orange vector) must equal the drag (gray vector). The normal force (brown vector) supplements the lift if the aircraft is grounded, and the velocity (green vector) is not a force, so it does not affect the others.