Questions On The Lift Of An Airplane

[putt_13]

This was a question I asked a guy in another rc forum. He had made a plane out of a meat tray, and I was wondering how it got lift. Heres the question-

Hello,
I was just admiring your meat tray plane. That is quite something. Anyway. I was just wondering. I am somewhat new to the world of r/c flight, but I do know about the terminology and the flight characterictics(somewhat). I was just wondering, how does the plane get lift once it is in the air, because the meat tray isnt an airfoil, so how does your meat tray plane, and all those otehr flat wing planes, get lift. Thanx for the Help in advance. Patrick

[Martin Hunter]

In that case it's simply from the angle of attack. It's similar to when you stick your hand out the car window and angle it up. It goes up due to the increased angle of attack. It's often debated as to whether airfoil or AoA is the primary source of wing lift.

Martin

[Dan H.]

Dreamer is correct. A flat plane can generate lift at the correct angle of attack by causing the air to move around it in the same way that air moves around, e.g., a Clark Y: taking a slightly longer path along the top than along the bottom. This results from the air's separation point at the front of the wing being slightly lower than the furthest-forward part of the leading edge.
(This is the "Bernoullian" explanation. As in Dreamer's illustration, some of the lift is also the result of deflection--the "Newtonian" principle.)

The same principle applies to symmetrical airfoils. Think about it--how can a symmetrical foil produce lift when it has the same profile top & bottom? Angle of attack.

[putt_13]

Thank you,
Now i have one last question off topic. How do you get the animations for your Avatar.

[Martin Hunter]

My avatar is an animated gif, made with photoshop

Martin

[putt_13]

How do you get it so you can write words underneath it, like Park and Slope Ahead. Is that to done in photoshop

[Martin Hunter]

That's done through your profile section in "My R/C Groups", but I believe you have to have a certain number of posts before you're allowed to. When your saying says "senior member" instead of "member", then you can change it

Martin

[Dan H.]

Mine came from an aviation clipart site I stumbled on while surfing. I don't know if I still have the URL somewhere.

[tenover]

Yeah, open Photoshop and create an animated GIF. Open the Photoshop help file, there's alot on it. My avatar is a single photo that I chopped up and moved a bunch of times....Looks like an actual movie, huh?:p

[putt_13]

Hey,
It does look really nice, but I dont have photoshop. Though we aer ordering a new computer. Maybe that will have it on there. Thanx Patrick