Why does an airplane fly
Why does an airplane fly? The question might seem childish. But try to answer it, and there’s a high chance your answer will be incorrect. The truth is, the question is more complex than...
Tagged: Aviation
Square-Cube Law
There are things shown in movies that are impossible in the real world: giant walking robots, Godzilla, giant insects, Spider-Man, people with wings like angels… All of this is “prevented” by one interesting law,...
How a Jet Engine Works
When talking about jet engines, people usually mean gas turbine engines, like those used in airplanes. However, in reality, a jet engine can also refer to a rocket engine or a ship’s water jet....
Does Airplane Need a Tail?
Everyone has a tail: fish, birds, airplanes. Obviously, the tail unit, or “tail,” is needed for airplanes for the same reason as for birds—to control flight. But there are tailless aircraft, and they fly...
Stealth technology
In fact, it’s a very simple idea. But it has become so shrouded in myths that to most people it seems like something highly complex, secret, and mysterious. How does stealth technology actually work?...
Aircraft cruising speed
You’ve probably heard the term “cruising speed of an aircraft” many times. But have you ever wondered what it really means? Most people who use this term don’t actually understand its meaning. There’s a...
Maximum Helicopter Speed
The speed of a typical helicopter rarely exceeds 200–300 kilometers per hour. Even military helicopters, for which flight speed can be critically important, rarely accelerate above 350 kilometers per hour. It seems there’s a...
What is the speed of sound
First, let’s find out how fast is supersonic in kilometers or miles per hour? What speed is required to be considered supersonic? The problem is that there is no simple and straightforward answer to...
