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In flight mechanics, “retarding force” refers to any force acting against the direction of an aircraft’s motion, typically opposing its forward movement. This force, often encountered during the landing phase, includes aerodynamic drag, braking forces, and other resistive elements that slow down the aircraft’s velocity, affecting its deceleration and control. The formula to calculate Retarding […]

In flight mechanics, “retarding force” refers to any force acting against the direction of an aircraft’s motion, typically opposing its forward movement. This force, often encountered during the landing phase, includes aerodynamic drag, braking forces, and other resistive elements that slow down the aircraft’s velocity, affecting its deceleration and control. The formula to calculate Retarding

The power required for an aircraft is the amount of power that must be generated by its engines to overcome various aerodynamic forces and maintain a certain flight condition. For Unaccelerated and Straight-Level Flight drag force equal to Thrust force . The power required depends on factors such as airspeed, altitude, and the aircraft’s configuration.

Available power in flight mechanics refers to the maximum power that an aircraft’s propulsion system can generate. It represents the total power output available for sustaining flight and overcoming aerodynamic drag. The available power is a key parameter for understanding an aircraft’s performance capabilities, and it is influenced by the efficiency of the engine or

The Mach number (M) is a dimensionless quantity used in fluid dynamics to represent the ratio of the speed of an object to the speed of sound in the surrounding medium. In subsonic flow (where M<1), the velocity of the object is lower than the speed of sound, while in supersonic flow (where M>1), the

In Flight Mechanics, a “drag count” is a unit of measurement equal to one ten thousandth of a drag coefficient. The drag count is simply a ‘user friendly’ way to express the drag coefficient. Drag counts are especially useful when adding external protuberance to an aircraft. The formula to calculate drag count is as follows:

The drag polar is a graphical representation of aerodynamics that illustrates the relationship between an aircraft’s lift coefficient (CL​) and its drag coefficient (CD​). It provides valuable insights into the aircraft’s aerodynamic performance by displaying how drag varies with changes in lift coefficient. However, the relationship between lift coefficient and drag coefficient can be described

The lift coefficient  is a dimensionless quantity that characterizes the effectiveness of an airfoil or wing in generating lift. It is a measure of how efficiently an aircraft’s wings can produce lift for a given set of aerodynamic conditions. The lift coefficient is influenced by factors such as the shape of the airfoil, the angle

The pitching moment of an airfoil is the rotational force it experiences when its angle of attack changes. It determines the airfoil’s tendency to pitch nose-up or nose-down. This moment is generated by the pressure distribution over the airfoil’s surface. Positive pitching moment indicates nose-up rotation, while negative pitching moment indicates nose-down rotation. Engineers use

Airfoil drag in flight mechanics refers to aerodynamic resistance opposing an aircraft’s motion. It encompasses profile, induced, interference, and skin friction drag. Profile drag arises from airfoil shape, induced drag from lift generation, interference drag from component interaction, and skin friction drag from surface-air friction. Minimizing airfoil drag is vital for enhancing aircraft efficiency and