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Why Aircraft Need Vertical Stabilizers, But Birds Don't

Simple Flying

Aircraft are fitted with wingtip devices, generally known as winglets or sharklets, to minimize aerodynamic drag and increase fuel efficiency, and state-of-the-art engines reduce sound and wear and tear. Significant advances in aviation technology have occurred over the last few decades.

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First Solo Flight Student Pilot Tradition

Pilot's Life Blog

The tradition of cutting the shirt tail of a student pilot after their first solo flight dates back to the early days of aviation. There are a few references to where this came from historically – let’s explore the heavy plane tail, the clipping, of birds wings, and the Navy.

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The Unfulfilled Promise of the Fairchild T-46

Flying Magazine

The most significant visual differences were the T-46’s high wing and the “H” tail, with twin vertical stabilizers mounted to the ends of the horizontal stabilizer that strongly resembled those of the company’s previous jet, the A-10 Thunderbolt II. As outlined in a U.S.

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Exploring the Essential Sections of an Aircraft: A Comprehensive Guide

Pilot's Life Blog

Below are other critical pieces of the wings that help give the plane additional lift, reduce drag, or achieve lower speeds in preparation for landing: Ailerons: A French word meaning “fin” or “little wing,” the aileron helps control the airplane’s roll. What are the basic parts of this section?

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High Wing or Low Wing – Which Trainer Should I Choose?

Flight Training Central

Those struts and wires create a lot of parasite drag, an anathema for aircraft whose design and mission is speed. Then in 1956 Cessna moved the tail-wheel on the 170 to the nose and the resulting high wing 172, with well over 40,000 copies, became the best-selling civilian aircraft in history. The bi-wing design has one serious flaw.

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What Every Pilot Needs to Know about the Airplane Rudder

Northstar VFR

As air flows over it, a force like lift results, and the tail is pulled in the opposite direction of the deflection. But instead of an upward force of lift on a wing, it’s a horizontal force pushing the tail of the plane causing the nose of the plane to move left and right. This is called adverse yaw.

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COMBAT VIETNAM: The Threat Inside My Aircraft

Vintage Aviation News

Load’s” relatively safe haven high in the tail section left him hanging upside down on steel-wire control cables, emulating a tree sloth. That meant balancing aerodynamic forces on the flight controls with a large “trim wheel” linked by cables to tabs on the aft edge of our horizontal tail. I was dragging tail.