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[Phys-L] inverted flight



On 12/23/2014 09:10 AM, Anthony Lapinski wrote:

How do certain planes fly upside-down?

They fly upside down the same way they fly right-side up.

If you understand one, you understand the other.
https://www.av8n.com/how/htm/airfoils.html

Usually misconceptions about inverted flight are symptomatic
of deeper misconceptions about the basic lift-producing
process.

Are their wings shaped differently?

No, to first order, not differently.(*)

Approximately any plane in the world will fly upside down.
Some of them are /optimized/ for flying upside down, but
that consists mostly(*) of things unrelated to airflow,
things like:
-- four-point or ive-point seat belts
-- flop tubes in the fuel tanks, so that the engine
doesn't quit during extended inverted flight
-- stronger structure to handle stresses in funny
directions
-- extra windows for looking out in funny directions
-- et cetera.

Twenty years ago I would have added to that list "fuel
injectors instead of carburetor" but nowadays almost
everything bigger than a walk-behind lawn mower is fuel
injected. Stihl makes a fuel-injected chainsaw.


(*) If you care about Nth order correction terms, some
aerobatic aircraft have less washout and/or less camber,
to optimize the inverted stall. However, not even all
of them do that. The C-150 Aerobat has /exactly/ the
same wing as the regular C-150.