Linked Questions
12 questions linked to/from What is the optimal wing sweep angle for a passenger airliner?
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Difference in lift generation for a swept wing and straight wing in subsonic condition
Would there be any differences in lift for a straight wing and swept wing (front or back) with the same airfoil cross section, same chord length, same wing span, and same area when flying in subsonic ...
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3
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What is the relation between sweep angle and lift-to-drag ratio?
What is the relation between sweep angle and lift-to-drag ratio?
And does it depend on the wing planform?
For subsonic speeds.
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Why does the U-2 Dragon Lady not have swept wings?
Swept wings increase the critical mach number for aircraft with otherwise identical wings (Source 1). The U-2 Dragon Lady is limited in altitude by its critical mach number, as it needs more speed in ...
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What is the reason for the poor low-speed characteristics of sweptback wings?
I know there are advantages of swept-back wings delaying shock-wave allowing a aircraft to fly faster. However, what are the disadvantages.
I know one of them is that they have very poor low speed ...
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why are there no production canard GA aircraft?
You see a lot of experimental canard GA aircraft, and their performance characteristics seem great. Why don't we see any production canard designs?
EDIT
For clarification. I'm asking about small ...
13
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2
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What is the actual air speed over and under a wing due to Bernoulli's Principle?
Bernoulli's Principle states that as a fluid speed increases, its pressure decreases, and vice versa. Air flowing over the wing of an aircraft flows faster than its neighboring air flowing under the ...
71
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3
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Are we at peak speed efficiency for jet airliners at Mach 0.85?
The cruising speed of large jet airliners has not increased in the past four decades. The 747 cruised at Mach 0.85 and the new Dreamliner 787 also cruises at Mach 0.85 even though it was designed 40 ...
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How does wing sweep increase aircraft stability?
I was told at one point that the sweep of a wing can help with the straight line stability of the craft, in fact I think it's one of the main systems that keeps flying wings flying straight (like the ...
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4
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Why are swept wings better for breaking the sound barrier?
I'm told that swept wings perform better when an aircraft is trying to break the sound barrier. I was wondering why that would be?
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10
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Why 1st and 2nd class but not fast or slow airplanes?
Why do airlines separate passengers into 1st and 2nd class but do not offer fast or slow connections? Isn't the biggest cost the kerosene? And isn't the cost directly proportional to speed?
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What are the advantages of a forward-swept wing over a rearward-swept wing?
What are the advantages of a forward-swept wing vs. a rearward swept one?
Image credit: NASA
Image credit: Paul Maritz / Wikimedia
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Why do some military aircraft use variable-sweep wings?
There are a couple of American military aircraft (the retired F-14 and the B-1 come to mind immediately), that have variable swept wings. I know that they keep the wings full out (roughly ...