[NSRCA-discussion] Airplane angle of attack

[James Oddino]

Cylindrical bodies definitely generate lift when flown at an angle of  
attack.  The lift coefficient is normally referenced to the diameter  
of the fuselage.  Think about a guided missile that doesn't bank to  
turn.  It must generate large amounts of lift to maneuver in yaw and  
they normally don;t have much of a conventional wing in either the  
pitch or yaw plane.
Pattern planes don't have circular cross sections but we all know the  
larger the fuselage volume the more lift we have for flying knife edge.

I yield to Chris M on how airliners fly.

Jim O



On Sep 30, 2007, at 5:08 AM, Jeff Hill wrote:

> This is a question about full size airplanes that has some
> applicability to model design. We're talking about airliners that
> have an essentially cylindrical fuse.
>
> I'm having a debate with a friend at work about whether or not full
> scale airliners fly slightly nose up. I claim they do he claims they
> don't.
>
> I claim they do because the airflow would be more stable about a
> cylindrical body that was at a slight angle of attack, and that if
> you make it nose up you also gain a little lift.
>
> He claims that airliners fly with no AOA in the fuse because the last
> thing a designer wants is lift from the fuse because lift generates
> drag, the fuse is not a good shape for generating lift, and
> consequently it isn't worth paying the drag penalty.
>
> What do you all think?
>
> Jeff Hill
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