Aeroplane Drag
Level
2
If an aeroplane flying straight and level doubles its speed through the air (Airspeed AS), the total drag increases, but the induced drag (ID) decreases. Why?
As AS increases angle of attack is reduced to maintain straight and level flight, = ID reduced
Induced drag always reduces as the airspeed increases
As AS increases skin friction increases air temperature = less dense. This reduces ID
As AS increases only skin friction and form drag increase, ID decreases due to smoother airflow
This section requires Javascript.
You are seeing this because something didn't load right. We suggest you, (a) try
refreshing the page, (b) enabling javascript if it is disabled on your browser and,
finally, (c)
loading the
non-javascript version of this page
. We're sorry about the hassle.
1 solution
C ID = ½ p.V^2.S.A where p=air density V = Velocity S = Surface area of wing and A = Aspect ratio (altered by the Angle of Attack)