Welcome Guest. Sign in or Signup

3 Answers

Coefficient of lift

Asked by: 3326 views ,
Aerodynamics, General Aviation

Can anyone explain lift coefficient in a bit more of a practical sense with laymen terms versus needing to be a NASA level engineer to understand this, when it's probably ridiculously simple?

 

Thanks. 

Ace Any FAA Written Test!
Actual FAA Questions / Free Lifetime Updates
The best explanations in the business
Fast, efficient study.
Pass Your Checkride With Confidence!
FAA Practical Test prep that reflects actual checkrides.
Any checkride: Airplane, Helicopter, Glider, etc.
Written and maintained by actual pilot examiners and master CFIs.
The World's Most Trusted eLogbook
Be Organized, Current, Professional, and Safe.
Highly customizable - for student pilots through pros.
Free Transition Service for users of other eLogs.
Our sincere thanks to pilots such as yourself who support AskACFI while helping themselves by using the awesome PC, Mac, iPhone/iPad, and Android aviation apps of our sponsors.

3 Answers



  1. KDS on Nov 01, 2019

    Somebody probably can, but I’m not that person. However, I’ll give you some good news. I had a couple thousand hours of PIC time before I took aeronautical engineering and I was reasonably safe and proficient as a pilot. Then I took the first semester of aeronautical engineering and it was far from easy, at least for me. So, the good news is you’ll survive quite well without an engineering level understanding of it.

    If I were going to try to take a stab at putting it in pilot terms, I’d say something like this:

    The denser the air is, the more lift you’re going to get.

    The bigger the wing is (S – surface area), the more lift you’re going to get. Twice as much surface area will get twice as much lift.

    The faster you go, the more lift you’re going to get. Go twice as fast and you will get four times as much lift.

    When all else fails, just buy this tee shirt:

    https://www.amazon.com/What-part-lift-understand-T-Shirt/dp/B07PF4XV3Y

    +2 Votes Thumb up 2 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes



  2. KDS on Nov 02, 2019

    To quote one of the CFI’s who answers questions here, “Google is our friend”. So, turning to Google, I found a couple links that might each explain it in different words. Here they are:

    https://www.engineeringclicks.com/lift-equation/

    https://www.engineeringclicks.com/lift-equation/

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lift_coefficient

    0 Votes Thumb up 0 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes



  3. Craig on Nov 02, 2019

    I usually try to keep it simple and explain that the wing’s coefficient of lift is basically a property of the wing’s design (i.e. shape, camber, etc.) and the wing’s angle of attack. For example, if one keeps all other factors the same in the lift equation, at the same AOA, elliptical & tapered wings will produce different amounts of lift, therefore, the wing’s design influences how much lift it will produce (compare the wings of gliders vs. military fighters).

    Looking at just a single wing design (i.e. only a tapered wing), the amount of lift that wing produces also varies with the wing’s angle of attack. A certain type of wing will produce a certain amount of lift at a certain angle of attack. If you change either the AOA or the wing design, the coefficient of lift of that wing could change.

    0 Votes Thumb up 0 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes


Answer Question

Our sincere thanks to all who contribute constructively to this forum in answering flight training questions. If you are a flight instructor or represent a flight school / FBO offering flight instruction, you are welcome to include links to your site and related contact information as it pertains to offering local flight instruction in a specific geographic area. Additionally, direct links to FAA and related official government sources of information are welcome. However we thank you for your understanding that links to other sites or text that may be construed as explicit or implicit advertising of other business, sites, or goods/services are not permitted even if such links nominally are relevant to the question asked.