Quote:
Originally Posted by skyking
you need to get your terms straight. His diagram shows a wing with a line through it. This is the chord line and that is what is used to define angles of attack and angles of incidence.
By definition that wing produces lift at a 0 degree angle of attack.
Many sailplane wings will fly at 0 and slight negative angles of attack.
The angle of attack is the angle formed by the chord line and relative wind.
The angle of incidence if formed by the the chord line and the longitudinal axis of the fuselage.
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Yes I know the definition, but what I'm saying is that the effective "flat" angle is different.
I've read elsewhere that most lift, something like 80%, comes from the top of the wing pulling air downward, and remaining lift from the bottom pushing air downward. That makes that rear-facing surface the most important part of the wing.
With the wing "horizontal" per the chord line, that surface is still turning flow downward.