Principles of Flight

Every pilot should understand at a fundamental level the principles of aerodynamics that keep their aircraft aloft. In this video, we dig deep into the principles of flight, and just what it takes to get an airplane off the ground and keep it in the air.
www.erau.edu

[@DiCola119]

Omg that hand-out-the-window example is exactly what I used to do as a kid and how I visualized planes working before it was explained to me. But since then I'd never actually heard anyone use this example.

[@SouljaGrl8]

This video is the greatest help with the best breakdown of the basic aerodynamic principles. I didn't fully understand the explanations my CFI gave until I watched this. Thank you so much, even in 2024.

[@Amran123able]

I've understood a lot more in this video than the past 6 months of ground school! Absolutely amazed! Please keep them coming! 👍👍👍

[@shayanhassanbigi2310]

You need a new school haha xD

[@alexandrevalente9994]

One thing is to understand and another is to explain others ;-) but also... some pilots thing they understand...and explain very bad. You can learn to fly without understanding what is really happening.

[@EdWeibe]

I am thinking of going to school. I hear its expensive though.

[@aviationgrande]

amran alkhatry me too bro 😂😂

[@Jay-jb2vr]

@@EdWeibe yes it is

[@KevinRaza]

This is the clearest and the most straight to the point video related to principles of flight i've ever seen. Even though English is not my native language, I was able to understand everything. Great video thanks !

[@awenaw2165]

Among us

[@tylerfielding5311]

I love that the CL and the L/D Max graph was also implemented with the lesson in this video! Wow, it helped so much. I'm definitely going to watch this one again!

[@aneesahmed2978]

Probably the best explanation I have ever seen thus far. Great job thank you

[@sorgfaeltig]

At time 4:40 there is a great mistake in explaining the priciple of how lift is created by an airfoil. The upper surface of a wing is NOT the lower half of a Venturi tube. The air is NOT squeezed into a narrower flow path. The real reason for the lower pressure of the air above the air is the curved path that the air has to follow across the upper surface of the wing. Any mass that follows a circular path - (a large part of a wing's upper surface can be regarded as as a sector of a cylindrical surface - forcing the air in a circular path for this part of a cylindrical shape) experiences two opposite forces that are perpendicular the the curved path of the airflow: a) The centrifugal force, pulling away from the wing surface, and b) the the centripetal force pulling towards the wing surface and forcing the air to follow the wing-shape, rather than following a straight line. Those opposite forces (trying to pull the airstream appart) produce a low pressure in that airstream above the wing. The difference between the low pressure at the upper wing surface and the pressure at the lower wing surface (which is close to ambient pressure) is the main reason for the lift that a wing creates.

[@rsk6929]

You sound like an engineer

[@sorgfaeltig]

@@rsk6929 Yes, I worked as an engineer in aviation.

[@rsk6929]

@@sorgfaeltig Cool I'm going to Embry Riddle to be an Aero Space Engineer.

[@charlesstiles342]

As an independent flight instructor I am exceedingly grateful to Embry-Riddle for sharing this material which I have my students watch to supplement training. Little wonder why they are the top aeronautical university in the world. Yes-Please keep them coming!

[@dandaly2998]

This is great. How can we get FAA credit for these classes?

[@nickromanick]

Been prepping this lesson for my CFI practical for weeks now, and this video settled my dilemma of how to plan this in 15 minutes. Thank you so much!

[@highsky9066]

Best video on internet I really got into the video ❤ Thanks Keep making them ❤

[@mypretendaccountforj]

Absolutely fantastic, comprehensive look at the topic! Clear, concise, well illustrated, just perfect! Kudos to the production team!!

[@sweetm4ngo]

just explained weeks worth of studying is 15 mins and very clearly too THANK YOU

[@judyanddy]

I'm here for school work and I had trouble understanding the video our teacher sent us. I thought I wouldn't be able to complete the work until I stumbled upon this amazing video. The explanations and visual images helped me understand more about flight! great explanation, keep it up! Thanks

[@pyscripts505]

By far the best principles of flight video I've ever watched! thank you so much!

[@anandsubramanian7427]

Just fantastic. Crisp and clear. Great channel!

[@yousifgaminguniverse4429]

Iam an aeronautical engineer studient and i should that this video is so good!

[@brandonmiller4632]

Excellent video! Regarding the discussion of L/D; I'm not sure that flying a speed or angle of attack for that condition will allow the aircraft to stay aloft the longest (as stated at about 14:00). One must fly the minimum sink speed to achieve that. Minimum sink speed is slower than L/D and can be found using a polar curve (glider handbooks have these). L/D max gives maximum glide range, or most distance for a given altitude. Looking forward to more videos. Thank you!

[@ERAUSpecialVFR]

Since the manufacturer doesn't publish a Minimum Sink Speed curve for the Cessna (or most powered aircraft) we chose to simplify the discussion and go with the manufacturer's recommendation. We always encourage pilots to dig much deeper into all of these topics, and especially into aerodynamics! Glider flying is a wonderful place to start!

[@Ben-fc2xk]

This video is incredible!! Thank you for sharing.

[@dillonjackson1851]

This video is just excellence.

[@jimmydulin928]

Very good lesson. It would help safety and reduce fatalities, I think, if the lesson on dynamic neutral stability were added in this lesson or perhaps wait until the stalls theory lesson. Somehow this seems to get lost in the flight school program of orientation and indoctrination. We old guys can discover this by asking what causes and airplane to stall. The answer is 99.9% "the pitch angle of the wing reaches the critical angle of attack." But that, given neutral dynamic stability, is not how the airplane is designed for safety especially in turns. The airplane cannot stall itself. A pilot, or computer, is required pulling back (ok forward if inverted) on the stick. The pitch angle reaching the critical angle of attack is when the wing stalls. Pilots cause all stalls. Wolfgang, in Stick and Rudder, talked about what the airplane wants to do. In the interest of safety, and fatality reduction, we need to orient pilots in the maneuvering flight environment (say around the airport) need to allow the design of the airplane to prevent stall. In the maneuvering flight environment, where inadvertent stall is fatal, airspeed and not altitude is life. We are teaching the wrong orientation here when we insist on maintaining altitude at any cost. We need orientation toward knowledge of and even use of the potential energy of altitude to provide extra airspeed to make a turn of any bank, not just limited bank, a 1 g turn. If we turn without back pressure on the yoke, without worry about altitude, we will not stall in the pattern. The airplane is incapable of that. High altitude orientation says altitude is life. We don't live there during takeoff and landing. Down here airspeed is life. As a crop duster and pipeline patrol instructor, I have been teaching low altitude orientation since 1974. You guys have a lot more clout than me. A little help here please. At least let your students know that there is a difference in the low altitude environment and labelling it taboo does not help pilots understand the difference. They have to take off and land in non-rocket powered airplanes until they get to be an ATP. Some might even go Ag or fight fires or work low. Theory has neither vertical nor horizontal space available limitations. Airport patterns have both.

[@madhulatha65]

Good presentation thanks.

[@harrymole7230]

What an incredible video.. I did flight training in the 80s when audio visual aids were very low res and rudimentary. This is stunning and such a refreshing learning experience. look forward to the other videos... wow!!

[@analogman9697]

These are awesome lessons. Wish I was 50 years younger!

[@miriampopa5436]

I've learned this at Guyton aviation physiology lessons! 👍✈️

[@giftuzoho5235]

Thank you so much,watching this video explained more to me about aerodynamics 👍

[@Aabbcczzxxcc]

this video is awesome, and playlist on this channel too

[@TheMaxik]

Such a great video. Thanks!

[@kwntech]

Absolutely agree with the guy below me. Ground school online is the only way to intelligently pursue knowledge involving aerodynamics and the...actually anything related to Ground School. I wasted 6 months doing ground school with an in person instructor. Waste of time and money. I've learned more on youtube in the past month than I got from him in 6.

[@aaaaasoper]

Happy to find this video and channel. I understood much more in a simpler way, than the ground school lessons. Thank you so much

[@eskimo330]

This is such a good video

[@coosk0110]

Thank you so much. Good study material for me

[@tomstravelingadventures]

Very informative, thanks for sharing

[@kamelkadri2843]

Great Video Simple to follow and highly informative

[@drpando]

EXCELLENT f'n video!!!!!!!!

[@ricp]

Superb video! thanks

[@prabhakarmishra2182]

@3.55 plz correct me, how pressure decreases and velocity increases, I think the reverse should happen, when the same amount of fluid is to be moved through it the velocity should decrease and pressure should increase, I am not talking about wing but the apparatus shown at 3.55 only

[@SirFrancisFoley]

Fantastic videos.

[@BEACHYz]

many thanks. great channel. great content. great video. please keep it up.

[@rusty9959]

This is really helpful! Thanks!

[@captainsledge7554]

You forgot that wing tip fences help lower induced drag

[@timedwards2935]

if Thrust equals drag, wouldn't the plane be at a zero airspeed? Doesn't thrust have to be greater than drag to move the plane forward?

[@BeholdSevenWoes]

Thank you!

[@troyhayder6986]

you could design a small craft...the size of a bird with fixed wings that utilised a totally novel approach to flying...by shooting out a weighted cable in front and above it and then using a motor to climb the cable... or another idea...shoot out an electromagnet in front of the craft and turn it on off as required... if you propel the cable you can change the direction of the cable for complex maneuvers...

[@UniversalVideoro1]

oK , check HENRY CONDA effect and the principle of Reaction -Inventor in Romania. Thks

[@Geosbudy]

stating lift equation saying not to worry it ain't math, then literally goes ahead to state a physics mathematical formula with added word problems like coefficient,... heh the marines better respect the Airforce, couse those crafts(can't really call them aircraft) put drama to the lift equation beyond the plane of physics. ps- you don't want to know the glide ratio of a supersonic jet aircraft

[@Kenny-Ross]

This video was excellent. Very detailed, visually stimulating, and well explained. Thank you!

[@vlatkopopovski2685]

The authors have two wrong scientific approaches: researching the creation of Lift force and Low pressure at upper side of the wing, relative to the ground surface and Earth. I explain the aerodynamic cavitation and existence of Lee side aerocavern, and creation of Aerodynamic force.

[@svenf1]

Thank you so much for sharing these high quality videos with us!

[@HoustonGamerTVHGTV]

Saving to watch later

[@alimaabattsengel8221]

so helpful 💜💜💜

[@bigjimtruth6957]

Most important and most not understood and that is thrust the propeller or jet or roccket must have something to push against to make the craft go forward other than that the craft falls back down and that is why nothing has ever been to space which is 62 miles above the earth

[@bobo-l5v]

I say it again; 1st officer of AF447 was sleep for this lesson!! "angle of attack"

[@francescopiazza4882]

Very good!

[@leonardgibney2997]

My problem is how would such an idea, angle of attack, work with a plane flying upside down?

[@TheMaxik]

I think I found an error at 2:26 According to that explanation, the angle of attack will always remain a constant. No matter the angle the plain is flying, the difference between the two values remain the same. Right?

[@maxmcvicker]

What they did not mention here and what you are probably correctly considering is the FLIGHT PATH of the plane. If the speed of the plane is increased or decreased, the flight path will then change and then too the angle of attack will change.

[@soulnickos2245]

13:34 How do you have the most amount of lift at the lowest amount of total drag?

[@mrsaraf3459]

Drag is basically air friction. Since we know that friction acts opposite to direction of motion, lesser the friction more the lift you get

[@maxmcvicker]

You don’t. They are showing the point of lowest amount of drag. You can have more lift but drag will increase past that point on the curve.

[@brooklynlogan5418]

I’m 14 so none of this makes sense but it’s still more than thenPHAK so thank you

[@just_arthur3269]

when man dates drop im joinning ATC and my dad said just to learn this kind of stuff so i am ATC is my choice too so ye thanks

[@ArchFish-zm9vl]

Garcia Edward Thompson Betty Brown Amy

[@qutubhashmi1656]

Very nice video

[@MagnarNordal]

This video is very good, with one exemption: The illustration at 3:20 does not explain Newton's third law, because the airflow is not deflected downwards behind the wing (it looks more like a stalled wing). According to Newton's third law is lift the opposite of the downwards force created by the air flowing behind the wing. And what is completely missed, is the fact that the air is pushed upwards BEFORE the wing, balancing the downwash behind the wing. Finally, Newtons second law is essential: Because of the curvature is the air accelerated above the wing (thanks to Bernoulli). F = m * a. This acceleration creates the downforce, and the opposite force is lift (Newton's third law).

[@ERAUSpecialVFR]

Thanks for the feedback! In designing this course, we had to consider not only our audience (high school students,) but also the purpose of the course. It was designed as an introduction to aviation theories and principles. Don't worry....once students enroll in a degree program at the University, they will get their fill of physics and aerodynamics. :-)

[@logyscott]

Very good video, clear and concise

[@Geosbudy]

damn, these videos just took me back to class some details totally forgotten... If I had these videos 10 years ago...

[@survivalhealthandhealingtv5651]

100 TIMES BETTER THAN SPORTY'S...

[@CorySchneiderOfficial]

Thanks for this great video! It really helps to be able to hear things in different ways, in addition to reading the PHAK and AFH.

[@rodericksibelius8472]

I was a US Navy Schooled and Experienced Aviation Flight Controls Systems Mechanic/Technician, '8 years' doing it. I am really amazed how Engineering Mathematical Physics applied to real world problems solutions for the advancement of man. Now we have Artificial Intelligent computerized algorithms with the fusion of miniaturized sensors used by modern Control Systems Engineers using Kalman Filtering computations by a computer to control the complex operation of an airplane in flight, drones and all types of modern automation, all that has made a Piliot's job easier today. However, A human pilot's brain though is still the most used computer for ultimate decisions for SAFETY in the commercial world.

[@grigorybykovskiy6763]

It is so weird, that angle of attack is a clime while I always thought the attack is a decline. Can be an angle of attack both climb and decline or only when plain gain altitude (climb)?

[@ERAUSpecialVFR]

Angles of attack can be both positive and negative, although they are almost always positive. Depending on other factors, a positive angle of attack can result in either a climb or descent.

[@zachthomas7810]

4:00 because mass flow rate of a fluid is constant (A1V1=A2V2) when the cross sectional area of the pipe decreases the velocity must increase. The reason pressure decreases when velocity increases is because the pressure had to increase beforehand in order to increase the velocity of the fluid. And with the airfoil it’s the same thing since the top part is curved air molecules have 5:06 to travel a greater distance over the wing than under the wing so their velocity is greater and pressure is less than the bottom. Since pressure under the wing is greater and pressure = force/area this means the force component of pressure under the wing is greater. So if you just look at the wing as its own system and Force on wing = mass * acceleration then there will be a positive (upwards) force and thus a positive (upwards) acceleration which we attribute to flying. Note that the air molecules act on the surfaces of the wing with an impulse which has a Force component (impulse = force * time) so this force from the air molecules is what contributes to the Force component of pressure and the pressure and velocity differences stuff puts us back at Bernoulli’s principle

[@ainalen3883]

Reading each section , and then watching your videos !

[@sohail1855]

Hello Pilots, Do I understand it right that, Stall will happen when you have a large angle of attack at relative low speed? But if, with the Same Angle of Attack, the speed is much higher, then stall won't happen. Right? And the plane will climb up of course. Right? If not right, Then how come that fighter jets and other acrobatic planes can climb strait vertically? I suppose this is because of their high speed, which provides enough lift, no matter in what direction or angle they move. So why can't normal plans in a critical angle of attack give full thrust to gain more lift? The air is the same everywhere in the sky. Why behaves the air different if we want to fly in an angle which is not parallel to the horizon?

[@mexican69346]

An aircraft can stall at any speed as long as the critical angle of attack is reached.

[@srigi-dev]

What is the name of the aircraft at 11:10?

[@ERAUSpecialVFR]

Srigi That is the Diamond DA-42.

[@Arcwol]

Awesome explanation from 4:09 - 5:15.

[@victorvictor8587]

I've Worked with Parasites at Companies and Yes it is a Drag working in the Same Department with them and Yes they do Slow things Down Deliberately .

[@matthewajlouny3714]

Great explaination of newtons laws and how it related to lift. One thing I didn't agree with the pinching of flow at the leading edge causes the velocity to increase. This would be the case for internal flow in a pipe, but not always the case for flow around an airfoil

[@noroardanto]

Best lift explanation so far. The venturi tube animation clearly explain the bernoulli's theory on airfoil.

[@ZimmMr]

Beautifully done!

[@cq7415]

This is wonderful, so informative and easy to understand. Thanks for sharing.

[@cos6840]

Why is it that the pressure decreases in the Venturi tube (3:54), I understand that the velocity would increase but since there isn’t as much room in the tube I would think that the pressure would increase?

[@MrBoomBoom1942]

Amazing vid. Thanks! Greetings from North Korea

[@ayojyotika]

The best video ever! I'm a beginner and can understand so so well.. amazing 🙌✨

[@marcopavone8695]

Excelent!

[@umarmars47]

Beautiful explanation even for a person who doesn't know anything. Greetings from Malaysia & Singapura

[@muhsinbadshah6388]

Sir. So much thanks to you as your videos are very beneficial and amazing for us. Thanks sir

[@lukluk167]

Thanks a lot for such a clear explanation. The best I could find

[@alderusdmc]

Wouldn't the wing with zero camber also be the kind stunt planes (like the Extra 300) use?

[@shantanupoddar1831]

This is far better than the teacher explaining the same thing to students in college.

[@ankitkumarojha6103]

Please explain how lift is directly proportional to drag.

[@maxmcvicker]

As lift is doubled, drag is quadrupled. Drag increases as the square of the airspeed.

[@enkavidhaigal1707]

The best ever explaination in the world Just do a videos about fighter jets

[@abhinavsaxena5470]

thanx for this beautiful trepresentation

[@SleekDan97]

This is the best video on the internet, thank you

[@Bill-uo6cm]

Bernoulli's Principle was not explained.

[@juanpennisi1202]

Is weight a force? Isn't it gravity?

[@Tranefine]

It's the _weight force_ that is meant here, but gravity has a significant impact, indeed. The weight force _W_ compounds of the mass of the object _m_ times the gravitational constant _g_ (9.81 m/s^2). The Maximum Take-off Mass (MTOM) of a Cessna 172 is 780 kg. The applied weight force is W = m*g = 780 kg * 9.81 m/s^2 = 7’651.5 Newton.

[@ambi50]

Excellent. Very well explained. Inspiring. Thank you very much.

[@TheScottruchek]

I a,ways like your videos. Thank you!

[@napraznicul]

Golden final idea, available also for cars driving, but there lack of knowledge not always become ..fatality, as in airplane flying.

[@newpaltzonian]

0:46 - At straight & level, unaccelerated flight, Lift=Weight. Agreed, since the flight isn't climbing nor descending. But Thrust=Drag ? Doesn't seem right because the flight is moving forward at steady velocity. If they were equal, the flight would just stand still & thus go into a stall, wouldn't it? Experts?

[@ERAUSpecialVFR]

At a steady velocity, thrust equals drag. If thrust is greater than drag, the plane accelerates. If drag is greater than thrust, the plane slows down.

[@coolhari2000]

Getting ready for cfi checkride and the style of explanation of this video is so elegant. Thanks much for sharing.

[@albertvaldez2669]

This is better than the online course I took a week ago!

[@millandianne]

Great video nice job . As pilot this is great ❤