Ground Effect

In this video, I cover the topic of Ground Effect- an interesting phenomenon that occurs when an aircraft is flying close to the ground. I explain a bit of the science behind ground effect, and why it's so important to pilots during takeoff and landing.

[@desireercortez]

You did a great explanation! 😃🙌🏼 great job, I’m currently studying for my FAA written test for my Private Pilot license and found your video

[@DenTolstov]

you should be a CFI,very liked your explanations

[@roddraym]

Thanks Scott. Your explanation was very insightful! Your friends were right: your passion for this really comes through plus makes the topic interesting. Best towards your career in ME/Aviation.

[@elelyon555]

Thanks for explaining , great video 👍👌🏻🙏🏼

[@HaepariNY]

very impressive you need to upload more video !!! I can't wait to see your explaination

[@elsamarjanen7841]

Great video!!!

[@SAAMLEE]

All these concepts are well explained.

[@stephenjohnson4948]

I wish that you would create some more videos.

[@donovangilesx]

Thanks for the explanation, it helped alot!

[@suzypanchani6911]

great explanation! thank you :)

[@mohithkanala8228]

Great explanation bro! Would have loved to hear how the stall angle is changed due to ground effect? Keep going! 🤘🏻

[@ethanbecker5679]

THANK YOU NICE VID!!!

[@TheFukkyahh]

Thank you!!!

[@skyillegaldiver]

excellent

[@bogdanrus1148]

Hi there Scott! Nice video. I'm kinda' late with the comment. Still, maybe you could answer a question I have about ground effect: Is there any way to cancel ground effect during final approach by modifying the geometry of the wing? Like, for instance, pulling the wings back, flattening the wings, extending some sort of spoiler to push the aircraft towards the ground or drastically reducing air speed by creating aerodynamic drag from the tail of the aircraft? It should, in my mind, be easier than landing with all that ground effect and learning as a new pilot how far to pull the nose back up in order to decrease the speed of the aircraft during landing. What does an engineer say about that?

[@engineerintheair4948]

Hi Bogdan! Thanks so much for the nice comment. I'm no aircraft designer, but here's my two cents, for what they're worth! :) Aircraft design is all about tradeoffs - generally there are no free lunches with aerodynamics, if you make one thing better, you make another worse. So while many adjustments could be made to the aircraft to nullify the results of ground effect - few make sense for general aviation or commercial aircraft. You're correct that you could create more tail sweepback, flatten the wings, pick a different airfoil shape, or use spoilers to kill ground effect, among many things. But all of those adjustments create more complexity, increased weight, increased manufacturing cost (this is a big one!) and generally hurt the aircraft performance in cruising flight - where it spends most of it's time! Single engine GA aircraft are designed to be low-cost, easy to control, fuel economical, and easy to repair/maintain. Of all of these options, winglets were chosen as the easiest to implement that don't affect other phases of flight. Also, ground effect is generally not an area where pilots struggle too much compared to other phases of flight. So, most manufacturers have accepted it as a fact of life that costs too much to fight against. I hope that explains it well. Having said all that, maybe someone out there has designed an experimental aircraft that counters ground effect well. I'll have to keep an eye out for one!

[@williammrs]

Really enjoyed the video! for future videos, could you explain how to calculate the added lift and reduced drag of an aircraft entering ground effect based on wingspan and area, speed and height relative to the wingspan? Cheers:)

[@EnsanNormal]

how to overcome rhe ground effect?

[@rafaeldelmonte4650]

hey, i'm a student of a university of brasil and we have a competition about airplanes, we have to create and produce airplanes. My area in the the time it's aerodynamics, so i have to put this on my write, but i need the bibliographic references, you have?

[@TheDirtyyoungman1]

What you said is correct, but you left out the part about uneven ground contours and unlevel runways. Good job though.

[@Inmity]

Yo this shit lit i just heard about it

[@thormatt2963]

Great explanation. Did you just get out of bed?

[@tristanmoller9498]

Do your hair, put a nice shirt on and clean up the background a little and I would watch everyone of your explaining videos. You have potential teaching things, your channel could blow up.

[@craggslist]

Tristan Möller This. Its slightly distracting. Professionalize up a bit and you are going places! (Well, I mean on you tube. You're already going places)

[@engineerintheair4948]

@@craggslist I appreciate the feedback guys - I'm hoping to make a follow up video soon - one where I'm much more cleaned up :)

[@craggslist]

Engineer In The Air He's alive! Hope the flying is going good. I'm trying to nail landing at the moment.