Do Airplanes Have Constant Velocity?

by | Last updated on January 24, 2024

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Do airplanes have constant velocity? Yes! In physics, constant velocity occurs when there is no net force acting on the object causing it to accelerate.

In terms of airplane flight, the two main forces influencing its velocity forward are drag and thrust.

How do airplanes control speed?

The pilot controls the engine power

using the throttle

. Pushing the throttle increases power, and pulling it decreases power. The ailerons raise and lower the wings. The pilot controls the roll of the plane by raising one aileron or the other with a control wheel.

What is the velocity of a plane?

With an angular velocity of

0.02328 radians per second

, I get a ground speed of 116 m/s (260 mph). This means the plane is moving with the same velocity (but in the opposite direction). Yes, that seems a little slow, but it was during decent and probably higher than the stall speed.

Under what conditions will an airplane maintain a constant speed?

Why do planes not go full speed?


Fuel efficiency

, among various other things, is the primary reason why commercial airplanes have not gotten any faster in the last couple of decades.

Can a flight stop in the air without moving?

Can an airplane stay up in the air without moving forward just like helicopter? A: Techincally, there is only one way for the to remain hanging motionless in the air:

if weight and lift cancel each other out perfectly, and at the same time thrust and drag cancel each other out too

. But this is incredibly rare.

How do planes slow down before landing?


The pilot flying pulls back gently on the control column to slow the sink rate and flare for landing

. The wheels touch down in a cloud of burnt rubber. The landing gear and wheels absorb the impact of the massive aircraft.

What keeps a plane in the air?

Four forces keep an airplane in the sky. They are

lift, weight, thrust and drag

. Lift pushes the airplane up.

Is the airplane accelerating?


Planes accelerate between 115 mph and 160 mph (185 km/h – 257 km/h or 100 -140 knots) on the runway

. But, the exact acceleration depends on the plane's model, outside temperature, and other factors. Generally speaking, commercial planes require the most acceleration to take-off, while small planes require the least.

Why air flows faster over a wing?


A wing is shaped and tilted so the air moving over it moves faster than the air moving under it

. As air speeds up, its pressure goes down. So the faster-moving air above exerts less pressure on the wing than the slower-moving air below.

Why do airplanes pull up their landing gear after takeoff?

Planes that have retractable gear generally retract their gear

for improved performance

. Not having wheels and struts hanging down streamlines the plane, improves fuel efficiency, enables them to fly faster and higher, and makes for a quieter, more comfortable ride inside the cabin.

Can you climb a plane?


No, it cannot

– at least, not while transitioning. For an airplane to transition from straight-and-level flight into a climb, thrust has to be increased. When this happens, the force of thrust becomes greater (for a time) than the rearward force of drag.

When a jet plane is moving at constant velocity at a constant height What can be said about the thrust force and the force of air resistance?

At a constant altitude, when the force of thrust equals the opposing force of drag, then

the airplane will experience uniform motion in one direction

. This can be further explained by Newton's First Law.

Do planes fly at max speed?

The answer is around 500 mph in still air.

Jets often cruise near their maximum speed

; in those cases they cannot speed up without exceeding limitations. Exceeding a limitation is unsafe and is contrary to the regulations.

Why are modern fighters slower?

Do bigger planes go faster?

Most small planes fly between 120-180 mph. In contrast, private and commercial jets regularly fly 4-5x faster, whereas military jets can even fly 10x as fast.

Small planes fly slower than larger planes

, primarily due to their less powerful engines.

Can you outrun the sun in a plane?

This means that the Sun effectively zooms across the face of the Earth at the equator at around 1,700km/h. So

you'd have to travel at least this fast to stay in daylight

. But that's around 1.5 times the speed of sound – and twice as fast as a conventional passenger plane.

Can a plane fly with one wing?

The F-15 has endured because its design was years ahead of its time, and a great data point behind that fact is the time

Israeli pilot Zivi Nedivi landed his jet with only one wing

. Nedivi had one of his wings sheared off in a midair collision with an A-4 Skyhawk during a training event.

Can planes hover one spot?

Can planes brake in the air?


Virtually all jet-powered aircraft have an air brake

or, in the case of most airliners, lift spoilers that also act as air brakes.

Do planes have brakes on the wheels?

There are two kinds of brakes in an airplane: air brakes and landing brakes. Just like the brakes on a vehicle,

the wheels of most of the airplanes also have brakes

. But those can only be used when the plane touches the ground.

Do pilots turn off engines?

Pilots have come out and said that

while we're in the air eating our boxed dinner or packaged snack, they turn the engines off

. If you take notice it is pretty easy to hear the changing sounds of engines throughout the course of the flights.

Why do planes do not fly over the Pacific?

Most commercial airlines, that operate between East Asia and the Americas, do not fly over the Pacific Ocean because of

cost and safety concerns, including turbulent weather, which can be dangerous to fly over

.

Why don't planes fly in a straight line?

The reason for this is that

the earth revolves on its axis, forcing the middle to bulge out slightly

. The curvature of the earth and its extra equatorial width mean that curving towards the poles is a shorter distance than flying in a straight line.

Why can planes fly upside down?

That causes air over the top to flow more quickly than underneath.

The difference in pressure gives the wing lift, forcing it upwards

. Upside down, that effect would reverse, but the pilot could still achieve lift by altering the angle of attack, in other words by pointing the plane's nose skyward.

Is takeoff speed initial velocity?

Takeoff Velocity:

The velocity of the aircraft at which it leaves the ground is called the takeoff velocity. As the aircraft starts its motion from the rest position,

its initial velocity is equal to zero

.

How fast does a 747 accelerate?

The 747 goes from its approximate takeoff speed of 200 mph (89.4 meters per second) to

0 mph in 27 seconds

.

Do planes use full throttle on takeoff?


All jets use some form of derated or reduced-thrust takeoffs

. The 737 is not unique in this procedure. Q: I have noticed on takeoff that the pilot seems to rev the engine to 1/2 or 3/4 thrust (with no movement), reduces power, then goes to full throttle for takeoff.

What are the 4 principles of flight?

Does Bernoulli's principle explain flight?

Bernoulli's equation is based on energy conservation and fluid movement.

It is widely used to explain how planes fly

: “The air pressure under the wing is higher than the pressure above the wing since the speed there is higher.

Does high air pressure move fast or slow?

Answers will vary but may include ideas such as faster moving air exerts lower pressure and

slower moving air exerts higher pressure

.

How late can a plane take off?

At what angle do planes take off?

Planes slowly angle up during take off at about

2-3 degrees per second

for a Boeing 747. A bit of quick math and using the same Boeing 747 as an example, the average passenger plane has a maximum take off angle of about 10-15 degrees. That's well within the plane's tolerances of course.

What do pilots say when landing?

Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, Echo, Foxtrot, Golf, Hotel, India, Juliet, Kilo, Lima, Mike, November, Oscar, Papa, Quebec, Romeo, Sierra, Tango, Uniform, Victor, Whiskey, X-ray, Yankee, Zulu. Numbers get special treatment too.

Can you actually enter a plane through the landing gear?

Though ‘getting on/off aircraft through landing gear' is a favorite trope in movies,

it is practically impossible in most of the modern airliners

. Airliners are pressurized, and as a result, the cabin (and cockpit) area is in reality one big cylinder, cut off from everything else.

Can you survive a flight in the landing gear?

Wheel-well stowaways face considerable risk of death during all phases of flight.

Some have been unable to remain in the well during takeoff and landing and have fallen to their death

. Immediately after takeoff, the landing gear retracts into the wheel wells, with the potential to crush the stowaway.

David Evans
Author
David Evans
David is a seasoned automotive enthusiast. He is a graduate of Mechanical Engineering and has a passion for all things related to cars and vehicles. With his extensive knowledge of cars and other vehicles, David is an authority in the industry.