How can they fly?

When you look closely at birds flying, it becomes an art form, especially for a pilot. Birds are agile and their flying is effortless. How can it not? These creatures were created to fly!

Their bones are hollow, and they are covered with feathers which do not weight a thing. It took a long time for us to figure out how birds can fly. It all has to do with the wing itself and the weight they carry.

It was not an easy task to translate this marvel into a man-made creation. Many years passed trying to figure out the perfect wing profile which would be able to produce the maximum amount of lift needed.

The faster the air is moving around the wings, the more lift they will produce.

The more lift that’s produced, the more drag will be generated. There is a fine line in between this process where efficiency is met. In addition, the wing must move forward in the air to be able to produce lift. A stationary wing or a low-speed wing will not be able to produce lift. Therefore, an aircraft must have the power (thrust) to move the wing in the air at a speed where lift overcomes the weight/drag of the aircraft.

In other words, by moving the wings forward to a certain velocity (speed), lift will be produced by accelerating the air particles over the wings and creating a pressure difference between both the lower and the upper parts of the wing.

In the case of airplanes, once the pressure (uplift) on the upper portion of the wing is sufficient, the wing will be able to support the weight of the aircraft and flight will be achieved.  

The faster the aircraft can travel, the more lift it will generate. On the contrary, if the aircraft is at a lower speed, the uplift will be less and eventually the wings will no longer be able to hold the weight, something we in aviation call wing stalling.