Balanced Flight is the state an aircraft is in when it is traveling at a constant heading, with a constant airspeed, and at a constant altitude. In other words, the aircraft is not accelerating. This occurs because all of the four main forces that act on an aircraft in flight are in perfect balance, and they cancel each other out. Look up aircraft in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... This article contains information that has not been verified and thus might not be reliable. ... Altitude is the elevation of an object from a known level or datum. ...

The four main forces that act on an aircraft in flight are thrust, drag, lift, and gravity. Thrust is a reaction force described quantitatively by Newtons Second and Third Laws. ... An object falling through a gas or liquid experiences a force in direction opposite to its motion. ... The lift force, lifting force or simply lift is a mechanical force generated by a solid object moving through a fluid. ... Gravity is a force of attraction that acts between bodies that have mass. ...

Thrust: Thrust is the force that accelerates the aircraft forward. It is a result of any mass of air (or other gasses such as in a rocket) that is accelerated backwards in an engine. This can be caused in a number of ways such as by a rotating propeller or by the igniting of an air/fuel mixture in a gas turbine engine. Look up air in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... A Soyuz rocket, at Baikanur launch pad. ... An engine in the broadest sense, is something that produces an output effect from a given input. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... A Siemens steam turbine with the case opened. ...

Drag: Drag is the force that accelerates the aircraft backwards, and it counteracts (is opposite of) thrust. It is the result of the resistance (inertia) of the air molecules which are displaced as the aircraft moves through them. Drag varies with different aircraft shapes and with the positions of movable surfaces such as flaps and control surfaces (ailerons, elevators, and rudders). Inertia is the property of an object to remain at constant velocity unless acted upon by an outside force. ... In science, a molecule is a group of atoms in a definite arrangement held together by chemical bonds. ... Aileron location on a Piper PA-28. ... This article is about the transportation device. ... Stern-mounted steering oar of an Egyptian riverboat depicted in the Tomb of Menna (c. ...

Lift: Lift is the force that accelerates the aircraft upwards, keeping it in the air. It is caused by the difference in air pressure on the upper and lower surfaces of the wing. The airflow impacts the wing at an angle (angle of attack or AOA). This compresses the air underneath the wing, resulting in higher air pressure, and it lowers the air pressure above the wing, as the air has to curve downward before exerting pressure on the wing. To optimize lift further, many airfoils are designed with the top of the wing bulging outward slightly, which forces the upper stream of air to flow faster, resulting in lower pressure above the wing (see Bernoulli's principle). Air pressure can refer to: Atmospheric pressure, the pressure of air environmentally Pressure of air in a system Category: ... A Laughing Gull with its wings extended in a gull wing profile Aircraft wing planform shapes: a swept wing KC-10 Extender (top) refuels a trapezoid-wing F/A-22 Raptor A wing is a surface used to produce lift and therefore flight, for travel in the air or another... In this diagram, the black arrow represents the direction of the wind. ... -1...

Gravity: Gravity is the force of attraction between any two masses. Therefore, gravity pulls the aircraft straight down, and counteracts lift. On Earth gravity is, for the most part, constant. However, it does decrease very slightly with altitude. This article is about Earth as a planet. ...

When an aircraft is not in balanced flight, the thrust/drag pair of forces is out of balance, the lift/gravity pair of forces is out of balance, or both pairs are out of balance. When either thrust or drag is greater than its counterpart, the aircraft gains or loses airspeed.

When either lift or gravity is greater than its counterpart, the aircraft gains or loses altitude. However, it should be noted that the above explanation is a very simplified one. In reality the horizontal, vertical, and lateral components of all these forces vary as the aircraft rotates around its three axes (roll, pitch, and yaw) resulting in a complex, net behavior of the aircraft. Look up roll in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Flight dynamics is the study of orientation of air and space vehicles and how to control the critical flight parameters, typically named pitch, roll and yaw. ... The word yaw can refer to: Yaw, the name for the Levantine god of chaos, rivers, the sea, and tempests; Yaw, an aeronautical and nautical term which indicates how far a craft is pointing away from its direction of travel due to rotation about its vertical axis. ...