The Forces that Contribute to a Flying Airplane

Image taken from NASA webpage.

Common opinion states that airplanes can fly because of wings.  How do those wings affect flight?  Let's begin with the forces first.         An aircraft has four main forces working on it while in flight. Of course, many other forces are present. For simplicity, an aircraft's main forces are grouped in couples. We have Lift and Weight which counteract each other, and there's also Thrust and Drag which also counteract each other (these forces are shown in level flight to the left).          When the lifting force exceeds the weight, the aircraft produces lift. Conversely, if weight exceeds lift, the aircraft begins to travel downwards.  In instances where thrust exceeds drag, the aircraft is accelerating.  When drag force exceeds thrust, the aircraft is decelerating.        Now how is lifting force produced? To continue, follow the next two links (Bernoulli and Newtonian Principles) to find out.