In article . net,
Richard Lamb wrote:

This has all been very interesting, but there is a basic assumption
that seems to be glossed over.

I was thinking, that to really get anything out of all this,
shut the engine off!

Everybody has been _assumin'_ straight and level flight.
I suppose that's ok for academic discussion, but for learnin'
aerodynamics, let's just assume the engine quit and take it
from there.

L / D

Just a thought...


Richard

It doesn't really make any difference.

In a constant glide, the aircraft now does have momentum with respect to
the earth, but it is *still* incurring the same forces.

--
Alan Baker
Vancouver, British Columbia
"If you raise the ceiling 4 feet, move the fireplace from that wall
to that wall, you'll still only get the full stereophonic effect
if you sit in the bottom of that cupboard."