On Jun 14, 9:36*am, TonyV wrote:
Wayne Paul wrote:
There are several thing in this post to which I take exception. *However, I will *mention one. *A carrier approach is NOT flown on the "back-side" of the power curve.

He did NOT say power curve, he said drag curve - whatever that is.

Tony

Tony,

Not quite sure where you got your training, but the Drag/Power curve
is the curve that describes the total drag of the aircraft and the
thrust needed to counteract that drag. In all fixed-wing aircraft the
trust and drag are opposite in direction but equal in magnitude, in
most steady-state flight situations. In the case of a glider the
thrust is the forward vector of weight from the pull of gravity. The
power plane gets to add energy to the system, as long as it has fuel,
and thus can maintain a level altitude at one airspeed. The glider is
constantly trading potential energy (altitude) for thrust to overcome
drag. and so must normally constantly lose altitude. (Our great joy
comes from the fact that air rises.)

A very good site for understanding aerodymanics is: www.av8n.com/how
This is an online book by John S. Denker and is very well written. I
insist my power students read it for the very clear descriptions of
the aerodynamic forces in all aspects of flight. The first chapter is
very good at describing the "energies" of flight. If you look at
John's descriptions, especially the constant-power discussions, you
can usually apply most of it to our glider aerodynamics.

For another great website, on a very different aviation topic, I also
reccomend www.pilotpsy.com. It is the application of sports
psychology to airmanship and is very thought provoking.

Have fun.