undefined | Better HN

0 pointsWalterBright1d ago0 comments

Flying at near supersonic speeds at high altitude with a swept wing airplane is quite different from low and slow with a straight wing and thick air. Jetliners have a rather small envelope at altitude where the airplane will fly, things like overspeeding it will cause it to go out of control.

A fair amount of effort goes into designing the cockpit so it feels to the pilot like a low and slow aircraft, but it is not the reality.

For example, jetliners are unstable and require a yaw damper.

0 comments

raverbashing18h ago

Yes yes and I know all of that

We can argue semantics but the reason AF stalled is the same reason a Cessna would stall (too high of an AoA)

And fair enough the comparison with the Cessna might be bad, but compare it with a 737-200 or even an A300 and the comparison will be much closer even though the 737 doesn't have the fancy cockpit

> things like overspeeding it will cause it to go out of control.

Well that would be the case of the Cessna as well, if it has enough power

WalterBrightOP16h ago

> Well that would be the case of the Cessna as well, if it has enough power

Jetliners do have the power to overspeed, and the efficient place to be in the flight envelope is quite near it. A Cessna cannot.

There's a rather small envelope a jetliner operates in at altitude. A Cessna is far more forgiving, though you can get into deep doo-doo with that if you try.

You are correct that stall recovery is the same for both airplanes.

Although I know a lot about airplanes as an engineer, I am not a pilot and have not had pilot training.

My dad would attack artillery (Korean War) by diving straight down on it. I'm pretty sure his jet was fitted with dive brakes.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse