Aerodynamics
The effects of drag and air resistance on aircraft
Toy Story
How tossing paper airplanes guided the career of an aerospace engineer.
November 2008 |
By Giles Lambertson
Is the Boeing 757 a threat to other airliners?
An unusual wake vortex has landed this airliner in a class by itself.
May 27, 2008 |
By Rebecca Maksel
What the Red Baron Never Knew
Computer analysis of World War I aircraft shows precisely why some were deadly and others, death traps.
January 2008 |
By Peter Garrison
Lunch With Willard
How a meeting 50 years ago solved a photographic mystery.
May 2007 |
By Joe Pappalardo
That Extra Little Lift
Willard Custer's Channel Wing looked like a mistake. Turns out his critics were the ones who were wrong.
May 2007 |
By Tim Wright
Model Behavior
In the age of computer design,
why do engineers still send airplane models to the wind tunnel?
March 2007 |
By Peter Garrison
How Things Work: Electromagnetic Catapults
From zero to 150 in less than a second.
January 2007 |
By Tim Wright
Why was the Voyager aircraft not symmetrical?
A 20-year mystery solved.
November 01, 2006 |
By Joe Pappalardo
Swing Wings
It's all done with computers (and good old-fashioned hydraulics).
September 2006 |
By Joe Pappalardo
Superduperjumbo
Double the size of an Airbus A380? No problem, aerodynamicists say.
July 2006 |
By Michael Milstein
Torture Chamber
Because airplanes must fly in the real world, the Air Force built a fake one.
May 2006 |
By Ed Regis
Mach 1 for Millionaires
Briefcase-toting suits who travel in bizjets-those will be the next pioneers in supersonic flight.
March 2006 |
By Mark Huber
Midnight Raiders
How zeppelin bombers during World War I terrorized the British-and their own German crews.
January 2006 |
By Nicholas Nirgiotis
Speed Freak
In the 1950s, the Mach 2+ B-58 Hustler seemed a safe bet to win the arms race.
January 2006 |
By Dale Smith
Debrief: Hyper-X
Scramjet power? Simple: Keep a match lit in a 7,000-mph wind.
July 2005 |
By Michael Milstein
A Little Lift
Gliders so responsive they can stay up on a breath of fresh air.
May 2005 |
By Paul Ciotti
Falling with the Falcon
Peregrines think simple thoughts: See food. Fly down. Go fast. Very fast.
March 2005 |
By Tom Harpole
Origin of the Species
We want speed! We want vertical lift! The Bell XV-3 Tilt-rotor was the first to satisfy all aeronautical tastes.
July 2004 |
By Jay Miller
God Save the Vulcan!
The Royal Air Force Vulcan, immense cold war bomber and aerodynamic marvel, has been sentenced to permanent museum exhibition.
January 2004 |
By Craig Mellow
