Aerodynamics
The effects of drag and air resistance on aircraft
The Spin Debate
If spins can kill, why aren't pilots trained to handle them?
November 2003 |
By Joseph Bourque
How the 747 Got Its Hump
In the evolution of the airplane, Darwinian principles have applied unevenly.
May 2003 |
By Bill Sweetman
The 1903 Wright Flyer
Find out why the world's first controllable airplane was a bear to control.
March 2003 |
By Phaedra Hise
Winner Take All
All the nail biting, second guessing, and sheer engineering brilliance in the battle to build the better Joint Strike Fighter.
January 2003 |
By Evan Hadingham
Outback Scramjet
A University of Queensland lab has supersonic success.
November 2002 |
By Luba Vangelova
Konstantin Tsiolkovsky Slept Here
Following in the footsteps of the man who invented space travel.
September 2002 |
By Anatoly Zak
The Man Who Could See Air
Richard Whitcomb changed the shape of wings to come.
July 2002 |
By Peter Garrison
Ready, Set, Flap!
Birds do it, bees do it. Can two weird aircraft make aviation history doing it?
January 2002 |
By Graham Chandler
How Things Work: Winglets
You know those things on the wingtips of airliners that stick straight up? The first in a new series is all about why you're seeing more of them.
September 2001 |
By George Larson
The Hammer
For every airplane, there's a region of the flight envelope into which it dare not fly.
March 2001 |
By Peter Garrison
The NeXt Generation
What to expect from the latests flock of X-planes.
January 2000 |
By George C. Larson
That New Black Magic
In the early years of the cold war, enter Kelly Johnson and an clean sheet of paper--long enough to accommodate an 80-foot wingspan.
January 1999 |
By William E. Burrows
Extreme Machine
The U.S. Marine Corps' sword gets a brand-new edge.
November 1998 |
By George C. Larson
Bigfoot
Sometimes the hardest design challenge isn't getting aircraft into the air but getting them back on the ground.
March 1998 |
By John Sotham
When Ships Have Wings
The bigger they are, the better they fly. And they're made in Russia.
January 1996 |
By Craig Mellow
The Burnelli Controversy
Was this designer a genius or his own worst enemy?
November 1989 |
By David Noland
