Page 81 - Understanding Flight

CH03_Anderson 7/25/01 8:56 AM Page 68

68 CHAPTER THREE

Fig. 3.9. The DC-8 illustrating wing taper. (Photo courtesy of NASA.)

Fig. 3.10. Cessna 172. (Photo courtesy of the Cessna Aircraft Co.)

There is another reason to taper a wing, and that is to adjust the
lift along the wing to minimize the drag. As discussed in Chapter 2,
the lift on a wing is proportional to the amount of air diverted by the
wing times the vertical velocity of that air. The amount of air