What makes airplanes fly?

by Peter P. Wegener · first published 1991

"How can an airplane weighing many tons stay aloft for many hours, flying so smoothly that passengers may feel less like they are moving than they would in a car? The answer, of course, lies in the wings and in the air they are moving through. The study of this flow of air is part of the science of aerodynamics." "This book is about aerodynamics in the broadest sense. In addition to airplanes, it discusses the aerodynamics of cars and birds and the motion of other diverse objects through air and water. The fundamental notions of mechanics and fluid dynamics - that is, the basic physics underly