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 In this program, we learned about airplanes and how they fly.
We discovered that there are four kinds of forces on an airplane in flight: gravity, lift, thrust, and drag. It sounds complicated, but it really isn’t. Gravity is the force due to the Earth that pulls everything down. We also call it weight. Of course, we all knew that already. Lift is the force that keeps an airplane from falling down when it is in flight. This force is caused by the air passing under and over the wing. Thrust is the force produced by the engine that pulls the airplane forward. And drag is the force that keeps you from going as fast as you want. It is like friction.
The controls in the airplane move certain parts of the wing surfaces so that the airplane can go up, down, left, and right. In fact, an airplane can turn around three directions, called pitch, roll,  and yaw. Although we didn’t do much with yaw, we did learn that it’s controlled by the two pedals on the floor. To make the airplane turn left or right, we turn the steering wheel to the left or right (although it’s actually called a “yoke” in an airplane). Turning the steering wheel causes the plane to bank (tilt), and that’s how it turns. The steering wheel also moves in and out. If we pull back on the steering wheel, the houses get smaller, and if we push forward on the steering wheel, the houses get bigger. (OK… the airplane either goes up or down!) |
