When Geese Fly in a V, why is one side always longer than the other?
351528
Its part of their flying rotation.. One side is always longer because the tired goose goes to the back of the line...\n\n\nWhen the head goose gets tired, it rotates back into the wing and another goose flies point.
299853
Because they are fowl
1065709
The altitude record is held by a Rüppell's griffon Gyps rueppelli, a vulture with a 10-foot wingspan. On November 29, 1975 one was sucked into a jet engine 37,900 feet above the Ivory Coast in West Africa. The plane was damaged but landed safely. What the bird was doing up so high I have no idea, since this species is not migratory.\n\nThe bird that flies highest most regularly is the bar-headed goose Anser indicus, which travels directly over the Himalayas en route between its nesting grounds in Tibet and winter quarters in India. They are sometimes seen flying well above the peak of Mt. Everest at 29,035 ft. Birds have some natural advantages for getting oxygen at high altitudes, in particular an arrangement of air sacs that allows them to circulate inhaled air twice through the lungs with each breath--much more efficient than the in-and-out system used by mammals. Bar-headed geese have special adaptations that make them even better at high-flying than other birds. They have a special type of hemoglobin that absorbs oxygen very quickly at high altitudes, and their capillaries penetrate especially deep within their muscles to transfer oxygen to the muscle fibers.\n\nOther high flying birds include whooper swans, once observed by a pilot at 27,000 feet over the Atlantic between Iceland and Europe, and bar-tailed godwits (a shorebird), which have been seen at almost 20,000 feet. The record for North America is a mallard duck that collided with an airplane at 21,000 feet above Elko, Nevada in July, 1963. Most birds, though, fly lower--waterfowl typically at between 200-4,000 feet, and small songbirds at between 500-2,000 feet. However, the tiny Blackpoll warbler will fly up to 16,000 feet high in order to catch favorable winds on migration between Canada and South America. I'm not sure how well a sparrow would do, but similar-sized birds are quite capable of flying very high indeed.
194842
The above answers are correct, though probably not what you're asking about since you're asking why don't other birds as well. Well, first off, geese don't travel in V's, they travel in lines, which uses the same principles, just to a lesser extent, but that's neither here not there.\n\nThe main reason is size: ducks and geese are the only birds that are really big enough for the "drafting" to have an effect. All moving objects create the same wind based on their weight and size, so imagine a sparrow trying to draft another sparrow - it'd have to be basically eating the other one's feet. Additionally, smaller birds travel more erratically as opposed to the straight path of larger birds.\n\nThe other reason only birds and geese utilize this is because they're the main birds that migrate - for a bird that never travels more than 2-3 miles at a time, efficiency isn't exactly a necessity, but for birds that travel 600 miles every winter, maximizing energy is a must.
516448
Sails can go against the wind but not ireactly into it. There is about 90degrees, 45degrees either side of the direction that boats with sails struggle into.\n\nThe sail is shaped much like an aeroplane wing and it is this shape that forces the air to move fater over one side of the sail than the other, decreasing air pressure on one side of the sail and pulling the boat along. This will pull the boat in a slighlty side on motion to the desired travel but a central board (dagger board) creates sideways resistance and forces the forward  motion to be dominant.
24445
An airplane flies due to the aerodynamic reactions that happen when air passes at high speed over the wing.\n\nWhen air passes over the wing, it is forced to pass underneath or over top of it. The length of the wing is larger on the top portion, so according to laws of aerodynamics, the air flow becomes faster, to compensate the larger distance to be travelled. This significantly diminishes the pressure of air on the wing; the difference of pressure under and over the wings creates the necessary lift for flight.\n\nAlso they obey, on a smaller scale, the laws of inertia as formulated by Isaac Newton: a force acting in one given direction tends to be balanced by another force with same intensity, and of opposing direction. As the wings of the airplanes tend to make curve for low, a air flow is created in this direction and, as consequence, the airplane receives a push from same force in the opposing direction.\n\nAirplanes need a high speed so that the difference of the pressure of air under and over the wing is enough for lifting the aircraft. To reach these high speeds, an airplane needs to cover a certain distance on the ground, before reaching the speed needed for take-off. For larger and heavier aircraft it will generally require a longer runway to reach the necessary speed for the take-off, given the larger amount of energy needed.
624756
Charlie is right. Wind is named by the direction they are coming from. Easterly winds are coming from the east.\n\nPilot humor just got to love it. Hope you have many many tailwinds. :)
553787
a bird can fly but a fly can't bird.
1086704
An aircraft flies due to aerodynamic reactions that happen when there is relative motion between air and a wing.\n\nIf a cross-section of a typical aircraft wing is viewed, the top of the wing can be seen to be curved downwards, while the bottom of the wing is less curved or straight, but angled to the airflow. This shape, called an airfoil or aerofoil, creates lift when it travels through the air. However, this optimisation is not applicable for aerobatic aircraft, which need to fly inverted, or for supersonic aircraft.\n\nLift is created as an airstream passes by something which deflects it. The force created by this deflection of the air creates an equal and opposite force on the wing according to Newton's third law of motion. The deflection of airflow downward during the creation of lift is known as downwash.\n\nNearly any shape will produce lift if curved or tilted with respect to the air flow direction. However, most shapes will be very inefficient and create too much drag. One of the primary goals of wing design is to devise a shape that produces the most lift while producing the least lift-induced drag.\n\nA false explanation for lift has been put forward in mainstream books, and even in scientific exhibitions. Known as the equal transit-time fallacy, it states that the parcels of air which are divided by an airfoil must rejoin again; because of the greater curvature (and hence longer path) of the upper surface of an aerofoil, the air going over the top must go faster in order to "catch up" with the air flowing around the bottom. Therefore, because of its higher speed the pressure of the air above the airfoil must be lower. Despite the fact that this "explanation" is probably the most common of all, it is false in that there is no requirement that divided parcels of air rejoin again, and in fact they do not do so.\n\nNevertherless, the deflection of the air does cause changes in the pressure above and below the wing; generally a higher pressure area forms below and a lower pressure forms above; these changes in pressure are necessary for the deflection to occur, and it is these pressure differences over the area of the wing that provides the force that holds the aircraft in the air.
656671
I used to own chickens and roosters. Neither can fly not even a few meters. They are able to jump/flight to there perch and thats about it.\n\nWing to body size ratio prevents their flight.
356086
it depends whether u live north or south of the equator. the culprit is called coriolis force. it is proportional to omegaXv where omega is the eaths angular momentum. since its a cross product and v is different in north and south. the direction (clockwise or anti) is thus different.
177960
Lots of animals are habitual, meaning they will return to the same spots for mating, nesting, etc.  Birds are particularly good at it, just look at their migratory patterns, they will usually make the same pit stops along the way.  Chances are they are the same geese, and they have picked that spot to be their love nest.  aww...  If it's a good spot and other geese know about it, you might see another couple in the future, who knows?
11721
First of all, it depends on the bird size. The bird has an initial advantage of flying away. If the bird is big like a hawk, it would be a winner without any questions. But if it is small, it would fly away. And you know, The winner never runs away from the battlefield.
972761
The geese rotate who is at front in the formation. The lead bird is going to tire the fastest so they all share that position.  Geese do not necessarily have one lead bird that they all follow. Each indivdual goose knows they way to their hibernation area so when it is their turn to lead they do not need any other goose to tell them how to get there.
143334
i think its because of the air pressure. the air drags the feather up? i think
930040
Air travelling above the wing is at a higher velocity than that travelling below the wing. High v = low pressure (Bernoulli's eqn) therefore the higher pressure under the wing generates a resultant force towards the lower pressure and pushes the wing upward, creating lift.
25793
Because of the jet stream.  The jet stream flows west to east.  When a plane is flying east to west, the is more wind resistance on it.