What is the effect of wind direction and speed on airplanes?
821350
Think of it this way:  Once the plane is off the ground it is part of a mass of air that is likely moving in some direction (think wind).  The airplane moves through this mass of air at a constant velocity depending upon the power setting, load factors, etc.  The speed of the airplane is independent of the speed of the air mass.  The speed of the airplane over the ground consists of its speed in the air plus or minus the speed of the air mass over the ground adjusted for the direction the airplane is moving in relationship to the speed and direction the air mass is moving. \n\nA couple of examples might help.  Suppose that the airplane flies at 200 knots (about 230mph).  It is heading due east.  The airmass is also moving due east at 30 knots.  So, the ground speed of the airplane is 230 knots.  If the airplane were heading northeast then the ground speed would be 200 knots of air speed plus 21 knots (NE component of an air mass moving at 30 knots due east).  If it were heading due west then the ground speed would be 170 knots (200-30).\n\nWhat if it were heading directly to a spot 200 nautical miles to the north?  It would take slightly over an hour to get there.  Why?  Because to get to a spot due north on the ground the airplane would have to head west a bit to keep from going east of the spot it was flying to because the air mass was moving east.  In fact, it would take about 61 minutes and the airplane would have to head about 9 degrees west of north to keep from moving east.  The moving air mass would keep it on the north-south line between the starting point and destination.\n\nGot it?
31125
Hmm. I think air would not flow as well. I would guess the atmosphere would stay hovering relative to each plane (6 of them), and perhaps intersect at the corners.\n\nEach side of the earth would have varying surface temperatures, unevenly distributed, which would make the air dramatically different temperatures. This would cause the air to move, possibly faster so it could be quite windy.\n\nHee hee what a weird question, I like it :-)
858223
weight (second order effects), roughness, types of materials, speed (second order effects), moisture content (humidity. affects materials such as wood), temperature (ie hot rubber sticks). if the object is moving fast, then aerodynamics can actually effect it by forcing air into the area of contact for example (eg hydroplaning on wet road where water gets between rubber and the road).
595526
The Magnus effect is the name given to the physical phenomenon whereby an object's rotation affects its path through a fluid, in particular, air. It is a product of various phenomena including the Bernoulli effect and the formation of boundary layers in the medium around moving objects.\n\nA spinning object creates a kind of whirlpool of rotating air about itself. On one side of the object, the motion of the whirlpool will be in the same direction as the windstream that the object is exposed to. On this side the velocity will be increased. On the other side, the motion of the whirlpool is in the opposite direction of the windstream and the velocity will be decreased. The pressure in the air is reduced from atmospheric pressure by an amount proportional to the square of the velocity, so the pressure will be lower on one side than the other causing an unbalanced force at right angles to the wind.\n\nThe overall behaviour is similar to that round an aerofoil  with a circulation which is generated by the mechanical rotation, rather than by aerofoil action.\n\nThis is not the only thing causing the deflection of the object. In addition to the Magnus force, the boundary layer of the flow is delayed on the side that is moving in the same direction as the free stream flow, and is advanced on the side moving against the flow. The flow is deflected away from the side moving against the flow, and this momentum change in the flow is balanced by a momentum change in the object in the opposite direction. Anything that disrupts the boundary layer will therefore tend to straighten out the trajectory. This is the reason for dimples on a golf ball: They disrupt the flow around the ball and tend to lessen the effects of spin, as well as helping to reduce pressure drag due to early flow detachment
389887
Aerodynamics is a small part of engine location although very important relative to drag considerations.  The specific location from an aero standpoint is usually determined from wind tunnel data. The other things engine location can affect are vertical tail size, wing & nacelle flutter considerations, landing gear length and associated weight, servicing, foreign object ingestion and systems routing.
943222
Only if the plane has engines with sufficient thrust to hold it up against gravity, and it orients itself engines-facing-down to hold itself there -- the most recent jet fighter for the US Air Force can do this, as well as some "jumper jets", but not any other planes and certainly not any commercial airliners can.\n\nRelative to the ground, a plane can be "still" if the wind speed aloft is above the plane's stall speed.  In that case, air is moving across the wings of the plane at a fast enough speed to give enough lift to keep the plane aloft even though it doesn't move relative to the ground (the thrust from the engines and the "headwind" balance each other out).\n\nYou can get a good sense of this if you fly a lot between the pacific coast of the US and Asia -- the strong jetstream across the pacific does funny things to "ground" speed.  When flying west to east (with the jet stream), indicated ground speed on flights I've been on has exceeded 1,000 MPH, even though the plane can't go more than 400 MPH or so with no wind.  And flying east to west, indicated air speed will sometimes be as low as 50-60 MPH, even though airspeed is still 400MPH -- that headwind jetstream is a killer, and significantly lengthens the time it takes to get from LA to Tokyo (the normal 11-hour flight once took us 16 hours because of the headwind!) -- though I've made the return trip in under 7 hours!
899525
Using the example....from the problem you can tell that the tail wind helps the plane move faster.  Let's say the speed of the plane in still air is x, so the speed of the plane with the tail wind is equal to x+25.  The distance the plane travels is equal to (x+25)5, which is the speed of the plane times the number of hours the plane flew.  Now for the return flight, we know the wind is now working against the plane, so it reduces the plane's speed.  Therefore the speed on the return flight is x-25.  The distance traveled can be calculated by (x-25)6.  Since the flight to the destination and the return flight must be the equal, we can set the  distances equal to each other.\n\n(x+25)5 = (x-25)6\n5x + 125 = 6x - 150\n\nFrom there you can solve the problem.
629527
Pilots have to adjust their flight paths to compensate for the Coriolis effect.  This is something we can calculate.
1068629
I think you are talking about the 'Butterfly Effect' in weather forecasting.   With all the wonderful computers they have to help to forecast the weater, one of the staff was sitting in his garden when a butterfly flew past him.  He suddenly realised that the air movement caused by the wings can cause air movement which can increase over time, enough to cause a major storm in another part of the world.....................
157960
"Wind is the roughly horizontal movement of air (as opposed to an air current) caused by uneven heating of the Earth's surface."\n\nThe sun heats up the earth's surface, the hot air rises while the cool air sinks, therefore create air movement - which is called wind.
1010839
Aerodynamics is a branch of fluid dynamics concerned with the study of gas flows. The solution of an aerodynamic problem normally involves calculating for various properties of the flow, such as velocity, pressure, density, and temperature, as a function of space and time. Understanding the flow pattern makes it possible to calculate or approximate the forces and moments acting on bodies in the flow. This mathematical analysis and empirical approximation form the scientific basis for heavier-than-air flight.
639560
The wind is just the observable and measurable manifestation of air molecules being drawn en masse from one place to another by a differential in atmospheric pressure between the two places.  What causes most of these pressure differentiations is (a) earth's rotation creating friction between the lower and upper components of the atmosphere, and (b) temperature gradients in the atmosphere and the oceans caused by the heating action of our star, the Sun.\n\nLet's go fly a kite!
215818
Basically, airplane uses the same aerodynamic forces as forces that lifting your hand, when you reach out your hand through the moving car window.\nLittle slope of your hand is enough to create air force that pushes your hand up or down depending of angle.\n\nSimilarly, wind speed can elevate your sun umbrella on the beach.\nOnly difference is that an airplane creating enough wind speed by own moving straight ahead and forcing the air to push his sun umbrella (in case of airplane – sun umbrella or sloping hand  is WING )
51813
Your question is too wide to be answered easily in one sitting.  So I'll look at how and why of aerodynamics (simply) and then answer the speed bit.\n\nThis a bit of material I wrote for flight cabin staff to help them understand these principles.\n\nLift is the aerodynamic force that counteracts gravity and holds an airplane in the air. Most of the lift required by an airplane is created by its wings, but a certain portion is also generated by other parts of the aircraft, such as the fuselage. But what actually causes the lift to be created?\nAir is a fluid, just like water. Lift can only be generated when a fluid is in motion. For example, a wing must be passing through the air or the air must be moving around a stationary wing, one or the other. (The way it usually happens is that the wing is doing most of the moving, although the air may be moving, at the same time.)  The wing is moved through the air by the thrust generated by the aircraft’s engines.\n\nMost aircraft wings have a special, basic shape as viewed edge-on: The upper surfaces are curved and their lower surfaces are flatter. This shape is what works with the fluid motion of the air to create lift. As air moves around a wing, some goes over the top and some goes underneath. The air that goes over the curved upper surface undergoes two important changes: it is reduced in pressure and it is accelerated downward (as it leaves the trailing edge of the wing). The wing is forced up into the region of reduced air pressure above the upper surface of the wing by the higher air pressure beneath the wing. Also, the downward acceleration of the air (downwash) at the trailing edge forces the wing upward.\n\nSo this is the basis of aerodynamics.  Roraty wing aircraft (helicopters) work on the same basis, the aerofoil is rotated and lift created by the rotors (moving aerofoils). The thrust to move the aircraft forward is produced by tilting the rotor head, in the direction required.  Hence it can move forwards, sideways and backwards.  But the explanation would take a separate large answer.\n\nAs for speed, the maximum forward speed of the aircraft is determined by the thrust available, but the aircraft is limited by the design of the wing, the wing shape for a low speed high lift glider is very different to that of a supersonic aircraft.  The lowest speed is really controlled by the wing.  As the aircraft sppeed reduces so does the speed of the flow over the wing, surface friction slows it down further until the air refuses to flow over the aerofoil and it breaks up into turbulence and all lift is lost.  A number of things can be done to get this point at which the lift is lost (stall) at the lowest speed possible - such as flaps, slats etc (but this is another long answer).  On helicopters there is no slowest speed as the aircraft will just hover when it stops moving forward, but its maximum forward sppeed is limited by the air over the blades going sonic and loosing lift, and problems with the trailing blade (the one that is heading towards the back of the helicopter in forward flight.) Again another long answer.\n\nHope that helps.  The book below is the RAF's bible on aerodynamics.
44361
Wind direction/resistance would be a factor, but if we disregard the wind and the planes are running at the same airspeed, the one heading westward would theoretically have a shorter flight.  This is because the Earth's rotation is eastward.  So as the plane flies westward toward it's destination, that city is also moving eastward toward the plane.  The opposite is true for the plane heading eastward.  It's destination is also moving eastward away from the plane.  While there wouldn't be much difference, the westward plane should make the flight a little more quickly.
53243
I have to assume that you're familiar with general aerodynamics. If not, there's really not enough space to answer your question here.\n\nThe biggest physics differences between a helicopter and an airplane are torque, translational lift, and retreating blade stall.\n\nA helicopter's fuselage will tend to turn opposite the direction of the rotor, particularly at a hover or a slow speed. (Some streamlining occurs in flight.) The "tail rotor" is actually called an "anti-torque rotor" because its installation is designed to counteract the main rotor's torque. (Notice that twin rotor helicopters don't have anti-torque rotors because the main rotors rotate in opposite directions and counteract each other's torque.)\n\nNext is effective translational lift. At a hover and at slow speeds, generally below 30 KIAS, a helicopter is flying in its own rotor wash. A lot more lift and constant control inputs are required to maintain steady flight. Lift in a helicopter is created by the rotating blades and is increased (or decreased) by raising the collective (a “joystick by the pilot’s left leg) which increases (or decreases) the rotor’s angle of attack. Note: During all of this, the rotor maintains a constant R.P.M….it does not spin faster when climbing and slow down when descending.\n\nAlso, some of this lift is used for thrust to move the helicopter forward, or sideways, or backward. This is why you see a helicopter nose down when it’s taking off. The rotor is the “wing and the propeller” at the same time.\n\nFinally, retreating blade stall limits the speed of a helicopter. Sitting on the ground and in a still wind at operating R.P.M. the wind is blowing over the blades at a steady speed. (Of course the blade root’s speed is much lower than the blade’s tip because it has less far to travel.) But in forward flight at, say 100 KIAS, the advancing blade has an extra 100 knots relative wind added to its speed. The retreating blade, going opposite to the relative wind is LOSING 100 knots relative wind. The faster you go, the more the retreating blade loses lift and eventually stalls; that is loses lift completely and the helicopter will roll over.\n\nThis is about all I can tell you in a short time, but it’s all very interesting and surprisingly inefficient. I’ve attached some links that will go into more detail. Hope this helps!
469524
It has to do with high and low pressure systems. Wind moves from high-pressure areas to low-pressure areas.