Lift

With fixed-wing unmanned aircraft, two important flight factors to understand are lift (what makes the aircraft fly) and stalls (when the wings don’t create lift).

The general principle with lift has to do with high and low pressure areas.

Due to the shape of the wing (referred to as an “airfoil”), the air flows FASTER over the top of the wing than the bottom of the wing. This creates a LOW-pressure area above the wing and a HIGH-pressure area below the wing, thus pushing the wings up into the air.

To create lift, the air needs to be flowing smoothly over the wing, coming back together after the trailing edge.