NASA’s Iconic Red Vortex Photo: “The Rest of the Story” The physics of producing lift with a wing creates an aircraft wake which has a large vortex (tornado) generated at each wingtip. The strength of this vortex increases as aircraft weight increases. The flow from a wingtip of a crop duster picks up the seeds or chemicals and sends them far from the area directly below the aircraft. The strong spinning flow in the vortex can also cause a problem for other aircraft under some conditions. NASA and the FAA had done extensive research beginning in the 1970s and continuing today to understand and predict flow behind transport aircraft to determine safe separation distances (spacing of aircraft). We believed that this research could help the “Aerial Applications Research” program, perhaps, if the physics of the flow behind crop dusters could be understood, predicted, and tamed. Because we see computer images on TV of airplanes the size of counties flying over a map of the U.S., we come to think of the airspace as crowded. In reality, the airspace is not crowded. Instead, the runways and the arrival queue of airplanes lined up to land are crowded. The airplanes are spaced in the queue that keeps each safely following an airplane away from the spinning wake vortex of the previous airplane. Read the full article here. (via theatlantic)

NASA’s Iconic Red Vortex Photo: “The Rest of the Story”

The physics of producing lift with a wing creates an aircraft wake which has a large vortex (tornado) generated at each wingtip. The strength of this vortex increases as aircraft weight increases. The flow from a wingtip of a crop duster picks up the seeds or chemicals and sends them far from the area directly below the aircraft. The strong spinning flow in the vortex can also cause a problem for other aircraft under some conditions. NASA and the FAA had done extensive research beginning in the 1970s and continuing today to understand and predict flow behind transport aircraft to determine safe separation distances (spacing of aircraft). We believed that this research could help the “Aerial Applications Research” program, perhaps, if the physics of the flow behind crop dusters could be understood, predicted, and tamed.

Because we see computer images on TV of airplanes the size of counties flying over a map of the U.S., we come to think of the airspace as crowded. In reality, the airspace is not crowded. Instead, the runways and the arrival queue of airplanes lined up to land are crowded. The airplanes are spaced in the queue that keeps each safely following an airplane away from the spinning wake vortex of the previous airplane.

Read the full article here.

(via theatlantic)

The Atlantic

554 notes

Show

  1. thescepteredisle reblogged this from condenasttraveler
  2. jumpingenres reblogged this from niczka
  3. niczka reblogged this from jtotheizzoe
  4. wonderate reblogged this from jtotheizzoe and added:
    NASA’s Iconic Red Vortex Photo: ‘The Rest of the Story’ The physics of producing lift with a wing creates an aircraft...
  5. sagomi reblogged this from condenasttraveler
  6. nymphetaminesecret reblogged this from theatlantic
  7. fishnetfashion reblogged this from iheartmyart
  8. andtheradioon reblogged this from 0-0-7-0
  9. nikkipollard reblogged this from theatlantic and added:
    An interesting read.
  10. tegmac reblogged this from godvomit
  11. 0-0-7-0 reblogged this from stickmenwithrayguns
  12. qiongz reblogged this from 500daysofkissingmypillow and added:
    Can’t quite figure out how...amazing photo was shot. Wow.
  13. jjarichardson reblogged this from theatlantic
  14. stonedhead reblogged this from potent
  15. hangyoufromtheheavens reblogged this from resin--lungs
  16. thezoltanman reblogged this from theatlantic
  17. ambivalenttt reblogged this from thespectralfire
  18. stickmenwithrayguns reblogged this from thespectralfire
  19. kcg3nes1s reblogged this from thespectralfire
  20. jimikissedthesky reblogged this from thespectralfire
  21. thespectralfire reblogged this from bruisedankles
  22. looselipsandsunkenships reblogged this from fucking-erupt
  23. readyrocketinvain reblogged this from fucking-erupt
  24. fucking-erupt reblogged this from controlischaos
  25. controlischaos reblogged this from 500daysofkissingmypillow
  26. silenceofthepulp reblogged this from good-morning-vietnam
  27. jellyshotsandvodkatots reblogged this from condenasttraveler
  28. viragoleader reblogged this from iheartmyart

Blog comments powered by Disqus