Why Everyone Should Fly

Flying is the experience of soaring, it is seemingly magical, it is embracing the endless possibilities of technology and constantly being reminded of how far we have come as people.

It is the amalgamation of skill, hard work, organisation and physics resulting in pure beauty.

I’m Darcy, a Year 12 at Trinity and I have a passion for aviation. I currently hold a Private Pilot’s Licence and simply want everyone to feel the joy that aviation brings to me. If you meet me the conversation will almost always result in aviation; I love answering questions, discussing and arguing about anything aviation. I have been granted the opportunity to fly and want to share it with as many people as possible and tell you that nearly everyone can.

My first flight was in a Cessna 152, and it was probably one of the best experiences of my life. Growing up wanting to be a pilot and then being able to advance the throttle and pull back on the yoke was so exciting. It is a memory I will never forget.

General Aviation:

This is every non-commercial aviation activity. It provides a way for regular people to admire the sky; a place where freedom, adventure and opportunity meet.

Why I think it’s amazing is how flexible it is. Most General Aviation pilots fly into smaller airports and just fly for fun. You are able to fly on your own schedule wherever you want. If the weather looks good this weekend they just fly. Depending on your aircraft, be it fast, aerobatic, STOL; there are endless options of places to fly. Some planes can even land on the beach. The freedom is truly what makes it. While small aircraft are quite different from large commercial jets the basic principles are the same. The four main forces involved are lift, weight, thrust and drag; it is these fundamentals which underpin all flying objects.

So how does a plane fly? The wing; an amazing invention and also interesting physics problem. There are two theories which are currently accepted. The two sides are the “Bernoulli” position, that lift is generated by a pressure difference above and below the wing, and the “Newton” position, that lift is the reaction force on the wing caused by deflecting airflow down.

The “Bernoulli” theory is defined by Bernoulli’s equation which relates pressure in a gas to its local velocity, that is, when a body of gas is moving faster its pressure is lower. Numerous experiments have shown particles move faster over the top of an aerofoil than the bottom of an aerofoil resulting in a lower air pressure above and higher air pressure below. This in turn creates an upwards or lift force on the aircraft.

The “Newton” theory is simply Newton’s third law of motion – every action (force) has an equal and opposite reaction. The wing exerts a force on the air around it, pushing or deflecting it down, and the equal and opposite reaction force is then an upwards force on the wing, or lift.

However, both these theories are valid, and are simply different explanations for the same phenomenon.