THE KNOWLEDGE MEDIA INSTITUTE

History of Flight

Key events

Flights of fancy

Models

Aerodynamics

How planes fly

Historical development

Aero-engines

Flyers

Cayley

Lilienthal

Phillips

The Wright Brothers

Santos-Dumont

Cody

Links

About FirstFlight

Accessibility

The Wright Brothers - experiments - drift balance

The choosen aerofoil shape is first fixed to the top bar, and then the angle of attack is set by twisting the bottom frame. When the fan is turned on the indicator provides a direct reading of the lift/drag ratio.

Play the movie to see the movement of the arms.


Try the Drift balance simulation.