Mondo Knows Facts

Flaps change a wing's shape for slow flight

Slotted flaps swing down and back to raise lift and drag, letting an airliner approach at lower speed A wing sized for cruise at 850 kilometres per hour would be too small to lift the aircraft at 250. Flaps increase camber and area, and the slot between sections lets faster air from below re-energise the flow over the top. The cost is drag, so flaps are retracted soon after takeoff and deployed in stages on approach. It sits in Mondo's technology collection, one of 200 facts that each trace back to the reference below.

Where this comes from

NASA Glenn Research Center

Facts that can change over time are reviewed and updated. If something here looks wrong, Mondo would rather know than be confidently incorrect.

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Tags: aviation, wings, aerodynamics

Flaps change a wing's shape for slow flight: the short answers

Where does this come from, and can I check it?
Slotted flaps swing down and back to raise lift and drag, letting an airliner approach at lower speed. The figure is taken from NASA Glenn Research Center, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
Is this really a technology fact?
Yes. It sits on the Technology shelf, one of 2,600 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
What else can I read about it?
The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.