So you like its fuselage to be as close as possible to the ground, which means a high wing. So why not high-wing civil transports? It seems a high-wing airliner is likely to be heavier than the comparable low-wing. One reason is that low wings enable a shorter, stronger and simpler landing gear design.
The
Cessna 172 Skyhawk is an American four-seat, single-engine,
high wing, fixed-
wing aircraft made by the
Cessna Aircraft Company.
Cessna 172.
| Cessna 172 Skyhawk |
|---|
| Introduction | 1956 |
| Status | In production |
| Produced | 1956–1986, 1996–present |
| Number built | 44,000+ |
The gull wing was used to improve visibility in a high wing arrangement, because such wing could be thinnest by the fuselage, and in theory should limit pilot's view no more than A-pillars of a windscreen in a car body. It was used on multiple fighter aircraft, including the PZL P.
Edit. Straight wing is the oldest aircraft wing design ever made, it was first seen working in the Wright Flyer, though also failed-try aircraft that had wings featured this design. It simply consists in a straight-line board structure that includes all the wing components.
You refer to biplanes and triplanes. The extra wings add additional lift at the cost of drag - they can't fly as fast but can stay aloft without stalling at low speeds. Early planes didn't have very powerful engines, so the extra wings helped compensate to keep them aloft.
“…the real advantage of the elliptical wing turned out to be its low induced drag at very high altitudes, such altitudes not having been considered during the design, but realised during the war, helping to keep Spitfire in the front line during rapid development under Joe Smith.
Benefits and detrimentsThe low wing makes an obvious place to attach the main landing gear, usually resulting in a wider stance that improves stability in taxiing. A low center-of-gravity on the ground makes it easier to negotiate strong winds with the wide gear.
The maximum distance between the two lines is called the camber, which is a measure of the curvature of the airfoil (high camber means high curvature). The maximum distance between the upper and lower surfaces is called the thickness.
“Because the large airplanes weigh more, they are not affected by turbulence as much,” added Cox. There may also be some differences in the landing gear between a larger and smaller plane. “Large jets have more tires making it a little more stable, but this is a small difference,” said Cox.
A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. Biplanes are distinguished from tandem wing arrangements, where the wings are placed forward and aft, instead of above and below. The term is also occasionally used in biology, to describe the wings of some flying animals.
: an airplane with only one main supporting surface.
Dihedral is the upward angle of an aircraft's wings, which increases lateral stability in a bank by causing the lower wing to fly at a higher angle of attack than the higher wing.
