Let Me Throw You a Curve: How a Wing Produces Lift

How does a wing generate lift? It's all about bending the air. That's right. Bend the air and something amazing happens. That amazing thing is called "lift." Much like the judo master who's an expert at bending people, the wing is an excellent tool for bending air. Here's a simple yet accurate representation of how a wing develops lift. This presentation covers both the tangential and normal acceleration of the airstream without once mentioning those two terms. If you'd like to learn more about my books and eLearning courses, please visit: www.rodmachado.com

HERE'S SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT:
There are 1,000+ videos on YouTube that describe how lift occurs. That suggests that there is no one "right way" to describe how lift occurs. After all, many of these videos offering different explanations for lift are made by people with impressive academic credentials who've spent their entire lives studying the subject. Yet, their explanations for lift are sometimes wildly different. This "difference" in explanations is the important message here. That message is, "There is no one correct way to explain how lift occurs because lift is a very complex phenomenon." The best any instructor can do is to offer an explanation that comports with scientific principles and allows students to use this explanation to better understand how to fly an airplane.

ROD MACHADO'S BIO
Rod has taught...
• many hundreds to fly airplanes
• thousands as a classroom instructor
• 350,000+ through his over 350 aviation articles
• hundreds of thousands through his training materials
• hundreds of thousands with his flight lessons on MS Flight Simulator
Rod...
...is the author and illustrator of 7 aviation textbooks
...is the author, illustrator, and animator of 14 aviation eLearning courses
...is the author of 5 aviation audiobooks
...has degrees in Psychology and Aviation Science
...is Airline Transport Pilot rated with all fixed-wing (powered) instructor ratings
...has a lifetime appointment by the FAA as a National Accident Prevention Counselor
...learned to fly in 1970 and began instructing student pilots full-time in 1973
...taught grounds schools, often to classrooms of 200, starting in 1975
...has taught many hundreds of aviation safety seminars—US, Canada & Europe
...has taught hundreds of Flight Instructor Revalidation Clinics—US, Canada & Europe
...over 10,000+ hours flying were earned the HARD WAY—ONE flight instructor hour at a time
...co-wrote and co-anchored ABC’s Wide World of Flying
...was the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association's National Flight Instructor Spokesman for 15 years (AOPA is the largest aviation association)
...asked by Microsoft to design the lessons and be the CFI voice for MS Flight Simulator
...was a columnist for AOPA Pilot magazine for 18 years
...was a columnist for Flight Training magazine for 25 years
...has taught aviation courses at Cerritos College, National University, Cypress College, and Orange Coast College
...personally writes and illustrates ALL OF HIS OWN training materials
...uses humor to help you remember the lessons
...has Taekwondo and Hapkido black belts and has practiced Gracie Jujitsu since 1989 (Maybe why Rod never has difficulty collecting his instructor fees.)

“Machado is energy,” wrote Capt. Dave Gwinn. “He is a Psychologist, an educator, a humorist and an entertainer. He is a verbal gymnast and any one (or all four!) of his professional identities may rebound at any time.”