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• Re: shape of airplane wings posted (3 years, 8 months) ago
  Hi, did the folks who asked the original question get the answers they needed?…

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• what is the shape of the end of an airplane’s
  

  Meanwhile, I’ll try to answer a few things regarding wing designs. The wing shape of airplanes vary from model to model. Earlier prop-driven planes had wings that were essentially rectangular. However, as commercial planes achieve higher velocity, the shape of the wings became more narrow and is now more or less a triangular-shaped trapezoid. I don’t think the engineers ever gave an official “name” to the shapesof the wings, but I could be wrong.
  
  An example diagram of 747 exhibits this characteristic:
  http://www.aerospaceweb.org/aircraft/jetliner/b747/b747_schem_01.jpg
  
  The angle of the camber of a wing foil is more important for the lifting and stabilizing property of an airplane than the actual shape of the wing. The sweep angle only becomes relevant when achieving high velocity…generally planes that fly close to supersonic (such as the 747) or do fly supersonic have the characteristic sweep that we see on most commercial jets. The swept wings on supersonic jets are designed to reduce the drag formed by shockwaves. However, planes like the Cessna have more rectangular shaped wings, because they mostly fly at fairly low speed.
  
  Here’s an image sample of a cessna: http://www.iua.upf.es/~sgurrera/common/images/airplane/cessna/lores/cessna_172_skyhawk.jpg
  
  A good place to post this question is at http://www.aerospaceweb.org/question/submit.shtml
  The people who maintains the page are engineers and are very friendly and obliging. I am unfortunately, a mere hobbyist and therefore cannot give a very detailed information. But please do visit the site and ask the question…I’m sure they’ll be happy to answer you. I am curious about it as well.
  
  Regards, DJ Were-Panda
  - written 3 years, 8 months ago

• what is the shape of the end of an airplane’s
  

  I’m sorry…the question is a little ambiguous. Please refer to the diagram at this link:
  
  http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/K-12/airplane/Images/airplane.gif
  
  Which part of the wing are you speaking of? I’ll be happy to help.
  - written 3 years, 8 months ago

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wings, aerodynamics, wing design, airplane design, aircraft design, aircraft wings, airplane, airplanes