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Cruise, Lesson 8
The information in this video was accurate as of the original publication date.
Audience: Educators and StudentsGrades: 9-12
This NASA video segment explores how Newton's laws can be used to assess an airplane's cruise performance. By watching an instructor at NASA's National Test Pilot School, viewers learn how an aircraft's cruise performance is evaluated and how this performance can be maximized. Viewers also learn how to rearrange the lift and drag equations to find the ratio of the coefficient of lift to the coefficient of drag that will provide maximum performance. Using a graph of these coefficients, the instructor demonstrates how to solve for the maximum endurance speed of the plane and then tests the calculation in an airplane.
Cruise, Lesson 8
Duration: 10 minutes 54 seconds
> View QuickTime [35MB]
This video clip is part of the Flight Testing Newton's Laws DVD that may be ordered from the Central Operation of Resources for Educators, or CORE →.
Other video learning clips in this series:
Introduction to Newton's Three Laws, Lesson 1
The Law of Inertia: Newton's First Law
Force Equals Mass Times Acceleration: Newton's Second Law
The Law of Action and Reaction: Newton's Third Law
Weight and Balance, Lesson 2
Lift and Rate of Change of Momentum, Lesson 3
Drag, Lesson 4
Thrust, Lesson 5
Take Off, Lesson 6
Climb and Descent, Lesson 7
The Landing, Lesson 9
The Landing: Approach
The Landing: Flare
The Landing: Rollout
The Landing: Summary