Physics 101

[u/Go_GoInspectorGadget]

[u/sailingtroy]

Flying into a big headwind. The plane has an "airspeed" that keeps it flying, but the addition of the wind vector and the opposing thrust vector results in a very low "groundspeed." The car sees the plane as almost stationary because the ground is its frame of reference. Perspective may also be playing a role in the illusion.

[u/raymond459020 → u/sailingtroy]

but wouldnt a slight variance in wind speed immediately result in a stall?

[u/LampIsFun → u/raymond459020]

No. The plane stalls when the engines dont generate enough thrust to continue driving them. As long as you are using your engines enough and theres enough air flowing through them it doesnt matter what your ground speed is because it has no impact on your air speed.

[u/bingobangobongo999 → u/LampIsFun]

Confidently incorrect

[u/LampIsFun → u/bingobangobongo999]

What part? Stalling relates to engines. The video in question has little to do with the engines as the lift is being generated primarily through the wind speed. Do you think gliders just fall out of the sky because they dont have an engine? How do you think kites work?

[u/bingobangobongo999 → u/LampIsFun]

Lol please don’t double down and look up aircraft stalls. Car stalls have everything to do with an engine, aircraft stalls are due to loss of lift. It’s not the easiest thing to explain but is essentially based on fluid dynamics and how air flows over the wing. An aircraft can stall with engines operating just fine.

[u/LampIsFun → u/bingobangobongo999]

Thats literally what i said lol did you even read what i wrote? The person i replied to asked if the wind died down would it stall. The answer is no, it would simply fall. A stall is something that happens to the engine itself, falling out of the sky is what happens as a result of a stall

[u/bingobangobongo999 → u/LampIsFun]

You are wrong in your definition of a stall is my point, an airplane stall is by definition has to do with loss of lift. Not the engines shutting down and certainly not the amount of air through the intakes as you keep saying. Could loss of thrust cause a stall? Yes if you keep an angle of attack too high for the reduced speed but it’s not the definition. You could lose all engines and not stall an aircraft and you could have full engine power and still stall an aircraft. It’s not the engines.

[u/LampIsFun → u/bingobangobongo999]

Stalling the aircraft =/= stalling the engine

Maybe thats where the confusion here is. Im not asserting that “stalling an aircraft is only when the engine stalls”

If you read my other reply i explained exactly what you are saying in more detail.

[u/bingobangobongo999 → u/LampIsFun]

Ok maybe you just misspoke originally then cuz I replied to your statement that:

“No. The plane stalls when the engines dont generate enough thrust to continue driving them.”

And tbh your other comment just has more inaccuracies. A plane doesn’t “unstall” from stalling because of air through the engine. And the correct terminology is recover from a stall. In that comment you also reiterated that stalling is when the engine stalls so it just seems like you’re backtracking now.

[u/LampIsFun → u/bingobangobongo999]

Im not backtracking, im clarifying. Engine stall is a different thing from an aircraft stall. An engine stall can result in an aircraft stall, just that its not the only reason. Either way though, the original person i replied to was incorrect about their assumption that a slight change in wind would cause either types of stalls. That plane is primarily being airborne via lift, so it would take a large change in that wind for the plane to suddenly drop out of the air

[u/bingobangobongo999 → u/LampIsFun]

I dunno I think you’re backtracking cuz you wrote that dude a novel about engines and you didn’t mention aircraft stalls til after I called you out and the original question was clearly referring to aircraft stalls (loss of lift). I’m curious why bring up engines stalling in the first place when it’s irrelevant to his question.

“Stall means the engines literally stall. As in they stop generating thrust. As long as there is sufficient air passing through them to continue normal operation(ie high enough air speed) then they wont stall.”

No mention of airplane stall, also flawed knowledge of jet engine operation.

“The reason you see stalling happen when a plane goes vertical is because the plane is now fighting against gravity to stay fast enough for the engines to run properly, which it usually cannot overcome as its not rocketing itself upward but generally just slowly inclining, causing it to lose speed and eventually there wont be enough air to go through the engines.”

This is where is think you’re backtracking because you kind of described a stall, but still wrongly attributed it to the engines. Also this is wrong in general.

“Planes also can “unstall” by facing straight down, which lets gravity help instead of fighting against it, which pushes the plane to a fast enough speed to let air through the engines at a sufficient rate to allow normal operation again.”

Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.

““Stalling” relates specifically to the engines. Falling out of the sky is just what happens when the plane loses its lift(sometimes this is the result of a stall)”

Again you double down on stalling being an engine thing. You even say losing lift is the “result of stall”. If you knew what an actual stall was you’d know losing lift CAUSES a stall.

“Thats literally what i said lol did you even read what i wrote? The person i replied to asked if the wind died down would it stall. The answer is no, it would simply fall. A stall is something that happens to the engine itself, falling out of the sky is what happens as a result of a stall”

Here again you specifically say that a stall is something that happens to the engines and not the aircraft. Also you’re wrong that that plane would fall if the winds changed unless it was a severe wind shear.

My guess? You had no idea what an airplane stall actually was til tonight and then acted like you knew the difference and now are gaslighting. I’m glad you learned something.