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do flaps mainly create induced or parasite drag?

Asked by: 3160 views Aerodynamics

I know they create both types, but which is more dominant? Thank you.

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1 Answers



  1. sr22captain on Jul 20, 2016

    I would say it depends on the airspeed. At low speeds they are inducing drag as a result of the additional lift. At high airspeeds they are probably a parasitic drag in that they are doing nothing but making the airplane dirty. The parasitic drag would be very severe at high airspeeds thus we retract flaps once we’ve reached a climb speed.

    I’m not a CFI so take this for what it’s worth. It seems like the question is more academic than practical anyway so if my answer is incorrect there’s probably nothing no impact to your flying. The best advice is deploy the flaps per the POH and retract the flaps per the POH.

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