Welcome Guest. Sign in or Signup

1 Answers

Neagtive lift

Asked by: 3464 views ,
Aerodynamics, Flight Instructor, General Aviation

What is negative lift and how aircraft utilizes it?

Ace Any FAA Written Test!
Actual FAA Questions / Free Lifetime Updates
The best explanations in the business
Fast, efficient study.
Pass Your Checkride With Confidence!
FAA Practical Test prep that reflects actual checkrides.
Any checkride: Airplane, Helicopter, Glider, etc.
Written and maintained by actual pilot examiners and master CFIs.
The World's Most Trusted eLogbook
Be Organized, Current, Professional, and Safe.
Highly customizable - for student pilots through pros.
Free Transition Service for users of other eLogs.
Our sincere thanks to pilots such as yourself who support AskACFI while helping themselves by using the awesome PC, Mac, iPhone/iPad, and Android aviation apps of our sponsors.

1 Answers



  1. Brian on Mar 08, 2013

    See here: http://www.askacfi.com/10839/negative-lift.htm

    How it is utilized was not answered there. However, the picture I linked in the above link does depict it. Negative lift is utilized by the tail to balance the aircraft.

    Recall that an airplane will rotate around the CG. So if we were to take a pencil in hand and hold it say a third of the way back from the tip we can say our fingertips represent the CG location. The pencil is a wings chord line. Now, with your other hand push up somewhere along the pencil on the eraser side but close to the CG. The pencil will rotate nose (tip) down; eraser side up. This simple depiction is exactly what lift is doing and the negative lift on the tail (eraser side of the pencil) is preventing the main wing lift from nosing you over into the ground. Imagine another person taking their finger and pushing down on the eraser.

    0 Votes Thumb up 0 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes


The following terms have been auto-detected the question above and any answers or discussion provided. Click on a term to see its definition from the Dauntless Aviation JargonBuster Glossary.

Answer Question

Our sincere thanks to all who contribute constructively to this forum in answering flight training questions. If you are a flight instructor or represent a flight school / FBO offering flight instruction, you are welcome to include links to your site and related contact information as it pertains to offering local flight instruction in a specific geographic area. Additionally, direct links to FAA and related official government sources of information are welcome. However we thank you for your understanding that links to other sites or text that may be construed as explicit or implicit advertising of other business, sites, or goods/services are not permitted even if such links nominally are relevant to the question asked.