On 11/23/2012 9:59 PM, Bruce Hoult wrote:

Nearly all powered aircraft cruise at speeds way above stall. That means the lift coefficients in cruise are low, therefore the induced drag (proportional to Cl ^2) is low, therefore aspect ratio is less important.

Not really true of jet airliners. They fly so high that although they're going fast they're at a pretty big angle of attack and not all that far from the stall.


Google "coffin corner". Here's Wikipedia's entry
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffin_corner_(aviation)

Tony "6N"