Theoretically, is it possible to fly planes with only one wing?

Question

for example, one wing is torn and ripped apart in midair because of air resistance, is steady flight still possible?

Answer 1

Not conventional planes. You need enough lift surface to hold up the weight of the plane at a given speed. After that, it's a matter of control.



When the F-16 (I think it was the F-16, it may have been one of the other similarly designed fighter planes though) was in test flights, there was a mid-air collission. One pilot bailed out, but the other felt he had just enough control to keep flying and land the plane. When he got to the ground, he saw a look of shock on everyone's faces and turned around to see that one of his wings was missing. It turns out that the flying wing design of some fighter planes uses the entire plane as a lift surface, so he was still able to maintain flight with 1 wing completely gone. It uses computers to aid stability, but even with that, its amazing he didn't crash.

Answer 2

No. The flight body must be symmetric, or else the lift produced, and the air resistance will not be the same on both sides.



If one wing was ripped off, the plane is only producing lift on one side now. This lift can be thought of as a torque since it is a force that is perpendicular to the lever arm (ie, the wing). Since there is no longer a wing on the other side, there is no balance of torques and the airplane will spin.



Also, since the other wing was ripped off, the air resistance is no longer balanced either. There's going to be a net force in another strange direction because of this.



The result overall is a very very unstable craft.

Answer 3

No. If it was an engine failing, then it's still fine, because the engine on the other wing can go on, and the other wing can act passively to still provide some uplift. However, if a wing is actually torn off, it will become quite improbable to a) produce enough upthrust to stay flying; b) maneuver the plane, because that needs adjustment of small flaps called ailerons on the wings. BOTH wings.

Answer 4

No..... If it was the companies wouldn't shell out all that money for another wing ~_^

and I took physics oh so long ago, something about wind resistance, bernuli's effect, etc. I forgot to be honest, I'm sorry.

Answer 5

can eagles fly with one wing? suuuuureee they can.