Lift and the aerofoil

(Principles of flight: lift and the aerofoil)

Lift is the force that holds you up, and it comes almost entirely from the wing. An aerofoil is any surface shaped to produce a useful aerodynamic force from the airflow over it: the wing, the tailplane, the fin and even the propeller blades are all aerofoils. Get the geometry and the physics of one aerofoil clear and you understand lift, drag, the stall and the propeller in one go.