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Wing Loading
Shanny
Topic Author
Shanny created the topic: Wing Loading
Hi Bob and Richard,
Came across this question in your online exams and bit confused with the feedback:
Wing loading is defined as-
Select one:
a. lift divided by wing area.
b. weight divided by engine horsepower.
c. wing span divided by wing chord.
d. lift divided by weight.
Feedback
Wing loading is weight ÷ wing area. Not to be confused with load factor which is lift ÷ weight
The correct answer is: lift divided by wing area.
How is the answer "lift divided by wing area" related to "weight divided by wing area"
Thanks, Shannon.
P.S see you next week for Performance!
The official definition of wing loading is WEIGHT ÷ WING AREA. Since this question did not give that as an answer, the only choice you could pick would be LIFT ÷ WING AREA. This assumes that you are in level flight and therefore lift and weight are equal. In the real world, wing loading for a particular aircraft is often given as maximum published all-up weight ÷ wing area. That will be a fixed figure dictated by the aircraft design and not affected by day-to-day variations in weight or flight manoeuvres.