NOOB question 1

[NutAce]

Hello guys,
As I have to fly on regular basis, and I have absolutely no knowledge on Aeronautics, I see a lot of different aircraft.

What would be the (Dis)advantages in having the wings of an airplane mounted on top or the bottom of the fuselage ?
What is the deciding factor between the two?

Ronald van den Broek
Senior Application Engineer
Winterthur Gas & Diesel Ltd
NX9 / TC10.1.2

Building new PLM environment from Scratch using NX12 / TC11

 

[rb1957]

try some initial design books, Raymer, Torenbeek. There are many factors that affect wing position ..
height about ground (length of landing gear, ground clearance for engines)
low wings tend to hold the plane up on landings … tend to float in.
High wings have a nice clear upper surface.

mid-fuselage (the fuselage creates nice "end-plates" for the wing airflow, but more complicated structure) … more airlines use this position, 'cause they run the wing spars through the fuselage as underfloor beams)
high wing (like DHC8) … most turbo-props use this for (obviously) propeller clearance. DHC8 chose long landing gear (in the nacelles) for a wider track, ATR chose fuselage mounted gear (lighter and a bunch of other advantages)
low wing … easy for ground maintenance (like Gulfstream, Challenger) typically fuselage mounted engines. SAAB 340 and Embraer 120 have low wings and nacelles above the wing (for prop clearance)

another day in paradise, or is paradise one day closer ?