Title: How Slow Can a Fighter Jet Fly? – What’s the Stall Speed of Jet Fighters? – HighSkyFlying
Headings: How Slow Can a Fighter Jet Fly? – What’s the Stall Speed of Jet Fighters?
How Slow Can a Fighter Jet Fly? – What’s the Stall Speed of Jet Fighters?
Table of Contents
What is the stall speed of a fighter jet?
What happens when a fighter jet stalls?
How does a fighter jet go into an uncontrolled freefall?
What is a controlled aircraft stall and what are the risks?
What are the typical stall speeds of modern fighter jets?
Why cannot military airplanes fly as slow as general aviation aircraft?
How do military planes land on carriers despite being unable to fly slow?
Summary and Conclusion
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Content: Why cannot military airplanes fly as slow as general aviation aircraft? Military fighter jets are designed to be super-sonic, agile, and maneuverable, which is evident from their thin swept-back wings and aggressive design. On the other hand, general aviation aircraft such as Cessna 152 and 172 are designed to be stable and economical, which allows them to continue a level flight at lesser airspeeds than a fighter jet. This trade-off happens primarily in the wing design of an aircraft. A military aircraft wing is designed to continue generating lift at supersonic speeds which in turn reduces its ability to generate lift at slower airspeeds. Of course, this has to do with the small size of the wing relative to the airplane’s weight. In other words, a fighter jet has a high wing loading. For a general aviation plane, the wings are larger relative to the weight of the airplane, and designed to operate within subsonic ranges. Therefore, planes such as Cessna 152 can fly as slow as 48 knots. As a fighter jet cannot slow down considerably during flight, one may think how can it land on relatively shorter runways such as those on an aircraft carrier?