What percentage of a planes wieght does it need in lift to fly?

Question

title says it all

Answer 1

to fly, the wings need to be producing at least 100% of the plane's weight in lift. assuming it does not have an engine the plane will need something higher than 100% to start flying. when the plane is already flying, to sustain flight, 100% of the plane's weight is enough.

however, a plane can also fly if the engine is producing more than 100% of the plane's weight in thrust. most military jets like the f-16, f-15, f-22 and the AV-8 harrier** (apologies to the ones i did not mention) can do this. Why? Because their thrust to weight ratio is greater than 1:1 which means they can accelerate while going straight up like a rocket.

** harrier is the jet aircraft that can take off like a helicopter and fly like a jet

I think ih8robot is wrong.. Where did he get his degree??? the internet???

You do not need to be producing negative lift to get 0 Gs or less. the 737 that NASA uses to train astronauts in zero G climbs to 40,000 feet and flies downward. during this time, the astronauts are experiencing close to 0G (something like 0.1G) but the plane's wings are still producing lift. proof of that is the pilot have to apply negative trim and forward pressure on the control column to keep the nose from rising.

and an f-16 pulling 9 Gs is not producing 400,000lbs of lift.

G is the measure of the force of gravity. when you're pulling positive Gs, example 9Gs, the original weight is multiplied by 9. thats how he got 400,000 lbs. But the aircraft is flying not because suddenly, the wings are producing 400,000 lbs of lift, the plane is still flying thanks to the engine which has a thrust to weight ratio higher than 1 to 1. and even with that, the f-16 will lose airspeed and altitude nevertheless if it was a level turn.

Answer 2

The lift has to be over 100% of the plane's weight in order for it to takeoff.  The plane will fly level at the same altitude when the lift is the same as the weight. And the plane will descend when the lift is less than 100% of the plane's weight.

Answer 3

It depends. Consider the Harrier. It is lifted off the ground by its engines producing enough thrust downward to push the aircraft up, with the wings developing no lift at all.

For a "normal" aircraft it takes 100% of the aircraft's weight to be produced in lift to produce flight.

Regards,

Dan

Answer 4

depends how  much of the plane you want to take with you.

Answer 5

Lift equal to 100% of the weight will result in level flight.  If the lift is less, the plane will descend (not necessarily stall).  If the lift is greater, the plane will climb.

Answer 6

Something greater then 100%. The percentage over will determine max climb rate.

Answer 7

Over one hundred percent to climb.

Answer 8

A conventional airplane (tail in the back where it belongs) maintains steady, unaccelerated, level flight by producing Lift equal to approximately 110% of its weight.

The extra 10% is required to overcome the contribution to down load from the tail.  In most flight conditions the tail load is down in order to balance the tendency of the wing and the aircraft to pitch nose down.  

The 10% is approximate and depends on the aircraft configuration and flight condition (altitude, airspeed, etc).  On normal aircraft the horizontal stabilizer may create positive lift at high angles of attack, such as you will experience in a stall or shortly before touchdown in or nearly in a full stall attitude.

Answer 9

If you have less then a 100% you will stall

Answer 10

100 PERCENT +

Answer 11

When and aircraft is flying it is developing enought lift to counteract the weight of the aircraft. So the answer is 100%. If you want to climb that comes from excess horsepower that the engines are creating. If you want to descend the aircraft must make less power than needed for level flight.

The only time an aircft is developing more or less lift than aircraft weight is during maneuvers. Such as steep turns and negative g pushovers. For instance the 50,000 pound F-16 that is pulling 9 Gs is actually producting 400,000 pounds of lift. It all comes from the formula F=ma (Force equals mass times acceleration). The reverse is true for negative Gs. To pull 0 Gs the aircraft must produce negative lift (yes..airplanes can do this) equal to it's weight.  An aircraft flying straight and level is pulling 1 G and lift and weight are equal.