Question

An airplane with dihedral encounters turbulence that causes a wing drop. Before the dihedral wings can provide the forces necessary to restore wings level, what needs to happen?

Answer 1

For an airplane with dihedral wings to self-level after a wing drop due to turbulence, the dihedral effect must cause increased lift on the lowered wing which, in turn, generates a force that rolls the aircraft back towards a level position.

Step-by-step explanation:

An airplane with dihedral wings experiences a restoring force when turbulence causes a wing to drop. For the dihedral effect to restore the aircraft to wings level, a relative increase in lift must occur on the dropped wing. This happens because the airplane with dihedral wings tends to roll toward a more horizontal position due to the dihedral angle, which causes the lower wing to travel faster through the air and generate more lift, leveraging Bernoulli's principle. As the airplane rolls, the lift vector becomes tilted, and this includes a horizontal component which acts to level the wings. Reinforcing this self-leveling characteristic is vital in maintaining aircraft stability, especially during turbulence.