True or False: Any force applied to deflect flight from a straight line produces stress on its structure, and the amount of this force is the load factor.

True or False: Any force applied to deflect flight from a straight line produces stress on its structure, and the amount of this force is the load factor.

• A. True
• B. False
• C. It depends
• D. Not related

Answer: (A)

Deflecting flight from a straight path requires a net force to provide the centripetal acceleration for the curved trajectory. That aerodynamic load is what the airframe must carry, so it introduces structural stress. The load factor is the measure of how much load the wings and structure must support relative to the aircraft’s weight; in a coordinated maneuver, the lift (and thus the forces on the airframe) increases to L = nW, where n is the load factor. So the larger the deflection (or tighter the turn), the higher the load factor, and the greater the stress on the structure. Therefore this statement is true: any force used to deflect flight from a straight line creates structural stress, and the magnitude of that force is described by the load factor (as the multiple of the aircraft’s weight).

Deflecting flight from a straight path requires a net force to provide the centripetal acceleration for the curved trajectory. That aerodynamic load is what the airframe must carry, so it introduces structural stress. The load factor is the measure of how much load the wings and structure must support relative to the aircraft’s weight; in a coordinated maneuver, the lift (and thus the forces on the airframe) increases to L = nW, where n is the load factor. So the larger the deflection (or tighter the turn), the higher the load factor, and the greater the stress on the structure. Therefore this statement is true: any force used to deflect flight from a straight line creates structural stress, and the magnitude of that force is described by the load factor (as the multiple of the aircraft’s weight).