[votingprawn]

> I'd be interested to see in this thread, who here has actually studied aeronautical engineering

I studied Aerospace Engineering (PhD in Aerodynamics), and I stay out of internet conversations over "how" lift is generated. For me it is one of those topics that is just not worth debating. It seems that people get _really_ attached to their personally preferred theory of lift.

[termain]

Seconded. Masters in ASE, written my own vortex lattice code from scratch.

"Wings generate lift by changing the velocity of the flow around them" seems general and correct but the why part is pretty tricky without notions of continuity and conservation laws. And vorticity helps a lot, too.

[dorfsmay]

You should write a blog entry on current theory, and post "I'm an expert, here are the current theory(ies), I will not debate about it", or point to a wikipedia page that is accurate in your opinion.

[mtreis86]

Flight is a complex system, there are multiple variables effecting it. And yet half the responses here are regurgitated from grade school without references.

http://www.afahc.ro/ro/afases/2014/forte/prisacariu.pdf

[dhimes]

Can you point to a source for those of us who want to know the right answer (like, sailors)?

[jabl]

Not the previous poster, but this was on HN a week ago:

http://ljjensen.net/Maritimt/A%20Review%20of%20Modern%20Sail...

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13829625

[dhimes]

Perfect. Thank you!

[cyberferret]

Agreed. That is what I have noticed in this thread. Who knew aerodynamics could be as polarising as politics or religion? :P

I've contributed all that I wanted to say here, and am happy to bow out now and let the conversation take its course.

[votingprawn]

Its a somewhat common joke in our office that if you ask 3 researchers "What is lift?" you'll get 5 answers (and probably a bit of an argument).

I think "It's complicated" and "Why do you need to know?" are often the only appropriate answers, as context is important. I've read some "aerodynamics for pilots" type books that from a research point of view I considered to be, to some degree, wrong. But ultimately they were _right_ in that they taught the pilot exactly what they needed to know.

In a way it reminds me of electricity. I know enough to design and make simple circuitry, but I know electrical engineers and physicists that could run rings around me at both the circuit design level and the "That's not how electricity works, you idiot!" level.