[turtledragonfly]

I'm curious to know your reasoning more.

Certainly if we flew the plane very low over the ground, the air pretty directly pushes down on it, and the hypothetical scale would register something. Just look at the grass when a helicopter hovers over it.

As the aircraft flies further up, we'd need a bigger scale to capture the full area affected, and if it's moving there would be increasing lag between the location of the plane and the (large) area where the downward force hits the ground.

Or do you disagree with that? At what point does the scale stop working?

Obviously there would be practical limitations — that force is so spread out that it would be hard to measure. But let's not have practice get in the way of theory (:

[Rapzid]

The "stone skip" or "deflection" theory of lift is not accurate; https://www.grc.nasa.gov/www/k-12/VirtualAero/BottleRocket/a...

Planes fly through gas, not solid particulate. Gas has intrinsic kinetic energy when energized. Diffusion plays a huge role in all this of course.

The airflow is split at the leading edge. The area of positive pressure is not entirely below or focused under the wing. The top and bottom of the airfoil are both involved in turning the air flow.

The pressure under the airfoil increases a bit, but the pressure above decreases by as much to much more depending(2-3x or more). This hypothetical scale is under the aircraft but much of the lift occurs by decreasing forces on the top surface.

Scales measure weight/mass. Barometers measure changes in atmospheric pressure. So it's not even the tool for the job even if the stone skip theory of lift was accurate.

[turtledragonfly]

I think I see what you're saying.

Perhaps my mention of Newton's third law gave you the impression that I was advocating for that "stone skip" theory ­— I assure you I wasn't! Especially as presented on that page, it is obviously junk (:

But surely you agree, broadly, that if birds are flying inside a sealed box, the box still weighs the same amount as if they were standing, right? (modulo some fluctuations)

All of the pressure differentials and whatnot have the net effect that an upward force on the wing results in a downward force elsewhere. The purpose of the scale is to measure that force — like measuring the weight of the box with birds in it.

In the hovering helicopter example, wouldn't you agree that a (large) scale directly under the helicopter will measure a weight corresponding to the helicopter's lift force? Like if I blow directly onto a kitchen scale — it will measure some grams.

Edit: I feel we are kinda re-hashing the Bernoulli/Newton discussion also addressed at the nasa site: https://www.grc.nasa.gov/www/k-12/VirtualAero/BottleRocket/a... — 'So both "Bernoulli" and "Newton" are correct ...'

For reference, the correct Newtonian explanation (flow turning) is also covered: https://www.grc.nasa.gov/www/k-12/VirtualAero/BottleRocket/a...