Most of the difficulties of transonic flight are associated with shock wave induced flow separation. Therefore, any means of delaying or alleviating the shock-induced separation will improve aerodynamic performance. One method is wing sweep back. Sweep back theory is based upon the concept that it is only the component of the airflow perpendicular to the leading edge of the wing that affects pressure distribution and formation of shock waves.
On a straight wing airplane, the airflow strikes the wing leading edge at 90°, and its full impact produces pressure and lift. A wing with sweep back is struck by the same airflow at an angle smaller than 90°. This airflow on the swept wing has the effect of persuading the wing into believing that it is flying slower than it really is; thus the formation of shock waves is delayed. Advantages of wing sweep include an increase in critical Mach number, force divergence Mach number, and the Mach number at which drag rise will peak. In other words, sweep will delay the onset of compressibility effects. The Mach number, which produces a sharp change in drag coefficient, is termed the "force divergence" Mach numbers and, for most airfoils, usually exceeds the critical Mach number by 5 to 10 percent. At this speed, the airflow separation induced by shock wave formation can create significant variations in the drag, lift, or pitching moment coefficients. In addition to the delay of the onset of compressibility effects, sweep back reduces the magnitude in the changes of drag, lift or moment coefficients. In other words, the use of sweep back will "soften" the force divergence. A disadvantage of swept wings is that they tend to stall at the wingtips rather than at the wing roots.
This is because the boundary layer tends flows span wise toward the tips and to separate near the leading edges. Because the tips of a swept wing are on the aft part of the wing (behind the center of lift), a wingtip stall will cause the center of lift to move forward on the wing, forcing the nose to rise further. The tendency for tip stall is greatest when wing sweep and taper are combined.
The stall situation can be aggravated by a T-tail configuration, which affords little or no pre-stall warning in the form of tail control surface buffet. The T-tail, being above the wing wake remains effective even after the wing has begun to stall, allowing the pilot to inadvertently drive the wing into a deeper stall at a much greater angle of attack.
If the horizontal tail surfaces then become buried in the wing's wake, the elevator may lose all effectiveness, making it impossible to reduce pitch attitude and break the stall. In the pre-stall and immediate post-stall regimes, the lift/drag qualities of a swept wing airplane (specifically the enormous increase in drag at low speeds) can cause an increasingly descending flight path with no change in pitch attitude, further increasing the angle of attack. In this situation, without reliable angle of attack information, a nose-down pitch attitude with an increasing airspeed is no guarantee that recovery has been effected, and up-elevator movement at this stage may merely keep the airplane stalled.
It is a characteristic of T-tail airplanes to pitch up viciously when stalled in extreme nose-high attitudes, making recovery difficult or violent. The stick pusher inhibits this type of stall. At approximately one knot above stall speed, preprogrammed stick forces automatically move the stick forward, preventing the stall from developing. A "g" limited may also be incorporated into the system to prevent the pitch down generated by the stick pusher from imposing excessive loads on the airplane. A "stick shaker," on the other hand provides stall warning when the airspeed is 5 to 7 percent above stall speed.
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