What is the wing apex?

[OldCrow]

Maybe a stupid question, but what is the wing apex?

Is it the leading edge, the center of lift, the wing tip, center ot the MAC, or what?

[Squiffy]

As far as I know, it's the center of lift or more specifically the maximum height of the airfoil relative the the center chord line. Like the apex of a turn or curve.

[OldCrow]

Yeah, I think I agree with you. Funny I couldn't find anything about this on the net, and I usually can find anything.

I notice that the wing_pos_lon in the Aircraft.cfg is usually set by the formula: wing area/wingspan/4.
Or simply, the MAC divided by 4.

[OldCrow]

The reason I think the above formula is flawed though is for example...

A spitfire with clipped wings, will have less wing area and span, which will change the wing_apex_lon(moving it back vs. the CoG), even though it probably would have the same center of lift as the standard elliptical wing wouldn't it?

[hairyspin]

I think this question would be better asked over at Sparks' usual haunt, the SOH Flight Dynamics forum:- http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/forumdisplay.php?f=42

For what it's worth, I was under the impression it was the apex of the wing leading edge, usually the position where the wing root meets the fuselage, but neglecting any fairing. aircraft.cfg includes an entry for the sweep of the leading edge to account for wings which are, er, swept back like most of them are. 25% of MAC back from the leading edge is where the sim expects the centre of lift to be afaik.

Most aircraft have some degree of sweep to their wings, but if anyone's building a Ju-287 flight model I'd love to know how you get on with that bird - wings swept substantially forward!

[OldCrow]

As far as I know, it's the center of lift or more specifically the maximum height of the airfoil relative the the center chord line. Like the apex of a turn or curve.

On second thought, wouldn't this (your description above) be the exact same as the CoG number usually? Usually the MAC minus 1/4 of the total length?

I'm thinking now it's more of the leading edge at center of lift, in relation to the CoG.

[popsaka]

I thought apex was at the wing root too but methinks me is over simplifying...

As far as forward sweeps, isn't that basically: Less stability= more maneuverability?

...Tho' I'm out of me depth its still quite interesting!