Raymond Adkins: How do airplanes actually fly?

How do airplanes actually fly?

By 1917, Albert Einstein had explained the relationship between space and time. But, that year, he designed a flawed airplane wing. His attempt was based on an incomplete theory of how flight works. Indeed, insufficient and inaccurate explanations still circulate today. So, where did Einstein go wrong? And how exactly do planes fly? Raymond Adkins explains the concept of aerodynamic lift. [Directed by Michael Kalopaidis, Zedem Media, narrated by Addison Anderson].

Even Albert Einstein misjudged how wings generate lift, creating a famously flawed design dubbed "the cat's back." Modern science reveals that common textbook explanations, like the "Equal Transit Time" myth, fail to capture the real interplay of air and wing. Instead, lift arises from the way air speeds up and slows down around a wing, creating pressure differences that allow planes to rise. Despite its everyday impact, lift remains one of physics' most nuanced and misunderstood phenomena.