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Aviation glossary

Swept wing

Also: wing sweep, sweepback, sweep angle

The aircraft

Wing whose edges angle backwards from the fuselage to delay compressibility effects, allowing an aircraft to cruise closer to the speed of sound.

What it is

As an aircraft approaches the speed of sound, air accelerating over the wing can locally exceed Mach 1, producing shock waves and a sharp rise in drag. Sweeping the wing back means that compressibility effects depend mainly on the component of airflow at right angles to the leading edge, which is slower, so the drag rise is postponed.

That is why the vast majority of jet airliners have swept wings, typically angled at between 25 and 35 degrees; the Boeing 707 helped make the layout standard in passenger transport in the late 1950s. Turboprops, which fly more slowly, generally keep straight wings.

Sweep comes at a cost: low-speed handling suffers, so swept-wing airliners rely on flaps and slats for take-off and landing.

On Vuelopedia

A model page on Vuelopedia gives cruise speed both in km/h and as a Mach number.

Boeing 707 Boeing 747

Related terms

WingSurface that generates the lift needed for flight; on airliners it usually also holds much of the fuel and carries the engines. Mach numberRatio of an aircraft's speed through the air to the speed of sound in that air; Mach 1 means flying at exactly the speed of sound. Cruise speedSpeed at which an aircraft flies most of a journey, in level flight at high altitude, chosen to balance fuel burn, time and cost. SlatMovable leading-edge surface that moves forward to open a slot, letting the wing reach a higher angle of attack before it stalls. FlapMovable surface on the trailing edge of the wing that extends to increase lift at low speed during take-off and landing.
Whole glossary

Cite

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This page was last updated on October 9, 2026

APA

Vuelopedia. (2026, October 9). Swept wing. Retrieved October 16, 2026, from https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/swept-wing

MLA

“Swept wing.” Vuelopedia, Fundación Poderia, 9 Oct. 2026, vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/swept-wing. Accessed 16 Oct. 2026.

Chicago

Vuelopedia. “Swept wing.” Fundación Poderia. Last modified October 9, 2026. https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/swept-wing.

Harvard

Vuelopedia (2026) Swept wing. Available at: https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/swept-wing (Accessed: 16 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{vuelopedia_en_glossary_swept_wing,
  author       = {{Vuelopedia}},
  title        = {{Swept wing}},
  publisher    = {Fundación Poderia},
  year         = {2026},
  date         = {2026-10-09},
  url          = {https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/swept-wing},
  howpublished = {\url{https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/swept-wing}},
  urldate      = {2026-10-16},
  note         = {Accessed 2026-10-16}
}

Wikipedia

{{cite web |url=https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/swept-wing |title=Swept wing |website=Vuelopedia |publisher=Fundación Poderia |date=2026-10-09 |access-date=2026-10-16 |language=en}}

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