geese

[pemstudent]

How are geese able to fly when they are so big?

[burnhal]

Ever seen a jumbo jet? Thats pretty big.

Seriously though- this is a complex subject- have a read of http://www.ornithology.com/lectures/Flight.html for starters

[Toureman]

because they have big wings and powerful muscles (just like a jumbo jet has big wings and big engines!

[wildwood]

Geese, like swans etc have to have a running start to get enough speed up for take-off. They are too heavy for normal vertical take-off. Once they have a bit of speed up by running - swans often do this over water - the air flowing over the primary feathers (the wing feathers closest to the body) effectively act like a plane's wing and when the air is split in front, because of the shape of the wing it takes longer for the air to move over the top than the bottom. This creates a vacuum on top and 'sucks' the wing up, producing what is generally known as LIFT. The outer wing feathers, known as primary feathers, have unique bending characteristics at the end and produce the thrust to move the bird forward.

The heavier the bird is, the faster it has to run before their is enough air moving over the wing to produce sufficient lift to carry the bird's weight.The larger albatrosses are so heavy in relation to their wing area that they have to have the assistance of a decent headwing to take off.

[wildwood]

Oh, and the feathers closest to the body are the Secondary feathers, not the primaries. sorry.

[sako 243]

just a response to wildwoods post.unlike swans geese do not require a running take off.