Inspection window: A small transparent window in the envelope of a balloon or in the wing of an airplane to allow inspection of the interior.
Kite: A form of aircraft without other propelling means than the towline pull, whose support is derived from the force of the wind moving past its surface.
Landing gear: The understructure of an aircraft designed to carry the load when resting on or running on the surface of the land or water.
Leading edge: See Entering edge.
Leeway: The angular deviation from a set course over the earth, due to cross currents of wind, also called drift; hence, “drift meter.”
Lift: The component of the total force due to the air resolved perpendicular to the relative wind and in the plane of symmetry.
Lift of an airship:
Dynamic.—The component of the total force on an airship due to the air through which it moves, resolved perpendicular to the relative wind and in the plane including the direction of the relative wind and the longitudinal axis.
Static.—The vertical upward force on an airship when at rest in the air, due to buoyancy.
Lift bracing: See Stay.