NACA and the NACA6409

NACA, or the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautical Airfoils is responsible for

airfoil designs we see in almost every single airplane in use today. Formed in the early thirties

and forties, they created a catalog of 78 different airfoils, with the goal to give engineers an

easier time define and categorizing airfoils by certain attributes like their Maximum Camber,

Position of Max Camber, and the maximum thickness. There are also two types of airfoils

defined by NACA. First is the four digit. This means each of these airfoils have three different

defining factors. However they also created the 5 digit airfoil. This allowed the organization to

define a more complex shaped airfoil. By properly following the four digit number that is

specific to each NACA airfoil, one can perfectly replicate its design. As a result, it is easy to

choose an appropriate airfoil depending on what plane and flight an engineer is looking for. One

specific airfoil is the NACA6409. Having a very distinguishable shape, it has more of an arch,

due to its high maximum camber, yet an overall small maximum thickness. Due to it being very

thin in comparison to the other NACA airfoils, it is popular for RC planes. Reducing weight on

any flying vehicle is extremely important, so many competitive RC designs use it. Furthermore,

it is extremely effective for use in gliding, furthering its use as a RC plane. Unfortunately, it is

not very useful for high speeds, which is why it is rarely found on actual commercial planes. Its

specifications are as follows: The leading 6 correlates to the maximum camber, as a percent of

the chord (.06c), the following 4 correlates to the chordwise position of the maximum camber

(.4c), and the final two numbers 0 and 9 refer to the maximum thickness of the airfoil (.09c).