Stupid (?) question: How do planes really fly?

[Humbagger]

@Raza

air “doesn’t care” and has no incentive to flow faster.

@DesertDog

what motive the top-side air had to accelerate so it wound up even with the bottom-side, shorter path air again.

@robby

If the molecules that take the longer path didn’t catch up to those that took the shorter path, you’d end up with a mass imbalance.

Not only does the top side air play catch up, for reasons explained in this thread, it can easily overtake the bottom side air:

https://youtu.be/UqBmdZ-BNig?si=Phk82263zxGNh7am