The chord line of an airfoil is the straight line between the leading and trailing edges. Its length, referred to as the chord, is the width of the wing.

overhead view of a wing:
 _________________________
|             |           |  
|             |chord      |
|             |line       |
|_____________|___________|

airfoils are usually shown in profile, something like this:

                (curved line corresponding to upper surface)
               /
leading edge  (---------------chord line---------------------> trailing edge     
               \
                (curved line corresponding to lower surface)

In a symmetric wing, the chord line corresponds to the mean camber line.

See also: http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/K-12/airplane/geom.html for wing geometry definitions.



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