Enter the wingspan and the chord into the calculator to determine the total wing area. If calculating a tapered wing, the root chord and tip chord will be required.

## Wing Area Formulas

The following two formulas are used to calculate the wing areas of a triangle and tapered (trapezoidal) wings.

WA = .5 * WS * RC
• Where WA is the wing area of a triangle wing
• WS is the wing span
• RC is the roots chord

Or, for trapezoidal wings:

WA = (RC + TC) / 2 * WS
• Where RC is the root chord
• TC is the tip chord
• WS is the wingspan

## Wing Area Definition

What is wing area?

A wing area, also known as wing surface area, is defined as the total 2-dimensional space taken up by a wing shape. These shapes are most commonly triangle or trapezoidal shapes, but can also be by rectangular, or irregular shapes.

## Example Problem

How to calculate wing area?

The following example outlines the steps to calculate a wing area of a trapezoidal wing.

First, determine the root chord. This should be the longer of the two chords and in this case is 3 feet.

Next, determine the tip chord. The smaller of the two chords in this case is 2 feet.

Next, determine the wing span. The length of the wing is measured to be 6 feet.

Finally, calculate the wing area using the formula above:

WA = (RC + TC) / 2 * WS

WA = (3+ 2) / 2 * 6

WA = 15 ft^2