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Originally Posted by bobkoure
Yeah, OK.
Erm, well... no. Please don't feel badly, it's a common misconception.
Planes don't hang on lower pressure on the tops of their wings but simply blow air downward to stay up. There are two primary effects: simple angle of attack (wing is angled upwards, so air that strikes it is pushed downwards) - and coanda effect (friction / laminar effect from the top surface works like a giant scoop - shape of surface makes the tail end of the "scoop" angle down).
If you're ever in a plane, near another one that's near the top of the clouds you can easily see the air being blown down into the clouds. I'm no aeronautical engineer, but was a (amateur - VFR only) pilot tor a number of years and saw this effect on a number of occasions.
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Actually, I believe that both effects are used here: I used to work for an airline, and have seen the turbulence that you speak of, and yes, the flaps do exactly what you describe. Otherwise, the angle of attack is also a factor in keeping a plane up, but it's also combined with this low pressure effect over the wing.
Being on the ground, you can look at any Airbus 330 or 340, and see a visible droop in the wings (span wise). This droop dissapears in flight
