Definition
Parts of an airplane that, when extended or deployed, increase parasite drag and steepen the glide path. Common examples include the landing gear, flaps, spoilers, and speed brakes. In a glide, extending these components reduces the glide ratio because the airplane loses altitude faster for a given forward distance.
Plain English
Things on the airplane that, when you put them out into the airflow, slow you down and make the airplane sink faster during a glide. Landing gear and flaps are the most common ones.
Context Anchor
Seen in glide discussions when comparing how different airplane parts, such as extended flaps or landing gear, affect speed and descent path.
Derivation
“Drag” comes from an old word meaning to pull or draw along. That helps here because aerodynamic drag acts like a backward pull on the airplane as it moves through the air. “Components” means parts, so the phrase means the airplane parts that create that backward air resistance.
Why Pilots Care
Reducing these parts during a glide preserves altitude and extends the distance the airplane can travel without engine power.
Analogy
It is like holding your hand flat out of a car window. Turn your hand broadside to the air and it creates more resistance; turn it edge-on and it creates less.
Intuition Check
Do not read “drag-producing” as meaning the part is bad or broken. Here it means the part creates useful air resistance that the pilot can use to control the airplane’s speed and descent.
Example Sentence 1
After the engine failure, the pilot kept the gear and flaps retracted to minimize drag-producing components and stretch the glide toward the nearest airport.
Example Sentence 2
A windmilling propeller became one of the main drag-producing components after the engine failed.