One of the most common erroneous explanations of aerodynamic lift asserts that the air must traverse the upper and lower surfaces of a wing in the same amount of time, implying that since the upper surface presents a longer path the air must be moving over the top of the wing faster than over the bottom. Bernoulli's principle is then cited to conclude that the pressure on top of the wing must be lower than on the bottom.
However, there is no physical principle that requires the air to traverse the upper and lower surfaces in the same amount of time. In fact, theory predicts and experiments confirm that the air traverses the top surface in a shorter time than it traverses the bottom surface, and this explanation based on equal transit time is false. While this explanation is false, it is not the Bernoulli principle that is false, because this principle is well established; Bernoulli's equation is used correctly in common mathematical treatments of aerodynamic lift.