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This article refers to the tool of travel. There is a separate article about the movie Airplane!

An aircraft is any machine capable of atmospheric flight.

1 Categories and clasification

Aircraft fall into two broad categories:

1.1 Heavier than air

Heavier than air aerodynes, including autogyros, helicopters and variants, and conventional fixed-wing aircraft: aeroplanes in Commonwealth English, airplanes in North American English.

Fixed-wing aircraft generally use an internal-combustion engine in the form of a piston engine with a propeller or a jet engine, sometimes with a propeller, to provide thrust that moves the craft forward through the air. The movement of air over the airfoil produces lift that causes the aircraft to fly. Exceptions are gliders which have no engines and gain their thrust from gravity and thermal currents. That is, in order to maintain their forward speed they must descend in relation to the air (but not necessarily in relation to the ground). Helicopters and autogyros use a spinning rotor (a rotary wing) to provide both lift and thrust. The abbreviation VTOL is applied to aircraft other than helicopters that can take off or land vertically. Similarly, STOLSTOL is an acronym for Short Take-Off and Landing used in the aircraft industry to describe airplanes with very low runway requirements. Famous STOL aircraft include the Fieseler Fi 156, de Havilland Beaver, Pilatus PC-6, Piper Cub, PZL Wilga, and Westlan stands for Short Take Off and Landing.

1.2 Lighter than air

Lighter than airThe expression lighter than air refers to objects, usually aircraft, that are buoyant in air because they have an average density that is less than that of air (usually because they contain gases that have a density that is lower than that of air). The op aerostatAn aerostat is a lighter than air craft, such as a balloon or airship. An aerostat's lift is caused by buoyancy relative to surrounding air. Aircraft.s: ballooncards or flowers. A balloon is a flexible bag normally filled with air or gas. Some balloons are purely decorative, while others are used for specific purposes. Early balloons were made of dried animal bladders. Balloons as flying machines Large balloonss and airshipUSS Akron in flight, November 2nd 1931 An airship is a buoyant (" lighter-than-air") aircraft that can be steered and propelled through the air. Unlike aerodynamic ("heavier-than-air") aircraft which stay aloft by moving an airfoil through the air in ordes. Aerostats float in air in the same way that a ship floats in water, by displacing the air around the craft with a lighter gas ( heliumHelium is a colorless, odorless, tasteless chemical element, one of the noble gases of the periodic table of elements. Its boiling and melting points are the lowest among the elements; except in extreme conditions, it exists only as a gas. The second most or hydrogenhydrogen helium H Li Full table General Name, Symbol, NumberHydrogen, H, 1 Chemical series nonmetals Group, Period, Block 1 (IA), 1 , s Density, Hardness 0. 0899 kg/m3, NA Appearance colorless Atomic properties Atomic weight 1. 00794 amu Atomic radius (ca), or hot air. The distinction between a balloon and an airship is that an airship has some means of controlling forward motion and steering, while balloons simply drift with the wind.

See also: List of aviation, aerospace and aeronautical termsA glossary of terms used in relation to aircraft, in alphabetical order. For specific makes and models, see List of aircraft manufacturers and List of aircraft. aerodyne :A heavier-than-air craft, deriving its lift from motion. aeronaut :Pilot or crew of

There are several ways to classify aircraft. Below, we describe classifications by design, propulsion and usage.

Also see this List of aircraft.

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Topics: Aircraft Lift Air Engine Balloons War Forward Wings Aviation...

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