Airplanes

What is an airplane?  How does it work? Who invented it?

These and more questions have an answer in these pages.

According to the Encarta Encyclopedia, "an  Airplane is an engine-driven vehicle that can fly through the air supported by the action of air against its wings. Airplanes are heavier than air because they have rigid wings; control surfaces, movable parts of the wings and tail, which make it possible to guide their flight; and power plants, or special engines that permit level or climbing flight."

As you look at a plane, you can see the wings, the tail and the body.  But what's inside them? How do they work?

This image and the ones in the next page are taken from the CD rom The Way Things Work 2.0, Houghton Mifflin Company.
 

In this picture you can see the airplane skeleton and some of its most important components: the Aileron, Control Column, Tailplane, Rudder, Elevator, Pedals andPropeller.  Click on them to find out some information about their use.
 
 

Orville and Wilbur Wright were the first people to fly in an engine-driven airplane.  Click on the names and see who they were.