What Are Aircraft? Everyone has seen a jet streaking across the sky leaving a trail of vapor as it goes. Maybe you have heard the distinct thud, thud, thud as a helicopter slows in its descent. You have probably marveled at a plane so massive that it seems to just hang in the air by some invisible force. These wonderful marvels of human engineering have captured the hearts of many. They are known the world over as aircraft. But what is an aircraft? Aircraft’s are comprised of many different things and fly in many different ways but they all have one very distinct thing in common with one another.
They carry passengers through the air. A jet can be defined as an aircraft because it carries passengers through the air. Jets are composed of many different parts that come together to make them fly. There are several key components that aircraft have to help them achieve flight. Jets are basically comprised of the fuselage, wings, ailerons, rudder, elevator, and engine. Passengers ride in the fuselage, the wings achieve lift, the ailerons, rudder, and elevator control the direction of flight, and the jet engine provides propulsion.
All of these components come together to achieve flight, and to carry passengers through the air. Next we will look at a very close relative of the jet, airplanes. Airplanes are also an aircraft. They are very similar to jets except one key component, their engine. While jet engines use their exhaust gases to propel the aircraft forward, airplanes use props to pull the aircraft through the air. Even though airplanes may look and function completely different from jets, they both share the same fundamental building blocks to achieve the same function.
It uses the fuselage to carry the passengers. The wings to provide lift. And the ailerons, rudder, and elevator control the direction of flight. Even with all of their differences one thing still remains constant. They carry passengers through the air. Now what would happen if we took away that loud engine, would we still have an aircraft? Yes. We get a Glider. Even without a powerful engine gliders are also an aircraft. Gliders look very similar to airplanes with a spinning prop, but there are two things that you would know were different just by looking at it.
There is no engine and the wings are incredibly massive, spanning 3 to 4 times greater than a conventional airplane. Gliders achieve lift by doing exactly what the name entails, it glides. With no prop, or jet engine, gliders travel through the air propelled by the wind itself. They are usually launched from a relatively high altitude off the side of a mountain, where they can catch updrafts and drift silently through the air. Even with these very distinct differences gliders are still aircraft. They carry passengers through the air. Now let us look at something that resembles none of the above; the helicopter.
Helicopters are also aircraft. Even though they look absolutely nothing like a jet or an airplane they still carry passengers through the air. Helicopters have three main features that allow them to fly. The fuselage allows the helicopter to carry its passengers. The main rotor creates lift and allows the pilot to steer by changing the blade angles. And the tail rotor: which negates the torque created by the main rotor. It all comes together and allows us to fly, making it an aircraft. And finally the most unlikely aircraft, the hot air balloon. Hot air balloons are also defined as an aircraft.
Hot air balloons have only one thing in common with the rest of these examples. They carry passengers through the air. A hot air balloon is the most bare-bone approach to traveling through the air. They are simply comprised of: The balloon, the basket, and the burner. The burner does all of the work to keep the balloon floating. It simply shoots hot air into the balloon, which catches it. Since hot air is lighter than cold or ambient air when it is all collected in a confined space it overcomes the effect of gravity and the weight of its passengers and achieves lift.
After looking at these examples you can clearly see the two things that they all have in common, they all carry passengers, and they all travel in the air; Even though each one takes their own approach in their method of flight. Jets travel fast and loud, airplanes travel a lot slower than jets but still have the same configuration, gliders travel silently and much slower than airplanes, helicopters travel can travel vertically and hover, and hot air balloons float through the air. Though they are all different in their own way, they are aircraft carrying passengers through the air.
