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