by Andrew Pahel

Created on: February 23, 2007   Last Updated: May 02, 2007

When I was but a little boy, I remember going to an air show on an Air force base. I never saw a more incredible sight. One thing wandered through my mind though, how could something so big and heavy stay airborne? This is a topic I have learned about throughout school but until recently never went deeper into detail.

My childhood question was answered around the fourth grade. There are four ideas you must understand before we proceed. The first is lift. Lift is the force that allows the airplane to become and stay airborne, It is produced by a lower pressure created on the upper surface of an airplane's wing compared to the pressure on the wing's lower surface. This causes the wing to be "lifted" up. The unique shape of the plane's wing is called the "airfoil". It's designed so that air coming over it will have to travel longer which results in a low pressure zone. Like previously described this creates lift and raises the wing upward.

Another important factor is thrust. Thrust is a force created by a power source that pushes the aircraft forward. Thrust will either push or pull the plane forward. "A good lift/drag ration is one of the most important qualities a aircraft can posses, if not the most important, for it is a quality which epitomizes what every aircraft is intended to do; to lift the maximum possible load with the minimum power (Desoutter 7).

The third force in this series is called drag. This force slows down the aircraft's forward motion when the direction of the airflow is opposite to the direction of motion of the plane. Thrust is the remedy that overcomes drag. Gravity is the final force, which merely weighs down the plane.

Now we know how the plane stays airborne, but how does the pilot control it? This is best explained by describing the plane's segments. Segments found in the plane are the ailerons, rudders, and elevators. Ailerons are inserted in the wings and the rudders and elevators are inside the vertical and horizontal stabilizers. The pilot uses these to control his position from the cockpit. When the pilot moves them into the airstream they cause the plane to react to the air pressure. Plain and simple the pilot uses these controls to go left, right, up, or down. Another thing that helps the plane fly is the propeller. The propeller moves air to the rear(the action) which causes the airplane to go forward(the reaction) (Smith 3).

Pilots are able to change the direction of the plane by using one or more of its three axes of rotation:

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