How Planes and Other Aircrafts Fly Thrust Propellers Turbo/Jet Engines Rocket Engines Drag Lift Weight Flight Taking Off Flying Banking Landing Hot Air Balloons Helicopters

Some Flight Lingo Being able to fly means you must master the four forces acting on a plane at all times Thrust Drag Lift Weight

Thrust Is a force which causes an object to move in the forward direction It is created by an engines which burns oxygen and fuel to create a hot, expanding gas leading to thrust There are 3 main types of engines Propeller Turbine/Jet engine Rocket

Engines Which Create Thrust - Propeller Initial means of producing thrust in aircrafts Still used today in small aircrafts or for low speeds The planes engine spins the propeller which provides thrust in the forward direction Similar to how fans push air to cool you down

Engines Which Create Thrust – Turbine/Jet Air flows into the engine through the large intake fans It then passes either through the compression core Air that goes into the core becomes compressed and increases in energy Some of this energy is used to turn the fans at the front of the engine The air is then ignited causing it to exit the engine at very high speeds The exit of the air produces thrust in the opposite direction

Engines Which Create Thrust - Rocket Thrust is produced by the exit of exhaust downwards Similar to air exiting a balloon The downward exhaust forces the rocket upwards The exhaust is produced by mixing a fuel and oxygen to produce a controlled explosion (combustion) Hydrogen is a common fuel

Drag Drag is the force that opposes (tries to prevent or slow) motion It is caused by the plane pushing the air molecules out of the way (air resistance/friction) The larger and faster the object, the greater the drag For a plane to move forward, the thrust must be greater than the drag

Lift Lift is a force that acts perpendicular (right angles) to the movement of the plane If lift is greater than weight, the plane goes higher The shape of the wing creates a higher air pressure below creating an upward force

Weight Weight is the force of gravity which acts on an object and is measured in Newton’s The lift needs to be greater than the weight for the plane to rise in the air Airplane designers are always trying to find lighter materials for their planes to reduce the weight

Airplane Flight – Taking Off Take off requires the plane to generate thrust using the engines to overcome the drag Once the plane gains speed, air passes over the wings to create lift Once the lift is greater than the weight, the plane takes off

Airplane Flight – Flying Once the plane is in the air, lift is reduced by moving the flaps on the wing This reduces the pressure below the wing until the pressure is equal above and below If the lift = weight, then the plane stays at a constant height

Turing a Plane in Air - Banking To turn or bank one way or another, you must increase the lift on one wing and decrease it on the other This is accomplished by controlling the flaps on each wing individually similar to landing

Airplane Flight – Landing When the plane is ready to land, the pilot again changes the flaps on the wing to reduce the pressure below the wing which decreases lift Once the lift is less than the weight, the plane begins to lose height The pilot also decreases the thrust by slowing the engines and increases the drag by changing flaps on the wings

Hot Air Balloons For an object without an engine to fly, it needs to be lighter than air Hot air rises because it is lighter than the cold air around it If you heat the air in a hot air balloon enough, it becomes lighter than air and will rise

Hot Air Balloons Hot air balloons contains a burner which burns a fuel like propane to heat the air To go down, pilots turn down the burners and release some of the hot air out of the balloon To get from place to place, the pilot must ride the wind. However, air moves in different directions at different heights so a pilot can change a balloons direction by changing altitudes

Helicopters Just like the other aircrafts we’ve discussed, helicopters deal with thrust, lift, drag and weight Lift is created by spinning the rotor blades above the helicopter using an engine The rotor blade angles can be changed to increase or decrease lift as well as move the helicopter forward, backwards or sideways

Helicopters The tail rotors allow the pilot to turn the helicopter left or right These are controlled by foot pedals

Helicopters - Uses Helicopters can be used for flying ambulance to get to difficult locations fight fires rescue people in hard-to-reach locations police and new crews