airplanes

     

A fixe-wing aircraft is a heavier-than-air craft whose lift is generated not by wing motion relative to the aircraft, but by forward motion through the air. The term is used to distinguish from rotary-wing aircraft or ornithopters, where the movement of the wing surfaces relative to the aircraft generates lift. The more commonly used term is "airplane", (in the US and Canada), or "aeroplane" (in Ireland and Commonwealth nations excluding Canada), which refers to any fixed wing aircraft powered by propellers or jet engines. The word derives from the Greek αέρας (aéras-) ("air") and -plane. The spelling "aeroplane" is the older of the two, dating back to the mid-late 19th century. Fixed-wing aircraft may be manned or not; they may be large or tiny; every fixed-wing aircraft is open to being scale modeled by perhaps a smaller or larger mimic fixed wing aircraft. Many fixed-wing aircraft may be remotely controlled or robot controlled.

Trivia about airplanes

  • B.o.B. & Hayley Williams recorded a duet about these "in the night sky like shooting stars"
  • The Spitfire & the Hawker Hurricane are types of these
  • The Kelly Act of 1925 allowed the Post Office to contract companies to transport mail using these
  • In the '60s adwoman Mary Wells persuaded Braniff to paint these in cheerful colors
  • Prior to autos, BMW began as a company that made engines for these
  • On April 14, 1918 Pershing became the first American general to make use of these in combat
  • At the beginning of "Close Encounters", a bunch of these, missing since 1945, are found in the Sonoran Desert
  • Nose art, referring to pictures on the noses of these, really took off during WWII
  • In the month of March 1945 alone, Leroy Grumman's corporation built a total of 664 of all types of these
  • In the "Seinfeld" episode "The Diplomat's CLub", Kramer loses $3,200 betting on on-time arrivals of these
  • World War II's Battle of the Coral Sea was the first naval battle that used only these
  • 1975: Donald Bateman's ground proximity warning system designed for use in these