How does an airplane fly?

A big airplane is heavier than a hundred elephants. Yet it can climb high into the clouds and stay there for hours. How does something so heavy fly?

Engines push it forward

It all starts on the runway. The plane’s powerful engines roar and push it forward, faster and faster. Soon it is racing along quicker than a car on the motorway.

The plane needs to go very fast, because speed is the secret to leaving the ground.

Wings make a gentle push up

Look at the wings. They are not flat — they have a special curved shape. As the plane zooms forward, air rushes over and under each wing.

Because of the wing’s shape, the air pushes up on it more than it pushes down. That upward push is called lift. When the plane is fast enough, lift becomes strong enough to hold the whole heavy plane in the air!

Staying up in the sky

As long as the engines keep the plane moving fast, the wings keep making lift, and the plane stays up. The pilot tips the wings a little to turn, climb or come down.

When it is time to land, the plane slows down gently, lift fades away, and the wheels touch the runway again.

Wonder fact: A big passenger jet can fly higher than the tallest mountains — about 10 kilometres up, where the air is thin and very cold!