Aircraft configurations

An airplane (American English), or aeroplane (Commonwealth English), informally plane, is a fixed-wing aircraft that is propelled forward by thrust from a jet engine, propeller, or rocket engine. Airplanes come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and wing configurations. The broad spectrum of uses for airplanes includes recreation, transportation of goods and people, military, and research.

thumb|VH-SUF, a McDermott Aviation Bell 214 taking off after refuelling. thumb|Cabin view looking out from a helicopter in flight thumb|Bell 412|Bell 412CF looking forward from the tail, showing its twin turbine engine exhausts thumb|1956 Hiller YROE-1 one-man "Rotorcycle" being tested at NASA Ames Research Center A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes allow helicopters to be used in congested or

right|thumb|Various kites being flown

thumb|upright=1.36|The AutoGyro Calidus, a modern, closed-cabin, pusher-propeller autogyro in flight

Paragliding is the recreational and competitive adventure sport of flying paragliders: lightweight, free-flying, foot-launched glider aircraft with no rigid primary structure. The pilot sits in a harness or in a cocoon-like 'pod' suspended below a fabric wing. Wing shape is maintained by the suspension lines, the pressure of air entering vents in the front of the wing, and the aerodynamic forces of the air flowing over the outside.

jet airliner with twin-aisle passenger cabin

machine to fly in air just above sea or ground using air-surfice reaction

thumb|Pteryx Skybird radio-controlled ornithopter

aircraft classification

aircraft component fixed to the end of the wings to improve performance

device worn on the back which uses jets of gas or liquid to propel the wearer through the air

thumb|A Bell 47 helicopter, an early example of a powered rotorcraft

heavier-than-air aircraft with fixed wings generating aerodynamic lift in the airflow caused by forward airspeed

aircraft equipped with a boat hull for operation from water

aircraft which uses a rocket engine for propulsion

air sport or recreational activity

thumb|upright=1.35|A Fairey FB-1 Gyrodyne

total mass divided by area of wing

research aircraft by McDonnell Douglas, later Boeing

thumb|upright=1.1|The Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey A tiltrotor is a rotorcraft that generates lift and propulsion by way of one or more powered rotors (sometimes called proprotors) mounted on rotating shafts or nacelles usually at the ends of a fixed wing. Almost all tiltrotors use a transverse rotor design, with a few exceptions that use other multirotor layouts. Tiltrotor design combines the VTOL capability of a helicopter with the speed and range of a conventional fixed-wing aircraft. For vertical flight, the rotors are angled so the plane of rotation is horizontal, generating lift the way a nor

thumb|Boeing 787 Dreamliner Twinjet thumb|Many fighter jets and a majority of modern [[airliner designs are twinjets.]] A twinjet or twin-engine jet is a jet aircraft powered by two engines. A twinjet is able to fly well enough to land with a single working engine, making it safer than a single-engine aircraft in the event of an engine failure. Fuel efficiency of a twinjet is better than that of aircraft with more engines. These considerations have led to the widespread use of aircraft of all types with twin engines, including airliners, fixed-wing military aircraft, and others.

thumb|upright=1.2|One of the first trijets was the Boeing 727 airliner. One similar to this was intentionally crashed for a television program.

angle between each wing or tail surface within a pair

aircraft configuration in which the fuselage produces significant lift

arrangement of propellers on an aircraft to face rearward

two-propeller design for improving low-airspeed maneuverability

describes the general shape and layout of an aircraft wing

aircraft undercarriage arranged with main gear under the wing or fuselage and a third set under the nose

aircraft configuration utilizing two longitudinal booms for support of ancillary items

thumb|Hiller X-18 tilting its wing

helicopter powered solely by human activity

aircraft class with fixed wings propelled by four main jet engines

right|thumb|The Boeing X-51 forebody is an example of cone-derived waverider right|thumb| another configuration of waverider. thumb| Small-scale model of the Soviet/Russian Ayaks aircraft exposed at the 1993 [[MAKS Air Show, Moscow. It is still currently under development]]

thumb|The Convair Pogo was one tailsitter design. A tail-sitter, or tailsitter, is a type of VTOL aircraft that takes off and lands on its tail, then tilts horizontally for forward flight.

aircraft undercarriage arrangement with main gear forward plus tail support

thumb|The central engine on the Tupolev Tu-154|Tu-154 is fed through an S-duct thumb|S-duct geometry

balloon attached to the ground

arrangement of propellers on an aircraft to face forward

aircraft with a wing as a fuselage

a helicopter system designed to be worn on a person's back

thumb|upright|The French Snecma Coléoptère, which gave its name to the coleopter category

aircraft with two passenger decks

arrangement of propeller on an aircraft facing both forward and rearward

thumb|FanWing cross-section showing airflow The FanWing is a type of aircraft rotor wing in which a horizontal-axis cross-flow fan is used in close conjunction with a fixed wing. The fan forces airflow over the fixed surface to provide both lift and forward thrust.

type of airplane

type of airplane using a Flettner rotor to provide lift

in aircraft design

thumb|Junkers Ju 52|Nearly 5,000 Junkers Ju 52/3m were built, the most of any trimotor

Propellers that rotate on opposite directions