How does an aeroplane work/lift off?

Question

Can someone give me a brief, simple description.

Answer 1

The simplest answer: The plane pushes air down, which lifts it up the same way you get lifted up if you push your chair down.

Answer 2

its a mixture of forward thrust and the shape of the wings.  the wings are shaped so that when air passes over them the air pressure on top of the wing is lower and the air pressure under the wing is higher. therefor with the extra pressure under the wing it pushes the plane up into the air hope that has helped

Answer 3

I think I can give you the simplest answer you can ask for.

Because of the shape of the wing, air moves over the top faster than it moves over the bottom.

Take a piece of paper, any piece of paper will do. Hold it up to your mouth longways, put the edge of the paper just below your bottom lip. Now blow straight over the paper, you want the air to go smoothly over the top of the piece of paper. If you blow hard enough, you'll notice the paper start to rise up.  

That is the same principal that makes airplanes fly, only on a small scale. What you are seeing is a difference in air pressure, and the higher pressure below wants to "fill in the void" of the low pressure air on top. There is paper (or a wing) in the way, but the air doesn't know that, and still tries to reach equilibrium.

Answer 4

Hello,

(ANS) ALL aircraft from the simplest Micro-lite through to the latest Boeing A380 Super Jumbo require WINGS.

**It is wings that keep aircraft in the air. The way wings keep aircraft flying is due to something called LIFT.

**WHAT IS LIFT? In physics lift is created because the air flowing over the top surface of a wing has to travel further than the air flowing underneath the same wing. Thus the air underneath the wing travels a shorter distance and the difference in this airflow between the top & bottom of the wing creates an upwards movement and we call this lift.

**OK!! obviously there is more too the complete story because apart from just wings we now have Jet Engines & Propellers that help power the wings in a forwards direction. But the jet engines create forwards thrust, meaning that the jet engines or propellers allow the plane to push back against the air and this improves the forwards movement as well as the lift.

**Obviously if the aircraft doesn't move through the air quickly enough then there will not be enough air pressure to keep the wings lifting up the plane. When this happens this is called a stall or stalling. Though even VERY large jet aircraft like Jumbo Jets can still glide if then have enough forwards movement even without power to there engines.

**Remember Gliders using wings & warm air currents on hot days to fly at many thousands of feet above the ground.

Ivan.

Answer 5

Aircraft are supported in the air by the wings.  The wings generate lift—a force that pushes the airplane upwards against the force of gravity, keeping it in the air.

Wings are just flat objects that move forward through the air and have a slight tilt to them (that is, the front of the wing is a bit higher than the back, so that the wing is slightly tilted upwards).  As they move forward, they yank the air above the wing downwards, creating a "downwash" of air that is slowly moving downwards behind the airplane.  As the wings try to pull the air downward, the air—which is a lot heavier than it looks—resists this and tries to push the wings upwards.  And that upwards push is what supports the airplane.

So, in summary, the wing pulls air downwards from above as it passes, and this pulls the wing upwards.

If you look in books, you'll see lots of talk about pressure and circulation and all sorts of other stuff, but it all boils down to pulling air downwards as the wing passes.  That downwash is what supports the airplane, not pressure differences above or below the wing.  The pressure differences help the wing to twist the air as it passes, but they don't provide the lift; the downwash does that.  No downwash, no lift.

Answer 6

http://www.allstar.fiu.edu/aero/fltmidfl...

Have a look at that.

Answer 7

LIFT occurs when 2 streams of air pass a wing, the distance across the bottom (flat side ) is shorter than the curved upper side, the 2 streams hit the wing at the same time it takes longer for the top to cross than the bottom, pushing the wing up.

Answer 8

thrust or foward movement with wings at a angle.

Answer 9

Hey,

Firstly power on, then check-list (will be in the plane), taxi down to end of runway (how to do so will depend on the plane), power up, speed on (also depending on the plane is what controls to use) then the plane will happy float away :)

Your friend,

Future Red.

Answer 10

As the plane taxis the air passes faster over the underneath the wing than over the top ,this causes a lower air pressure on the top causing the higher pressure to lift the wing , hence lifting the plane  

Answer 11

Be very careful when reading Ivan`s answer Airbus make the 380 not Boeing

Answer 12

A mixture of all of the above answers is correct.  Forward movement is required.  The shape of the wings creates high pressure below the wing and lower pressure above it.  This forces the aircraft upwards.