What is Airplane: Definition and 354 Discussions

An airplane or aeroplane (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. Worldwide, commercial aviation transports more than four billion passengers annually on airliners and transports more than 200 billion tonne-kilometers of cargo annually, which is less than 1% of the world's cargo movement. Most airplanes are flown by a pilot on board the aircraft, but some are designed to be remotely or computer-controlled such as drones.
The Wright brothers invented and flew the first airplane in 1903, recognized as "the first sustained and controlled heavier-than-air powered flight". They built on the works of George Cayley dating from 1799, when he set forth the concept of the modern airplane (and later built and flew models and successful passenger-carrying gliders). Between 1867 and 1896, the German pioneer of human aviation Otto Lilienthal also studied heavier-than-air flight. Following its limited use in World War I, aircraft technology continued to develop. Airplanes had a presence in all the major battles of World War II. The first jet aircraft was the German Heinkel He 178 in 1939. The first jet airliner, the de Havilland Comet, was introduced in 1952. The Boeing 707, the first widely successful commercial jet, was in commercial service for more than 50 years, from 1958 to at least 2013.

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  1. N

    Airplane traveling 160 km/h

    Homework Statement The pilot of an airplane traveling 160 km/h wants to drop supplies to flood victims isolated on a patch of land 120 m below. The supplies should be dropped how many seconds before the plane is directly overhead? Homework Equations equations of motion The Attempt...
  2. S

    Airplane drops a package (relative motion)

    Homework Statement A plane flying at a speed of 275 m/s at an altitude of 3000 m drops a package. The plane doesn't change its direction or speed and there is no wind resistance. a) Where does the package hit the ground relative to the point of release? b) Where does the package hit the...
  3. S

    How Far Should Goods Be Dropped from a Plane to Hit a Mountain Ridge?

    I am trying to drop goods to a ridge of a mountain. The height from the ground to the plane is 203 m. The distance from the plane to the ridge is X. If plane is traveling at 65.278 m/s, how far in advance (horizontal distance) must the goods be dropped? -Should I calculate Vxo since Vyo would...
  4. F

    Airplane Wings: Questions and Resources

    I don't know if this the right spot to post this; I hope someone will help me with airplane wings. I have no idea how they work, how big they should be, or anything. Also if there is a formula to find how much thrust you need for something with wings on it to take off, or to find how big the...
  5. J

    Calculating Airplane Lift Energy Requirements

    Im trying to calculate energy of the turbines to lift an airplane , by this way, calculating potential energy necessary to lift mass of the plane to an height of, let's say, 2000 meters , ,supose it spend 1 minute in reach this altitude, it gives me a result of the order of 1 megawatts of...
  6. K

    Why does air travel faster over a wing?

    Hi, I was just wondering why the air going over a wing travels faster than the air going underneath? My teacher once said "because it has farther to travel" and I just accepted that at the time, but thinking about it now i don't really see why two adjacent air molecules that part company at the...
  7. T

    How can I calculate the angle of an airplane's wings during a circular motion?

    Homework Statement A pilot with mass m fles an airplane at a speed of v in a turn of radius r. Prove that angle of the wings of the airplane to the horizontal is tanQ=(VxV)/gr Homework Equations The Attempt at a Solution This was asked on my first exam last week. Since it's...
  8. daniel_i_l

    Is the 'Equal Transit' Theory Really True? A Closer Look at Airplane Flight

    For as long as I can remember the anwer I've heard to this question was the "Equal Transit" theory - that since the top of the wing is longer that the bottom the air has to go more quickly over the top inorder to "keep up" with the bottom causing a lower pressure on the top than the bottom. But...
  9. R

    Airplane propeller and plane's velocity relative to the ground.

    [SOLVED] Airplane propeller and plane's velocity relative to the ground. Homework Statement An airplane propeller rotates at 2200 rev/min while the airplane flies at a speed of 550 km/h relative to the ground. The plane's velocity is parallel to the propeller's axis of rotation. Part a)...
  10. Q

    Magnetic field and airplane scenario.

    An airplane is flying horizontal and heading south in a region where the Earth's magnetic field is directd vertically. The planes wings and body are made of a continuous conducting metal. For these conditions, the tip of the east-side wing would be at a lower potential than the west-side wing...
  11. N

    Formula for Paper Airplane Flight?

    Hey first time poster long time reader, I have a question on the physics behind this shockwave applet. Are there a series or set of equations that could approximate something that is done in this applet? http://www.workman.com/etcetera/games/fliersclub/ I don't think air resistance is a...
  12. L

    Solve Plane Problem: Find Time & Distance for Dropping Supply Crate

    Homework Statement An airplane is traveling at 125km/h at an altitude of 1001m. It is dropping a supply crate on a specified target. Air resistance is ignored. a.)How many seconds before being directly overhead should the box be dropped to hit the target? b.)What is the horizontal...
  13. A

    Building a WWII Airplane: Materials, Propellers & More

    I'm planning to build myself a WWII time Airplane. i need some insght into the types of materials that can be used for it. Specifically, I'm facing problem in finding a suitable covering material for the wings. i would require a light cloth or a plastic sheet, probably. I've used wood to make...
  14. T

    Newton's Laws of Motion on an airplane

    Homework Statement Your airplane is caught in a brief, violent downdraft. To your amazement, the pretzels on your seatback tray rise vertivally, and you estimate their upward acceleration relative to the plane at 2 m/s^2. What's the donward acceleration of the plane? ANy suggestions are...
  15. C

    How much energy is saved per airplane

    Homework Statement An airline executive decides to economize by reducing the energy, and thus the amount of fuel, required for long distance flights. He orders the ground crew to remove the paint from the outer surface of each plane. The paint removed from a single plane has a mass of...
  16. ~christina~

    Airplane wing and forces on it

    Homework Statement An airplane has a mass of 1.60x10^4 kg and each wing has an area of 40.0m^2. During level flight the pressure on the lower wing surface is 7.00x10^4 Pa. Determine the pressure on the upper wing surface. http://img168.imageshack.us/img168/617/41426717vo3.th.jpg Homework...
  17. A

    Airplane Flight Time Calculation with Prevailing Wind and Air Speed

    Homework Statement heres the question: An island is located 900km (North 30 degrees east). The weather office informs him of a prevailing wind from the west of 80km/h. If the pilot wasnt to maintain and air speed of 300km/h, how long will the flight take? Homework Equations The...
  18. Cyrus

    Making My Own Paper Airplane Model

    I got bored, and I found this cool sheet that you can print out and make your own paper airplane. It happens to look almost exactly like the airplane I fly, so I made it. Pretty neat! (I printed it on medium card stock paper I had laying around). I added a few extras like the antennas and...
  19. M

    Angle to Drop a Package from Airplane

    Homework Statement A package is to be dropped from an airplane so that it hits the ground at a designated spot near some campers. The airplane, moving horizontally at a constant velocity of 140 km/h, approaches the spot at an altitude of .500 km above level ground. Having the designated point...
  20. A

    What is the Change in Velocity of a Model Airplane in a Circular Motion?

    Homework Statement A model airplane is controlled to fly in a horizontal circle of radius 24 metres with a constant speed of 20ms-1. An observer beneath the plane notices that the plane is flying anticlockwise. Find the magnitude of the change in velocity of the plane after: a- a full...
  21. W

    Torque Question airplane wheels

    1. An airliner lands with a speed of 45.0 m/s. Each wheel of the plane has a radius of 1.25 m and a moment of inertia of 110 kg·m2. At touchdown the wheels begin to spin under the action of friction. Each wheel supports a weight of 1.40 x 10^4 N, and the wheels attain the angular speed of...
  22. H

    Fictitious force and accelerating airplane

    [SOLVED] Fictitious force and accelerating airplane Homework Statement The question asks me to draw a free body diagram for a person standing in an accelerating airplane, and to indicate the fictitious force and any real forces acting on them. The airplane accelerates at 2.22 m/s^2...
  23. N

    Finding Horizontal Displacement of a Dropped Cup on an Accelerating Airplane

    Homework Statement A cup of coffee is dropped aboard an airplane accelerating along a smooth runway. If it falls a vertical distance of 1.0 meter, find its horizontal displacement when it hits the floor. Assume a constant horizontal acceleration of 1.5m/s^2 for the airplane. Homework...
  24. J

    Airplane Mechanics Help Please: Understanding Lift

    Airplane Mechanics Help Please! Okay so I have a question about lift. I've heard different explanations of lift from various sources. I first thought that the SHAPE of an airplane wing was the reason that lift occured. I was taught that since the surface area on the top of the wing is...
  25. G

    Pressure in Airplane: Understanding P=F/A

    Homework Statement I know this is probably a very easy question, but I'm new to this and never worked with it before. The Attempt at a Solution so you have 0.25atm pressure going into the window from outside, and 0.75atm from inside pushing out. Am i assuming that with...
  26. L

    Centripetal accel - airplane flying in a horizontal circle

    centripetal accel -- airplane flying in a horizontal circle... Homework Statement An airplane is flying in a horizontal circle at a speed of 116 m/s. The 77.0 kg pilot does not want his centripetal acceleration to exceed 6.00 times free-fall acceleration. (a) What is the minimum radius...
  27. P

    Circular motion of an airplane

    Homework Statement An airplane flies in a loop (a circular path in a vertical plane) of radius 200m. The pilot's head always points toward the center of the loop. The speed of the airplane is not constant; the airplane goes slowest at the top of the loop and fastest at the bottom. At...
  28. T

    Airplane around the equator

    1. A)How fast and in what direction would an airplane need to fly(relatively close to the ground) around the equator to always stay in sunlight or darkness? B) How fast and in what direction would an airplane need to fly at 40 degrees North Latitude to always stay in sunlight or darkness?Im...
  29. J

    The physics of a tea cup on an accelerating airplane

    Homework Statement Imagine being on an airplane in flight. You have a cup of tea on a table in front of you. The plane then starts to accelerate at the same altitude it had initially. The coefficient of static friction between the cup and the table is 0.250. What is the maximum acceleration...
  30. A

    Airplane Propeller: Rotational Kinetic Energy & Angular Speed

    Homework Statement An airplane propeller is 1.85 m in length (from tip to tip) with mass 97.0 kg and is rotating at 2300 rpm (rev/min) about an axis through its center. YOu can model the propeller as a slender rod. What is its rotational kinetic energy? Suppose that due to weight...
  31. P

    Airplane Flying: Finding Direction & Ground Speed

    Homework Statement An airplane is flying toward the Southeast with a speed of 200 m/s, and the wind is blowing toward the Northeast with a speed of 60 m/s. A. Which direction will the plane head now? B. What is the groud speed of the plane? Homework Equations The Attempt at a...
  32. Integral

    Something for the airplane fan boys/girls

    flying a model Mig29
  33. B

    Calculating Centripetal Acceleration & Time in Supersonic Airplane Turn

    Homework Statement A supersonic airplane is flying horizontally at a speed of 2840 km/h. What is the centripetal acceleration of the airplane, if it turns from North to East on a circular path with a radius of 86.5 km? How much time does the turn take? How much distance does the airplane...
  34. I

    Why are conductors embedded into airplanes?

    I know airplanes are made of mostly nonconductors, but why do they have conducting wires embedded into the surface?
  35. P

    Emergency beacons and airplane crash

    If an aircraft crashed in a deep ravine with steep walls would the signal emitted by the emergency beacon reach a satellite?If the signal usually can reach several satellites but can't reach any of them from the ravine could we deduce anything about the nature of the ravine or the position of...
  36. P

    Steve fossett and his airplane missing- the most likely scenario?

    What has happened to Steve Fossett - the aviator who went missing two weeks ago - it is thought somewhere in Nevada while flying his light aircraft - a plane like this one:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/8KCAB_Decathlon He spoke on his radio about half way through his fuel load and when he was...
  37. C

    Calculating Takeoff Time and Distance for a Plane on a Runway

    Homework Statement A plane accelerates from rest at a constant rate of 5.00 m/s^2 along a runway that is 1800 m long. Assume that the plane reaches the required takeoff velocity at the end of the runway. What is the time t_{TO} needed to take off? Homework Equations i think the formula...
  38. E

    Calculating the Net Force on a Model Airplane

    Homework Statement A model airplane has a momentum given by [(0.25 kg . m/s^3)t^2 - (0.75 kg . m/s^2)t]\hat{i} a.) What are the x- , y- , and z- components of the net force on the airplane? b.) At what time t is the x-component of the net force on the airplane equal to zero? Homework...
  39. D

    Calculating Constant Acceleration of Stopping Airplane

    Homework Statement An airplane lands and starts down the runway at a southwest velocity of 59 m/s. What is the magnitude of the constant acceleration that allows it to come to a stop in 1.2 km? Homework Equations Not sure The Attempt at a Solution
  40. C

    Help with an airplane problem (relative velocity)

    Homework Statement An airplane pilot sets a compass course due west and maintains an airspeed of 218 km/hr. After flying for a time of 0.510 hr, she finds herself over a town a distance 124km west and a distance 16 km south of her starting point. Find the magnitude of the wind velocity (in...
  41. Math Is Hard

    How To Hide An Airplane Factory

    http://thinkorthwim.com/2007/08/19/1034/ Someone in our building mentioned that it was primarily Hollywood set designers that constructed the camoflauge.
  42. S

    Uniform circular motion airplane problem

    An airplane is flying in a horizontal circle at a speed of 470 km/h (Figure 6-39). If its wings are tilted 40° to the horizontal, what is the radius of the circle in which the plane is flying? Assume that the required force is provided entirely by an "aerodynamic lift" that is perpendicular to...
  43. M

    Calculate Bank Angle for Airplane Circling Airport

    As your plane circles an airport, it moves in a horizontal circle of radius 2300 m with a speed of 355 km/h. If the lift of the airplane's wings is perpendicular to the wings, at what angle should the plane be banked so that it doesn't tend to slip sideways So I understand that the equation...
  44. S

    Calculating Airplane Velocity with Wind: A Study

    Homework Statement An airplane is flying at [80.0, 50.0(degrees)] m/s when there is no wind. Then the wind begind to blow at [18.0, -20 (degrees)] m/s. a) if the pilot does not change the heading of the plane what will be the resultant velocity over the ground? b) In order to maintain...
  45. T

    What is the formula for calculating minimum takeoff speed of a light aircraft?

    1. A light aircraft has a mass of 2.0x10^3 kg, a wingspan area of 10.0m^2, an upper wing distance of 1.75m, and a lower wing distance of 1.00m. What minimum takeoff speed must the airplane travel to become airborne? 2. V1= square root of ((2Fw)/(pA(((d2/d1)^2)-1)) 3. How am I...
  46. K

    How Far Should an Air Tanker Release Its Load to Hit a Target?

    Problem An air tanker flies horizontally at an altitude of 180 m and a speed of 80 m/s over a forest fire. In order to hit its target with flame retardant chemicals, how far before it is directly over the target should it release its load? Neglect air resistance. Using Projectile motion...
  47. E

    Making a Wooden Airplane: Will Airfoils Help?

    During unviversity we had a project to make a piece a wooden airplane driven by an electrical motor, it was a difficult but lovely experience, in such a limited time and resources that we were bounded with. My question is that would u think that using airfoils instead of flat wings would create...
  48. J

    Why does an airplane perform a loop?

    Dear all, I'm a RC-airplane pilot with basic understanding of physics. Recently I've been studying basic aerodynamics and I think I understand the basics. However, I don't entirely understand why an airplane performs a loop and I can't find any references about it. Here's my current...
  49. M

    Solving Airline Problem: Probability & Reservations

    Ok, I was looking at some solutions and they don't seem correct. Here is the problem: An airline knows that the probability a person holding a reservation on a certain flight will not appear is 10%. The plane holds 90 people. a) If 95 reservations have been solf, find the prob. that the...
  50. A

    Dynamics - Airplane stopping on a runway

    Homework Statement an airplane has a mass of 5Mg has a touchdown speed of 300m/hr. At which instant the braking parachute is deployed and the power shut off. If the total drag on the aircraft varies with velocity as shown in the accompanying graph, calculate the distance x along the runway...
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