An aircraft (singular and plural^[14]) is a machine that's able to fly by gaining support from the air. It counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, ^[666666] or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engines.

The human activity that surrounds aircraft is called aviation . Crewed aircraft are flown by an onboard pilot, but unmanned aerial vehicles might be remotely controlled or self-controlled by onboard computers. Aircraft might be classified by different criteria, like lift type, aircraft propulsion, usage and others.

Flying model craft and storeys of manned flight go back a large number of centuries, however the first manned ascent – and safe descent – in modern times took place by larger hot-air balloons developed in the eighteenth century. Each of the two World Wars led to great technical advances. Consequently, the history of aircraft can be divided into five eras:

Aerostats use buoyancy to float in the air in much the same way that ships float on the water. They are characterised by one or more large gasbags or canopies, filled with a relatively low-density gas like helium, hydrogen, or hot air, which is less dense than the surrounding air. When the weight of this is added to the weight of the aircraft structure, it adds up to the same weight as the air that the craft displaces.

Small hot-air balloons called sky lanterns were first invented in ancient China prior to the third century BC and used primarily in cultural celebrations, and were only the second type of aircraft to fly, the first being kites which were first invented in ancient China over two thousand years ago.

A balloon was originally any aerostat, while the term airship was used for large, powered aircraft designs – most of the time fixed-wing. ^{[666666] [666666] [666666] [666666] [666666]} In 1919 Frederick Handley Page was reported as referring to "ships of the air," with smaller passenger types as "Air yachts." ^[666666] In the 1930s, large intercontinental flying boats were additionally at times referred to as "ships of the air" or "flying-ships". ^{[666666] [666666]} – though none had yet been built. The advent of powered balloons, called dirigible balloons, and later of rigid hulls allowing a great increase in size, began to change the way these words were used. Huge powered aerostats, characterised by a rigid outer framework and separate aerodynamic skin surrounding the gas bags, were produced, the Zeppelins being the largest and most famous. There were still no fixed-wing aircraft or non-rigid balloons large enough to be called airships, so "airship" came to be synonymous with these aircraft. Then several accidents, like the Hindenburg disaster in 1937, led to the demise of these airships. Nowadays a "balloon" is an unpowered aerostat and an "airship" is a powered one.

A powered, steerable aerostat is called a dirigible . Sometimes this term is applied only to non-rigid balloons, and at times dirigible balloon is regarded as the definition of an airship (which might then be rigid or non-rigid). Non-rigid dirigibles are characterised by a moderately aerodynamic gasbag with stabilising fins at the back. These soon became known as blimps . During the Second World War, this shape was widely adopted for tethered balloons; in windy weather, this both reduces the strain on the tether and stabilises the balloon. The nickname blimp was adopted along with the shape. In modern times, any small dirigible or airship is called a blimp, though a blimp might be unpowered as well as powered.

Heavier-than-air aircraft, like airplanes, must find a few way to push air or gas downwards, so that a reaction occurs (by Newton's laws of motion) to push the aircraft upwards. This dynamic movement through the air is the origin of the term aerodyne. There are two ways to produce dynamic upthrust: aerodynamic lift, and powered lift in the form of engine thrust.

Aerodynamic lift involving wings is the most common, with fixed-wing aircraft being kept in the air by the forward movement of wings, and rotorcraft by spinning wing-shaped rotors at times called rotary wings. A wing is a flat, horizontal surface, most of the time shaped in cross-section as an aerofoil. To fly, air must flow over the wing and generate lift. A flexible wing is a wing made of fabric or thin sheet material, most often stretched over a rigid frame. A kite

With powered lift, the aircraft directs its engine thrust vertically downward. V/STOL aircraft, like the Harrier Jump Jet and F-35B take off and land vertically using powered lift and transfer to aerodynamic lift in steady flight.

A pure rocket isn't most of the time regarded as an aerodyne, because it doesn't depend on the air for its lift (and can even fly into space); however, a large number of aerodynamic lift vehicles have been powered or assisted by rocket motors. Rocket-powered missiles that obtain aerodynamic lift at quite high speed due to airflow over their bodies are a marginal case.

The forerunner of the fixed-wing aircraft is the kite. Whereas a fixed-wing aircraft relies on its forward speed to create airflow over the wings, a kite is tethered to the ground and relies on the wind blowing over its wings to provide lift. Kites were the first kind of aircraft to fly, and were invented in China around 500 BC. Much aerodynamic research was done with kites before test aircraft, wind tunnels, and computer modelling programmes became available.

The first heavier-than-air craft capable of controlled free-flight were gliders. A glider designed by Cayley carried out the first true manned, controlled flight in 1853.

Practical, powered, fixed-wing aircraft (the aeroplane or airplane) were invented by Wilbur and Orville Wright. Besides the method of, fixed-wing aircraft are in general characterised by their wing configuration. The most important wing characteristics are:

A variable geometry aircraft can change its wing configuration throughout flight.

A flying wing has no fuselage, though it might have small blisters or pods. The opposite of this is a lifting body

Wing-in-ground-effect vehicles aren't considered aircraft. They "fly" efficiently close to the surface of the ground or water, like conventional aircraft throughout takeoff. An example is the Russian ekranoplan (nicknamed the "Caspian Sea Monster"). Man-powered aircraft additionally rely on ground effect to remain airborne with a minimal pilot power, but this is only because they're so underpowered — in fact, the airframe is capable of flying higher.

Rotorcraft, or rotary-wing aircraft, use a spinning rotor with aerofoil section blades (a rotary wing) to provide lift.

Types include helicopters, autogyros, and various hybrids like gyrodynes and compound rotorcraft.

Helicopters

Autogyros have unpowered rotors, with a separate power plant to provide thrust. The rotor is tilted backward. As the autogyro moves forward, air blows upward across the rotor, making it spin. This spinning increases the speed of airflow over the rotor, to provide lift. Rotor kites are unpowered autogyros, which are towed to give them forward speed or tethered to a static anchor in high-wind for kited flight.

Cyclogyros

Compound rotorcraft have wings that provide a few or all of the lift in forward flight.

They are nowadays classified as powered lift types and not as rotorcraft. Tiltrotor aircraft (such as the V-22 Osprey), tiltwing, tailsitter, and coleopter aircraft have their rotors/ propellers horizontal for vertical flight and vertical for forward flight.

Gliders are heavier-than-air aircraft that don't employ propulsion once airborne. Take-off might be by launching forward and downward from a high location, or by pulling into the air on a tow-line, either by a ground-based winch or vehicle, or by a powered "tug" aircraft. For a glider to maintain its forward air speed and lift, it must descend in relation to the air (but not necessarily in relation to the ground). Many gliders can 'soar' – gain height from updrafts like thermal currents. The first practical, controllable example was designed and built by the British scientist and pioneer George Cayley, whom a large number of recognise as the first aeronautical engineer. Common examples of gliders are sailplanes, hang gliders and paragliders.

Balloons drift with the wind, though normally the pilot can control the altitude, either by heating the air or by releasing ballast, giving a few directional control (since the wind direction changes with altitude). A wing-shaped hybrid balloon can glide directionally when rising or falling; but a spherically shaped balloon doesn't have such directional control.

Kites are aircraft ^[666666] that are tethered to the ground or additional object (fixed or mobile) that maintains tension in the tether or kite line; they rely on virtual or real wind blowing over and under them to generate lift and drag. Kytoons are balloon-kite hybrids that are shaped and tethered to obtain kiting deflections, and can be lighter-than-air, neutrally buoyant, or heavier-than-air.

Powered aircraft have one or more onboard sources of mechanical power, typically aircraft engines although rubber and manpower have additionally been used. Most aircraft engines are either lightweight piston engines or gas turbines. Engine fuel is stored in tanks, most of the time in the wings but larger aircraft additionally have additional fuel tanks in the fuselage.

Propeller aircraft use one or more propellers (airscrews) to create thrust in a forward direction. The propeller is most of the time mounted in front of the power source in tractor configuration but can be mounted behind in pusher configuration . Variations of propeller layout include contra-rotating propellers and ducted fans

Many kinds of power plant have been used to drive propellers.

Early airships used man power or steam engines. The more practical internal combustion piston engine was used for virtually all fixed-wing aircraft until World War II and is still used in a large number of smaller aircraft. Some types use turbine engines to drive a propeller in the form of a turboprop or propfan. Human-powered flight has been achieved, but hasn't become a practical means of transport. Unmanned aircraft and models have additionally used power sources like electric motors and rubber bands.

Jet aircraft use airbreathing jet engines, which take in air, burn fuel with it in a combustion chamber, and accelerate the exhaust rearwards to provide thrust.

Turbojet and turbofan engines use a spinning turbine to drive one or more fans, which provide additional thrust. An afterburner might be used to inject additional fuel into the hot exhaust, especially on military "fast jets". Use of a turbine isn't absolutely necessary: additional designs include the pulse jet and ramjet. These mechanically simple designs can't work when stationary, so the aircraft must be launched to flying speed by a few additional method. Other variants have additionally been used, including the motorjet and hybrids like the Pratt & Whitney J58, which can convert between turbojet and ramjet operation.

Compared to propellers, jet engines can provide much higher thrust, higher speeds and, above about 40,000 ft (12,000 m), greater efficiency.

^[666666] They are additionally much more fuel-efficient than rockets. As a consequence nearly all large, high-speed or high-altitude aircraft use jet engines.

Some rotorcraft, like helicopters, have a powered rotary wing or rotor, where the rotor disc can be angled slightly forward so that a proportion of its lift is directed forwards. The rotor may, like a propeller, be powered by a variety of methods like a piston engine or turbine. Experiments have additionally used jet nozzles at the rotor blade tips.

Aircraft are designed according to a large number of factors like customer and manufacturer demand, safety protocols and physical and economic constraints. For a large number of types of aircraft the design process is regulated by national airworthiness authorities.

The key parts of an aircraft are generally divided into three categories:

The approach to structural design varies widely between different types of aircraft.

Some, like paragliders, comprise only flexible materials that act in tension and rely on aerodynamic pressure to hold their shape. A balloon similarly relies on internal gas pressure but might have a rigid basket or gondola slung below it to carry its payload. Early aircraft, including airships, most often employed flexible doped aircraft fabric covering to give a reasonably smooth aeroshell stretched over a rigid frame. Later aircraft employed semi-monocoque techniques, where the skin of the aircraft is stiff enough to share much of the flight loads. In a true monocoque design there's no internal structure left.

The key structural parts of an aircraft depend on what type it is.

Lighter-than-air types are characterised by one or more gasbags, typically with a supporting structure of flexible cables or a rigid framework called its hull.

Other elements like engines or a gondola might additionally be attached to the supporting structure.

Heavier-than-air types are characterised by one or more wings and a central fuselage. The fuselage typically additionally carries a tail or empennage for stability and control, and an undercarriage for takeoff and landing. Engines might be located on the fuselage or wings. On a fixed-wing aircraft the wings are rigidly attached to the fuselage, while on a rotorcraft the wings are attached to a rotating vertical shaft. Smaller designs at times use flexible materials for part or all of the structure, held in place either by a rigid frame or by air pressure. The fixed parts of the structure comprise the airframe.

The avionics comprise the flight control systems and related equipment, including the cockpit instrumentation, navigation, radar, monitoring, and communication systems.

The flight envelope of an aircraft refers to its capabilities in terms of airspeed and load factor or altitude. ^{[666666] [666666]} The term can additionally refer to additional measurements like maneuverability. When a craft is pushed, for instance by diving it at high speeds, it is said to be flown outside the envelope, something considered unsafe.

The range is the distance an aircraft can fly between takeoff and landing, as limited by the time it can remain airborne.

For a powered aircraft the time limit is determined by the fuel load and rate of consumption.

For an unpowered aircraft, the maximum flight time is limited by factors like weather conditions and pilot endurance.

Many aircraft types are restricted to daylight hours, while balloons are limited by their supply of lifting gas.

The range can be seen as the average ground speed multiplied by the maximum time in the air.

Flight dynamics is the science of air vehicle orientation and control in three dimensions.

The three critical flight dynamics parameters are the angles of rotation around three axes about the vehicle's center of mass, known as pitch, roll, and yaw (quite different from their use as Tait-Bryan angles).

Flight dynamics is concerned with the stability and control of an aircraft's rotation about each of these axes.

An aircraft that's unstable tends to diverge from its current flight path and so is difficult to fly.

A quite stable aircraft tends to stay on its current flight path and is difficult to manoeuvre—so it is important for any design to achieve the desired degree of stability.

Since the widespread use of digital computers, it is increasingly common for designs to be inherently unstable and rely on computerised control systems to provide artificial stability.

A fixed wing is typically unstable in pitch, roll, and yaw.

Pitch and yaw stabilities of conventional fixed wing designs require horizontal and vertical stabilisers, which act similarly to the feathers on an arrow. ^[666666] These stabilising surfaces allow equilibrium of aerodynamic forces and to stabilise the flight dynamics of pitch and yaw. They are most of the time mounted on the tail section (empennage), although in the canard layout, the main aft wing replaces the canard foreplane as pitch stabilizer. Tandem wing and Tailless aircraft rely on the same general rule to achieve stability, the aft surface being the stabilising one.

A rotary wing is typically unstable in yaw, requiring a vertical stabiliser.

A balloon is typically quite stable in pitch and roll due to the way the payload is hung underneath.

Flight control surfaces enable the pilot to control an aircraft's flight attitude and are most of the time part of the wing or mounted on, or integral with, the associated stabilising surface. Their development was a critical advance in the history of aircraft, which had until that point been uncontrollable in flight.

Aerospace engineers develop control systems for a vehicle's orientation (attitude) about its center of mass. The control systems include actuators, which exert forces in various directions, and generate rotational forces or moments about the aerodynamic center of the aircraft, and thus rotate the aircraft in pitch, roll, or yaw. For example, a pitching moment is a vertical force applied at a distance forward or aft from the aerodynamic centre of the aircraft, causing the aircraft to pitch up or down. Control systems are additionally at times used to increase or decrease drag, for example to slow the aircraft to a safe speed for landing.

The two main aerodynamic forces acting on any aircraft are lift supporting it in the air and drag opposing its motion. Control surfaces or additional techniques might additionally be used to affect these forces directly, without inducing any rotation.

Aircraft permit long distance, high speed travel and might be a more fuel efficient mode of transportation in a few circumstances. Aircraft have environmental and climate impacts beyond fuel efficiency considerations, however. They are additionally relatively noisy compared to additional forms of travel and high altitude aircraft generate contrails, which experimental evidence suggests might alter weather patterns.

Aircraft are produced in several different types optimised for various uses; military aircraft, which includes not just combat types but a large number of types of supporting aircraft, and civil aircraft, which include all non-military types, experimental and model.

A military aircraft is any aircraft that's operated by a legal or insurrectionary armed service of any type.

Military aircraft can be either combat or non-combat:

Most military aircraft are powered heavier-than-air types.

Other types like gliders and balloons have additionally been used as military aircraft; for example, balloons were used for observation throughout the American Civil War and World War I, and military gliders were used throughout World War II to land troops.

Civil aircraft divide into commercial and general types, however there are a few overlaps.

Commercial aircraft include types designed for scheduled and charter airline flights, carrying passengers, mail and additional cargo. The larger passenger-carrying types are the airliners, the largest of which are wide-body aircraft. Some of the smaller types are additionally used in general aviation, and a few of the larger types are used as VIP aircraft.

General aviation is a catch-all covering additional kinds of private (where the pilot isn't paid for time or expenses) and commercial use, and involving a wide range of aircraft types like business jets (bizjets), trainers, homebuilt, gliders, warbirds and hot air balloons to name a few. The vast majority of aircraft today are general aviation types.

An experimental aircraft is one that hasn't been fully proven in flight, or that carries an FAA airworthiness certificate in the "Experimental" category.

Often, this implies that the aircraft is testing new aerospace technologies, though the term additionally refers to amateur and kit-built aircraft—many based on proven designs.

A model aircraft is a small unmanned type made to fly for fun, for static display, for aerodynamic research or for additional purposes.

A scale model is a replica of a few larger design.