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Categories and Classification of Airplanes

Lighter than air aircraft like hot air balloons and airships use gases like helium or hydrogen that are lighter than air to provide buoyancy. Heavier than air aircraft like fixed-wing planes and rotorcraft produce dynamic lift by pushing air downwards to generate an equal reaction upwards, either through aerodynamic lift from wings and rotors or powered lift from engine thrust. Aircraft are also classified based on their propulsion such as propeller, jet, or rocket powered aircraft.

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Pavan K. Tiwari
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3K views

Categories and Classification of Airplanes

Lighter than air aircraft like hot air balloons and airships use gases like helium or hydrogen that are lighter than air to provide buoyancy. Heavier than air aircraft like fixed-wing planes and rotorcraft produce dynamic lift by pushing air downwards to generate an equal reaction upwards, either through aerodynamic lift from wings and rotors or powered lift from engine thrust. Aircraft are also classified based on their propulsion such as propeller, jet, or rocket powered aircraft.

Uploaded by

Pavan K. Tiwari
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Lighter than air

ÚV Lighter than air aerostats: hot air balloons and airships. Aerostats use buoyancy to float in the air
in much the same manner as ships float on the water. In particular, these aircraft use a relatively
low density gas such as helium, hydrogen or heated air, to displace the air around the craft. The
distinction between a balloon and an airship is that an airship has some means of controlling both
its forward motion and steering itself, while balloons are carried along with the wind.

Heavier than air ± aerodynes


Heavier-than-air aircraft must find some 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 ‘  . There are two ways to produce dynamic upthrust: aerodynamic lift,
and powered lift in the form of engine thrust.
Aerodynamic lift 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 sometimes called rotary wings. To fly,
air must flow over the wing and generate lift. A  
  is a wing made of fabric or thin sheet
material, often stretched over a rigid frame. With powered lift, the aircraft directs its engine
thrust vertically downwards.
The initialism  (×ertical ake ff and anding) is applied to aircraft that can take off and land
vertically. Most are rotorcraft. Similarly, G stands for hort ake ff and anding. Some VTOL aircraft
often operate in a hort ake ff/×ertical anding mode known as STOVL.
A pure rocket is not usually regarded as an aerodyne, because it does not depend on the air for its lift (and
can even fly into space); however, many aerodynamic lift vehicles have been powered or assisted by
rocket motors. Rocket-powered missiles which obtain aerodynamic lift at very high speed due to airflow
over their bodies, are a marginal case.
 ×        
     
   

 
 Fixed wing, flying wing, Lifting body, Rotorcraft,
  Unpowered-gliders, balloons and Kites
Powered- Propeller used- Tractor, pusher and contra-prop type
Jet engine (airbreathing)- Turbojet, turbofan, ramjet, pulsejet, scramjet.
Rocket powered aircraft.
  Military type- Combat (fighters and bombers type) and non-combat type aircraft.
Civil type- Commercial (passanger and cargo) and general aviation (business jet,
homebuilt, aerobatic types, racers, gliders, firefighters, medical transports)

low subsonic, high subsonic, transonic, supersonic, hypersonic types.

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