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Airplanes are powered fixed-wing aircraft used for various purposes including recreation, transportation, military, and research, with commercial aviation transporting over four billion passengers annually. The Wright brothers achieved the first controlled powered flight in 1903, building on earlier concepts by pioneers like George Cayley and Otto Lilienthal. The term 'airplane' originated in the late 19th century, derived from the French 'aéroplane' and is used in North America, while 'aeroplane' is the preferred term in the UK and Commonwealth countries.

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11 views

15

Airplanes are powered fixed-wing aircraft used for various purposes including recreation, transportation, military, and research, with commercial aviation transporting over four billion passengers annually. The Wright brothers achieved the first controlled powered flight in 1903, building on earlier concepts by pioneers like George Cayley and Otto Lilienthal. The term 'airplane' originated in the late 19th century, derived from the French 'aéroplane' and is used in North America, while 'aeroplane' is the preferred term in the UK and Commonwealth countries.

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aneesahmed3020
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© © All Rights Reserved
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thrust from a jet engine, propeller, or rocket engine.

[1] 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[2] and transports more than 200 billion tonne-
kilometers[3] of cargo annually, which is less than 1% of the world's cargo
movement.[4] 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".[5] 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)[6] and the work of German pioneer of human aviation Otto
Lilienthal, who, between 1867 and 1896, also studied heavier-than-air flight.
Lilienthal's flight attempts in 1891 are seen as the beginning of human flight.[7]
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 60 years, from
1958 to 2019.[8]

Etymology and usage


First attested in English in the late 19th century (prior to the first sustained
powered flight), the word airplane derives from the French aéroplane, omes from the
Greek ἀήρ (aēr), "air"[9] and either Latin planus, "level",[10] or Greek πλάνος
(planos), "wandering".[11][12] "Aéroplane" originally referred just to the wing, as
it is a plane moving through the air.[13] In an example of synecdoche, the word for
the wing came to refer to the entire aircraft.

In the United States and Canada, the term "airplane" is used for powered fixed-wing
aircraft. In the United Kingdom and Ireland and most of the Commonwealth, the term
"aeroplane" (/ˈɛərəpleɪn/[13]) is usually applied to these aircraft.

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