Plane Vocabulary

For those of you who are not familiar with planes, there are some words you need to know in order to understand how a plane works.  I have included a few words below to help you understand what I will be talking about while describing what is needed for a successful flight.

Lift: The lift of an air plane is the upward force applied to the plane.
Gravity: Gravity is the force pushing downward, trying to keep the plane on the ground.
Thrust: The thrust is the engine's ability to keep the plane moving forward; also know as the forward force.
Drag: the drag is the resisting force that stops the plane from moving forward.
Wing: Helps the lift the airplane up, by giving surface area to act upon.
Airfoil: Shaped profile of the wing,= that causes more lift than drag.

The Wright Brothers and Their Plane

The Wright Brothers, Orville and Wilbur, invented and flew the first airplane.  Orville was born in 1871 and died in 1948.  He completed 57 circles at 120 feet in the air on September 9, 1908.  Wilbur, Orville's older brother, was born 1867 and died in 1912.  He was also a successful pilot and reached an altitude of 300 feet while he was in France.

The plane that the brothers created was 750 pounds and 40.5 feet long.  The plane's first four flights were on December 17, 1903 with 25 mph. winds.  The first flight, made by Orville, reached 120 feet in 12 seconds.  The second flight, with Wilbur as the pilot, was just as successful and reached 195 feet in the air.  The last two flights reached 200 feet and 852 feet in 59 seconds.  The plane however, was ruined when John Daniels tried to retrieve it when it was caught by a strong gust of wind.

The brothers continued to make planes and set records, including flying them over seas.  If Orville and Wilbur would not have built that plane, it would have taken longer to get where we are today and develop the different types of planes we use.

The First Airplane

Planes......

Planes have many uses.  Some of the ways we use them are in the military, for transporting people and products, and for putting out fires. The Wright Brothers were the first to have a successful night and because of them,  lives were changed.  A lot of people wonder what they had to do to make it successful, and what makes our planes today the same as well as safe.  Later on I will explain these processes and talk more about the different planes and how they operate.