AIRCRAFT

Aircraft
AIRCRAFT are any of the various types of craft capable
of controlled flight. They include gliders, aeroplanes,
helicopters, and a variety of advanced and experimental
craft. Airships also may be considered aircraft. (1)
‘Aircraft’ means a machine that can derive support in
the atmosphere from the reactions of the air other than
the reactions of the air against the earth’s surface (2).
(1)Encyclopedia Americana
(2)EASA

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 Aircraft

Kermode, A.C., Flight without Formulae, 5th Ed., Longman, 1989

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 Airship
The airship evolved from the spherical balloon first successfully flown by the
Montgolfier brothers in 1783. Airships are basically large, controllable balloons
that have an engine for propulsion, use rudders and elevator flaps for steering,
and carry passengers in a gondola suspended under the balloon.

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 Airship

Hindenburg [© NY Daily News]

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 Balloons

Montgolfier Balloon - 1783

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 Captive Balloon

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 Balloon Description

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 Glider
A glider is a heavier-than-air aircraft that usually has no engine. To fly, a glider must reach flying speed, which is
the speed at which the wings generate enough lift to overcome the force of gravity. With the early gliders, the
flying speed was very low, and most gliders took off into a wind. In appearance, modern gliders look much like an
ordinary airplane but are extremely light. They have low wing loading (the ratio of weight to wing area) and a high
aspect ratio (the ratio of the wingspan to the wing width).

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 Glider
The shape of a glider wing is an airfoil. This gives the wing lift. But a glider will fall to earth unless the pilot finds
thermals to keep the glider up.

Thermals are warm currents of rising air. They are created when the sun shines on land, such as bare rock, that
reflects heat. As the heated air rises, the glider can ride on the updrafts and stay up for hours.

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 THK-3 Glider (1945)

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 Glider & Sailplane
The distinction between a glider and a sailplane is a
subtle one, the latter being a lighter type which is able
to “soar” in up-currents of wind (1).
‘Sailplane’ means a heavier-than-air aircraft that is
supported in flight by the dynamic reaction of the air
against its fixed lifting surfaces, the free flight of which
does not depend on an engine (2).

(1) Kermode, A.C., Flight without Formulae, 5th Ed., Longman, 1989
(2) EASA

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 Kite

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 Rotorcraft
‘Rotorcraft’ means a heavier-than-air aircraft
that depends principally for its support in flight
on the lift generated by one or more rotors.

EASA

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 Gyroplane
‘Gyroplane’ means a rotorcraft the rotors of
which are not engine driven except for initial
starting, but are made to rotate by action of the
air when the rotorcraft is moving, and the
means of propulsion of which, consisting usually
of conventional propellers, is independent of
the rotor system.
EASA

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 Rotorcraft
GYROPLANE

The rotor is free on a shaft. A propeller drives

the aircraft in forward flight. Such motion
causes rotor rotation which provides the lift. As
a matter of fact, the autogiro is an airplane on
which fixed wings are replaced by a rotating
ROTOR FREE ON ITS SHAFT AND
wing. It is not capable of vertical flight or ROTATING UNDER THE ACTION
hovering. OF THE RELATIVE WIND.

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 Rotorcraft
HELICOPTER
‘Helicopter’
means a
rotorcraft that, for
its horizontal
motion, depends
principally on its
engine-driven
rotors.

EASA

The rotor provides both lift and

propulsion.

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 Rotorcraft
GYRODYNE

The gyrodyne is an autogiro with a powered

rotor allowing vertical flight as it is the case for ROTOR DRIVEN BY AN ENGINE.
the helicopter.

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 Cyclogyro
A cyclogyro (or cyclogyre) is an aeroplane propelled and given lift by
horizontal assemblies of rotating wings. Very few prototypes were built,
and those that were constructed were completely unsuccessful.

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 J. Degan's ornithopter, 1812
Credits - Gary Bradshaw; To Fly Is Everything

Ornithopter
An ornithopter is a type of flying machine that attempts to fly by imitating the
flapping of a bird's wings. It was first devised by Leonardo da Vinci in the late
1400s, and many others tried unsuccessfully during the 1800s to fly this type of
aircraft.

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 Aeroplane
A heavier-than-air flying machine, supported by
aerofoils, designed to obtain, when driven through the
air at an angle inclined to the direction of motion, a
reaction from the air approximately at right angles to
their surfaces (1).
‘Aeroplane’ means an engine-driven fixed-wing aircraft
heavier than air, that is supported in flight by the
dynamic reaction of the air against its wings (2).
(1)Kermode, A.C., Flight without Formulae, 5th Ed., Longman, 1989
(2)EASA

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 Aeroplane

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 Seaplane

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 Seaplane ?

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 Float plane

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 Flying boat

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 Amphibian

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 Parts of an Aeroplane

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 Piston Powered Aeroplane

© Deniz Ayvaz

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 Turboprop Aeroplane

© Deniz Ayvaz

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 Turbojet Aeroplane

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 Monoplane

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 Biplane

© Richard Seaman

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 Biplane

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 Triplane

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 General Aviation Aeroplane

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 Business Turboprop

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 Business Jet

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 Passenger Transport

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 Business Jet

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 Freighter

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 Freighter

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 Regional Jet

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 Regional Turboprop

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 JAR Performance Classification

JAR OPS 1.470

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