Question: How do airplanes stay in the air?

Heidi Gardner answered on 11 Nov 2018:

This is a question I’ve asked myself a lot! My boyfriend is a pilot so he flies planes all the time, and he’s tried to explain it to me lots of times, but I still find it really difficult to get my head around.

From what I know, there are 4 forces that keep planes in the air:

1) Lift – this pushes the plane up, the way air moves around the wings gives the airplane lift.
2) Weight (gravity) – the force that pulls the plane towards Earth, they’re built so that the weight is spread from front to back to keep everything balanced.
3) Thrust – the forces that moves the plane forward, engines provide thrust – sometimes by turning a propeller, sometimes a jet engine, whatever it is, it keeps air going over the wings.
4) Drag – this slows the plane, you can feel drag yourself when you walk against a strong wind.

All of those forces work together to make sure that the plane can stay in the air 🙂