POLARFLIGHT
RESEARCH GROUP
PO Box 10732 Southport, NC 28461 USA

E-mail
polarflight@att.net

TEL.
910 233-6793

FAX
775 593-7481

GLOSSARY OF AERONAUTICAL TERMS

Aircraft: Anything that is designed to be flown in the air. The general term aircraft includes airplanes, helicopters, gliders, airships, balloons and kites. Airplane and aircraft are not synonymous; airplanes are aircraft, but not all aircraft are airplanes.

Airfoil: Any surface capable of producing lift. The wings are the primary airfoils of an airplane but the tail, propeller and fuselage produce lift as well. Thus, wings are airfoils but not all airfoils are wings; wing and airfoil are not synonymous.

Airplane: A mechanically or engine-driven, fixed wing, heavier-than-air craft that is supported in the air by lift. The term airplane (or aeroplane) frequently is shortened now to simply "plane."

Airship: A lighter-than-air craft with a propelling system and a means of controlling the direction of flight (steering). Blimps are one example of airships. Further, airships can be divided into three broad categories: Rigid, with an internal metal structure, such as the early Zeppelin models; Semi-rigid, with some internal structure; and Non-rigid or Blimps.

Ailerons: Literally "little wings": a pair of horizontal control surfaces (normally hinged along the trailing edge of wings in contemporary airplanes) that is designed to control or produce roll or bank, or the up and down motion of the wings. By varying the amount of lift each wing produces, ailerons permit a fixed-wing aircraft both to maintain level flight and to turn.

Balloon: A lighter-than-air craft that is without a propelling system. Balloons can be tethered (or "captive") or free-balloons.

Canard: A forward rather than rearward elevator. The Wright Flyer as well as many other very early model aircraft (both airplanes and gliders) employed a canard rather than rearward elevator.

Dirigible: An early term for airship. The term simply means a “steerable” airship, which of course all powered airships are. Very early airships were more rounded, or balloon-shape, than later highly elongated airships, and the term probably originated to designate a “steerable” craft rather than a non-steerable balloon. Airship now is the preferred term.

Elevator: A horizontal control surface used to control and produce pitch or the up and down motion of the nose and tail of an aircraft.

Glider: A heavier-than-air aircraft that is supported in the air by lift and whose free flight does not depend on an engine.

Heavier-than-air: Aircraft, such as airplanes, gliders and helicopters, whose lift is produced by a reaction between airfoils and motion through the air. In the early days of aviation, powered heavier-than-air flight was also known as "mechanical" flight, since lift was generated "mechanically"" by the movement of an airfoil through the air.

Kite: A tethered heavier-than-air craft. Kites range in size and complexity from simple toys to highly sophisticated craft with the capacity to lift large weights.

Lighter-than-air: Aircraft, such as balloons and airships, whose buoyancy for lifting capability depends on being inflated with a gas (such as hot air, hydrogen or helium) that is lighter than the air in which it is supported.

Lift: An aerodynamic reaction produced by air passing over an airfoil. The amount of lift an airfoil produces depends on such factors as the design of the airfoil and the speed of the air passing over it.

Rudder: A hinged vertical control surface that is used to produce or overcome yaw or the side to side motion of the nose and tail of an aircraft.

Copyright © 2010 PolarFlight Research Group. All rights reserved.