Top 10 facts about airplanes

Amy Aviation is mad about everything aeronautical – that means everything to do with planes!

She knows everything there is to know about planes and loves sharing her knowledge – when she’s not busy flying around!!

These are some of her Top Ten Planes…

The Stratolaunch

The largest plane ever built, with a wingspan longer than a football field. It’s a modern marvel that shows how big and amazing planes can be. A true giant of the skies.

Instead of carrying people, this massive aircraft is built to carry rockets and other special vehicles high into the sky, from where it launches them into space. It’s a very different way of getting things to space than launching from the ground!

It looks like two planes in one – it has two separate bodies, but only the one on the right side has a cockpit where the pilots fly.

To make the Stratolaunch big and strong, engineers used parts from two jumbo jets, including their powerful engines and landing gear.

As well as having the world’s largest wingspan, it also has lots of wheels to help it take off and land… in fact 28 of them!

The Stratolaunch’s nickname is “Roc” which is a gigantic bird in mythology that was so big, it could carry an elephant

Concorde

A famous supersonic passenger jet from the 1970s that could fly faster than the speed of sound.

It was built in a partnership between Britain and France, and was a technological marvel. It was sleek and futuristic, and could fly from London to New York in just two and a half hours!

The word ‘supersonic’ means faster than the speed of sound. Concorde could fly at Mach 2.04 or more than twice the speed of sound.

It had a droop nose – its long, pointed nose could tilt down during take-off and landing to allow the pilots to clearly see the runway. The nose tilted up during flight for better aerodynamics.

Its wings were unique. Instead of normal wings, Concorde had triangular delta wings that helped it lift off quickly and fly through the air smoothly.

The Spitfire

A legendary World War II fighter plane known for its speed and agility . It was a fighter plane used by the RAF to defend the UK and played a critical role in the Battle of Britain in 1940.

The aircraft was designed by R. J. Mitchell, who worked for a company called Supermarine.

The powerful Rolls-Royce Merlin engine was a key part of the Spitfire’s success, giving it great speed. Its famous elliptical (oval-shaped) wings were not just for good looks; they also helped it fly faster and turn better.

The Airbus A300-600ST – Beluga

A unique, over-sized cargo aircraft that carry large loads, including components for aircraft production, transporting parts between Airbus’ various European manufacturing and assembly sites.

It’s nickname is ‘Beluga’ because of its resemblance to the beluga whale.

The Beluga’s entire nose, located just above the cockpit, opens wide and lifts up. This allows huge parts, like the 30-meter-long wings of an Airbus A350, to be loaded directly into its giant cargo hold.

To make room for the large cargo opening, the cockpit is located on a lower deck, beneath the cargo area.

The Airbus A380

Often refereed to as a Superjumbo jet, the A380 is a modern large passenger jet that can carry over 600 people across two passenger floors.

It’s a huge plane – its wingspan is nearly 80 meters… that’s about the length of an Olympic-size swimming pool, and it’s as long as two blue whales!!

When fully loaded, it weighs about 575 metric tons, which is more than five blue whales.

The two-level cabin is so large it has the same floor space as three tennis courts.

If you filled the whole plane with ping-pong balls, you could fit 35 million inside.

Boeing 747

One of the most famous airplanes in the world, known as the “Queen of the Skies”.

It was the first large wide-body passenger jet, and its giant size changed air travel forever.

The 747 is recognisable by a huge hump on top of its nose which contains the cockpit and a passenger lounge.

When it first flew in 1969, the 747 could carry more people than any other plane. Its large size helped make flying affordable for many families who wanted to travel.

The 747 is also a great cargo plane. That hump design allows the nose to open up so a cargo version can be loaded from the front.

It can cruise faster than many other commercial jets and has a very long range.

It take a lot to build a 747. It has six million parts, 170 miles of wiring and its tail is as tall as a six-story building!

The SR-71 Blackbird

One of the fastest planes ever, it was a super-fast, high-flying spy plane that could travel faster than a missile – more than three times the speed of sound.

For a fun way to understand this speed, consider this… it once flew from the west coast of USA to the east coast in just over an hour.

Whilst most passenger planes fly around 35,000 feet, Blackbird flew at over 85,000 feet, which is about 16 miles up. Because of this, its crew had to wear special suits like astronauts.

Its special black paint and sleek sharp shape helped it use early stealth technology, making it harder for enemies to see on their radar. This special black paint also gave it the nickname Blackbird.

It was also built with materials like titanium to handle the intense heat from flying so fast.

Dornier Do X

A gigantic flying boat from the 1920s that could take off and land on water.

It was the biggest and most luxurious aircraft of its time, designed to carry passengers across oceans like a floating hotel.

It was powered by 12 engines that sat on top of its giant wing. They were arranged in six pairs, with one engine pushing and one pulling.

The inside of the plane had three different decks, with sleeping cabins, dining areas and a lounge. It was an extravagant way to travel for the richest people.

Although it was a fantastic engineering project, it proved too big and expensive to operate. Only three were ever built.

The Cessna 172

A four-seat aircraft that’s the most popular airplane ever made, and one of the easiest and most reliable planes to fly. Since production began in 1956, more Cessna 172s have been built than any other aircraft in the world.

It has a single propeller in the front and a high wing design, which means its wings are on top of the plane’s body. This design gives passengers a better view of the ground below.

The plane has three wheels on the bottom, arranged like a tricycle with one wheel in the front and two in the back, which makes it much easier to land than planes with a single wheel at the tail.

In 1958, two pilots flew a special Cessna 172 continuously for 64 days, 22 hours, and 19 minutes. To stay airborne for so long, they had to be refuelled twice a day by a truck driving on a highway below them! They used a rope and a winch to hoist fuel and other supplies from the truck up to the plane.

The F35 Lightning

The F-35 Lightning is a modern military fighter jet designed to be fast, hard to see on radar and adaptable for many types of missions.

Different versions of the F-35 are flown by the RAF and Royal Navy.

The F-35’s special shape and coating help it avoid being detected by enemy radar. It can fly into dangerous areas without being easily seen, giving the pilot an advantage.

The F-35B can also do something amazing – it can take off from a very short runway and then hover and land straight down, just like a helicopter.

The pilot wears a special helmet that displays information from the plane’s sensors. The helmet is like something from a video game – it has a special visor that can show the pilot all the information they need to fly, like speed and altitude. It also gives them a 360-degree view around the jet, as if they can see right through the floor.

It’s powered by a single, very strong engine that produces a lot of thrust, allowing it to fly faster than the speed of sound… up to 1,200 miles per hour.