FlightBy Patrick Wolfgang

The basics of flight• During takeoff an air plane taxies down a

runway. It keeps gathering speed until it has enough lift to pull it self off the ground.

• There are three ways an airplane moves. It can go up and down. It can roll from side to side and it can turn right and left.

• During landing flaps on the backs of the wings are lowered slowing the plane.

Gliders• Are a engineless plane that has to be pulled

by a plane until they are going fast enough to take off.

• Once in the air gliders can do all most of the things a plane can do.

Flight history • In 1783 the Montgolfier brothers lunch the first hot air

balloon.• In 1909 French pilot Louis Bleriot makes the first flight across

the English channel.• By 1915 planes are equipped with machine guns and bombs.• In 1927 American pilot Charles Lindbergh makes the first

nonstop solo crossing of the Atlantic ocean.• In 1933 the Boeing 247 becomes the first modern type of

passenger air plane. It can carry 10 passengers.• In 1949 the first nonstop around the world flight is made in a

plane called the Lucky lady ll.

Balloons • In the late 1700s and the early 1800s people went ballooning for pleasure.

• They also held balloon races during that time.• The first people to fly in a hot air balloon

were Jean François Pilatre and marquis d’Arlandes.

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Birds• Here are some common birds and how fast

they can fly.• The common Crane and the White Stork can

fly 42 mph.• The Carrion crow can fly 31 mph.• The last bird is the Hummingbird witch can fly

27 mph.

How Birds and Planes are Alike • One way they are alike is that they can both

fly.• Another way they are alike is that they both

use their tail to help them turn.

Space history • The first space rocket is launched in the Soviet

Union in 1957.• The first Earthling to travel into space was a dog

named Laika witch was from the Soviet Union.• In 1969 American astronaut Neil Armstrong

becomes the first human to walk on the moon.• In 1986 the space shuttle Challenger explodes

killing all seven members of its crew including a high school teacher.

Engines Planes Use Modern passenger planes use a

engine called a turbofan. It has a big fan in the front that draws air in to

the engine witch gets ignited when it passes the combustor and then pass

the turbine. The last thing the air goes to is out of back of the engine. But in the military they use engines that are called turbo jets that are a

lot nosier but faster.

Fun fact• The Daedalus a human powered airplane,

broke the records for straight-line human powered flight, distance, and time aloft on April 23, 1988. Kanellos Kanellopoulous pedaled 74 miles across the Aegean Sea in 3 hours and 54 minutes. The plane's wingspan was 112 feet.

Resource: Kids Discover FlightNovember 1991

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