Aerofoil The shape of an aircraft’s wing, designed to cause lift. A wing is curved on its upper side so that, as the plane moves, the air flowing over the wing is made to move faster than that flowing under it. This creates lower pressure on the upper side than on the lower side, resulting in lift.

Ailerons Control surfaces on the wings of an aeroplane. They can be raised or lowered in order to make the plane roll.

Airbus A380 The largest passenger airliner, which can seat more than 500 passengers and can also fly long distances without the need to refuel.

Airliner A passenger-carrying aircraft.

Autopilot An automatic flight control system that constantly adjusts a plane’s controls to maintain the course, speed and altitude set by the pilot.

Black box A flight recorder in the cockpit. In the event of a crash, the black box can be recovered to discover the cause of the accident.

Cabin The part of an aircraft inside which passengers travel.

Cockpit The part of an aeroplane near its nose, where the pilot or pilots sit and the control and navigation systems are located. The cockpit on an airliner is called the flight deck.

Control linkages Systems that connect the pilot's controls to the aircraft's control surfaces. These systems can be mechanical or electronic. Many modern planes use electronic data lines, or “buses”, linked to a central computer system. This is called “fly-by-wire” technology.

Control surfaces Flaps on an aircraft that can be moved to control direction. These include ailerons, rudders and elevators.

Dashboard The displays in front of the pilot give the plane’s course, altitude and speed; they show the plane’s position; they also monitor the engine and other systems. For much of the flight, all the pilot has to do is keep an eye on the displays to check all systems are working properly. An automatic control system, called the autopilot, flies the plane. It constantly adjusts the controls to maintain the course, speed and altitude set by the pilot

Elevator A hinged section of the tailplane, moved up or down to control pitching.

Fighter jet A fast, manoeuvrable military aircraft, used in combat with other fighter jets or to intercept enemy bombers.

Flaps Hinged surfaces fitted to the edge of an aircraft’s wings. Flaps are used to extend the wing in order to exaggerate its curved profile and provide extra lift during take-off and landing.

Fly-by-wire A system where flight controls and control surfaces are linked by electronic data lines, or “buses”, via a central computer system.

Fuselage The long body of an aircraft.

Helicopter An aircraft that uses a main rotor for lift and a tail rotor to control directional movement. A helicopter can hover forwards, backwards or sideways, and take off or land vertically.

Jumbo jet A jet-powered wide-body aircraft.

Landing gear The wheels and shock absorbers that support an aeroplane on the ground. After take-off, the landing gear often retracts in a forward direction into the nose of the fuselage and sideways into the undersides of each wing. Hinged doors close behind them.

Lift The upwards force, created by the wings, that keeps an aircraft in the air.

Light aircraft A small aeroplane propelled by a piston engine. Light aircraft are mostly used for recreation or learning to fly. They can cruise at speeds of up to 230 km/h (140 mph).

Pitching The movement of an aircraft as its nose moves up to climb or down to dive.

Propeller A mechanism formed of rotating, aerofoil blades. As a blade spins, air moves faster over the front of it than behind it. This sucks air around the propeller, pulling the blade and the plane forward.

Radar A system that detects objects by transmitting radio waves and receiving the “echoes” that bounce back. Radar is used to detect other craft or oncoming storms.

Rolling The movement of a plane as it rotates on its main axis.

Rotor Long, rotating blades on the top of a helicopter that provide lift. Each blade has the curved aerofoil shape of an aeroplane’s wing. As the blades spin round, they push down the air beneath them, creating lift. Tilting the main rotor makes the helicopter move forwards, backwards or sideways.

Rudder A flap mounted on the tailfin of an aircraft. It is moved left or right to control yawing movement.

Seaplane An aircraft that can take off and land on water. Instead of wheels, a seaplane has large flotation devices that skim across the water’s surface.

Side stick On some planes, the pilot controls the elevators and ailerons through use of a side stick.

Spoiler A hinged flap on the upper side of a wing. When raised, it reduces lift and increases drag to slow an aircraft down.

Tail A structure at the rear end of an aircraft that provides stability during flight (feathers on an arrow or a dart do have a similar role). Also known as the tail assembly or empennage, it consists of the tailfin, the tailplane and the part of the fuselage to which these are attached.

Tailfin The large vertical surface at the tail of an aircraft. It prevents a plane from yawing in order to keep it flying straight.

Tailplane A horizontal aerofoil at the rear of an aircraft. It prevents a plane from pitching in order to keep it flying level.

Thrust The force provided by an aeroplane’s engines. Thrust propels an aeroplane forward, overcoming the backward force of drag.

Yawing The movement of a plane as it turns to the left or right.

Wide-body aircraft An airliner with two passenger aisles, typically with a fuselage 5 to 6 metres (16–20 feet) wide.

Consultant: Chris Oxlade