A heavy aeroplane is able to fly because of the shape of its wings. When the plane is powered forward by its engines at high speed, a force called lift causes it to take off. As long as it carries on moving at high speed, it will stay airborne.

Lift

As the plane moves forwards, air flows over and under each wing. Because of the wing’s curved shape, air flowing over it moves faster than air flowing under it. This means that air flowing over the wing will have lower pressure than air flowing under it. An upward force, called lift, is the result.

A large, heavy plane like an airliner has flaps fitted to its wings. When it takes off, these flaps extend outwards at the rear edge of its wings. These make the plane's wing surface bigger, providing the extra lift the airliner needs to climb into the air.

Steering

Steering a plane is not the same as steering a car, where a turn of the wheel sends it either to the left or right. A plane moves in three different ways. It can climb or dive (caused by a change in pitch), it can turn to the left or right (caused by yawing), and it can bank to one side or the other (caused by rolling).

To make the plane climb, the pilot pulls the control column back. This raises flaps on the tail, called elevators. This causes the plane's tail to drop and its nose to rise. To make the plane dive, the pilot pushes the control column forwards. This has the opposite effect on the airflow. The tail rises and the nose drops.