Aircraft Category

Aircraft category divided to become two, that is:

Heavier than air aircraft, or aerodynes, include auto gyros, helicopters and variants, and conventional fixed-wing aircraft (airplanes or aero planes). Fixed wing aircraft generally use an internal-combustion engine in the form of a piston engine (with a propeller) or a turbine engine (jet or turboprop); to provide thrust that moves the craft forward through the air. The movement of air over the wings produces lift that causes the air craft to fly. Exceptions include gliders which have no engines and gain their thrust, initially, from winches or tugs and then from gravity and thermal currents. For a glider to maintain its forward speed it must descend in relation to the air (but not necessarily in relation to the ground). Helicopters and auto gyros use a spinning rotor (a rotary wing) to provide lift helicopter also use the rotor to provide thrust. Gyro dynes are aircraft intermediate between helicopters and auto gyros, whose rotor is sometimes powered (often by a jet at its tips) but which do not have a tail rotor. Heliplanes are combination aircraft with both a rotor wings; they can take off and land vertically and hover, like a helicopter, but use their wigs for high speed flight. The abbreviation “VTOL” is applied to aircraft that can take off and land vertically. “STOL” stands for Stand for Take Off and Landing.