Flight

A hummingbird in flight
A Barn Swallow in flight
Flight is the process by which an object moves, through an atmosphere (especiall
y the air) or beyond it (as in the case of spaceflight), by generating aerodynam
ic lift, propulsive thrust, aerostatically using buoyancy, or by ballistic movem
ent, without direct support from any surface.
Many things fly, from natural aviators such as birds, bats and insects to human
inventions such as missiles, aircraft such as airplanes, helicopters and balloon
s, to rockets such as spacecraft.
The engineering aspects of flight are studied in aerospace engineering which is
subdivided into aeronautics, the study of vehicles that travel through the air,
and astronautics, the study of vehicles that travel through space, and in ballis
tics, the study of the flight of projectiles.
Contents [hide]
1 Types of flight
1.1 Buoyant flight
1.2 Aerodynamic flight
1.2.1 Unpowered flight versus powered flight
1.2.2 Animal
1.2.3 Mechanical
1.2.3.1 Supersonic
1.2.3.2 Hypersonic
1.3 Ballistic
1.3.1 Atmospheric
1.3.2 Spaceflight
2 History
2.1 Aviation
2.2 Spaceflight
3 Physics
3.1 Forces
3.1.1 Lift
3.1.2 Drag
3.1.3 Buoyancy
3.1.4 Lift-to-drag ratio
3.1.5 Thrust to weight ratio
3.2 Flight dynamics
3.3 Energy efficiency
3.4 Range
3.5 Power-to-weight ratio
4 Takeoff and landing
5 Guidance, Navigation and Control
5.1 Navigation
5.2 Guidance
5.3 Control
5.3.1 Traffic
6 Flight safety
7 See also
8 References
9 External links
Types of flight[edit]
Buoyant flight[edit]
Main article: Aerostat
A blimp flies because the upward force is equal or greater than the force of gra
vity.
Humans have managed to construct lighter than air vehicles that raise off the gr
ound and fly, due to their buoyancy in air.
An aerostat is a system that remains aloft primarily through the use of buoyancy
to give an aircraft the same overall density as air. Aerostats include free bal
loons, airships, and moored balloons. An aerostat's main structural component is
its envelope, a lightweight skin containing a lifting gas[1][2] to provide buoy
ancy, to which other components are attached.
Aerostats are so named because they use "aerostatic" lift, a buoyant force that
does not require lateral movement through the surrounding air mass. By contrast,
aerodynes primarily use aerodynamic lift, which requires the lateral movement o
f at least some part of the aircraft through the surrounding air mass.
Aerodynamic flight[edit]
Unpowered flight versus powered flight[edit]
Main article: Unpowered flight
Some things that fly do not generate propulsive thrust through the air, for exam
ple, the flying squirrel. This is termed gliding. Some other things can exploit
rising air to climb such as raptors (when gliding) and man-made sailplane glider
s. This is termed soaring. However most other birds and all powered aircraft nee
d a source of propulsion to climb. This is termed powered flight.
Animal[edit]
Female Mallard Duck
Tau Emerald dragonfly
Kea
Main article: Flying and gliding animals
The only groups of living things that use powered flight are birds, insects, and
bats, while many groups have evolved gliding. The extinct Pterosaurs, an order
of reptiles contemporaneous with the dinosaurs, were also very successful flying
animals. Each of these groups' wings evolved independently. The wings of the fl
ying vertebrate groups are all based on the forelimbs, but differ significantly
in structure; those of insects are hypothesized to be highly modified versions o
f structures that form gills in most other groups of arthropods.[3]
Bats are the only mammals capable of sustaining level flight.[4] However, there
are several gliding mammals which are able to glide from tree to tree using fles
hy membranes between their limbs; some can travel hundreds of meters in this way
with very little loss in height. Flying frogs use greatly enlarged webbed feet
for a similar purpose, and there are flying lizards which fold out their mobile
ribs into a pair of flat gliding surfaces. "Flying" snakes also use mobile ribs
to flatten their body into an aerodynamic shape, with a back and forth motion mu
ch the same as they use on the ground.
Flying fish can glide using enlarged wing-like fins, and have been observed soar
ing for hundreds of meters. It is thought that this ability was chosen by natura
l selection because it was an effective means of escape from underwater predator
s. The longest recorded flight of a flying fish was 45 seconds.[5]
Most birds fly (see bird flight), with some exceptions. The largest birds, the O
strich and the Emu, are earthbound, as were the now-extinct Dodos and the Phorus
rhacids, which were the dominant predators of South America in the Cenozoic era.
The non-flying penguins have wings adapted for use under water and use the same
wing movements for swimming that most other birds use for flight.[citation need
ed] Most small flightless birds are native to small islands, and lead a lifestyl
e where flight would offer little advantage.
Among living animals that fly, the Wandering Albatross has the greatest wingspan
, up to 3.5 meters (11 feet); the Great Bustard has the greatest weight, topping
at 21 kilograms (46 pounds).[6]
Many species of insects also fly (See insect flight).
Mechanical[edit]
Main article: Aviation
Mechanical flight: A Robinson R22 Beta helicopter
Mechanical flight is the use of a machine to fly. These machines include aircraf
t such as airplanes, gliders, helicopters, autogyros, airships, balloons, ornith
opters as well as spacecraft. Gliders are capable of unpowered flight. Another f
orm of mechanical flight is para-sailing where a parachute-like object is pulled
by a boat. In an airplane, lift is created by the wings; the shape of the wings
of the airplane are designed specially for the type of flight desired. There ar
e different types of wings: tempered, semi-tempered, sweptback, rectangular and
elliptical. An aircraft wing is sometimes called an airfoil, which is a device t
hat creates lift when air flows across it.
Supersonic