How do airplanes fly?

An airplane stays aloft thanks to lift, a force created as the wings move through the air. A wing is shaped and angled so that it deflects air downward; by Newton’s third law, the air pushes the wing upward in reaction. Differences in air pressure above and below the wing (described by Bernoulli’s principle) also contribute. For flight, lift must overcome the plane’s weight, while forward thrust from engines overcomes drag. Pilots control the aircraft using movable surfaces — ailerons, elevators, and the rudder — to roll, pitch, and yaw. A large jet needs to reach around 250–290 km/h on the runway before it can lift off.