List of aviation, aerospace and aeronautical terms

A heavier-than-air craft, deriving its lift from motion.

aeronaut

Pilot or crew of lighter-than-air craft.

aeroplane

A powered aircraft that derives its lift from the movement of air over fixed lifting surfaces. (Also airplane)

aerostat

aircraft

A vehicle that can travel through the air.

airplane

A powered aircraft that derives its lift from the movement of air over fixed lifting surfaces. (Also aeroplane)

airship

A lighter-than-air craft that can be steered and propelled through the air. (Also dirigible)

autogyro

A rotor-craft with unpowered blades - it requires a separate engine to provide forward motion before lift is developed.

aviator

Pilot or crew of an aircraft.

aviatrix

Female aviator (Obsolete, potentially offensive in modern use.)

balloon

An unpowered lighter-than-air craft.

biplane

An aeroplane with two similar-sized wings (or pairs of wings), exactly or approximately in vertical alignment.

blimp

chord

The dimension of a wing parallel to the direction of motion.(Compare with span and thickness.)

dirigible

glider

An unpowered fixed-wing heavier-than-air craft. (Also sailplane)

helicopter

A rotor craft with one or more sets of powered blades.

monoplane

An aeroplane with one wing (or pairs of wings).

pitch

Roll

Rotation about an axis aligned with the direction in which the aircraft is flying.

rotorcraft

An aircraft that derives its lift from rotating lifting surfaces (usually called blades)

sailplane

An unpowered fixed-wing heavier-than-air craft. (Also glider)

sesquiplane

An aeroplane with two wings (or pairs of wings), where one (often the lower) is significantly smaller than the other in span and/or chord.

span

The dimension of a wing parallel to the direction of motion. (Compare with chord and thickness.)

thickness

The vertical dimension of a wing. (Compare with span and chord.)

triplane

An aeroplane with three similar-sized wings (or pairs of wings), exactly or approximately in vertical alignment.

wing

A lifting surface of an airplane/aeroplane or sailplane.