The aviation reference

Explore aircraft & flight.

Aircraft, airports and the stories behind a favourite photograph. Find an explanation or something to make with your own image.

The sky

30 guides & references

The sky: aeroplane facts with their sources
Sourced answers about flight, aircraft, airport terminology and aviation history, free to read.
Plane identification: reading an aircraft's markings
Identifying an aircraft starts with the markings, not the shape. A UK civil aircraft carries a G- registration that anyone can search on the CAA's G-INFO register, and the name a…
Aviation questions, answered.
Answers to the things people look up after something goes over, from how aircraft fly to the history and codes behind them. Every number here names its source.
How do planes fly?
A plane flies because its wings turn the air flowing past them, which holds the aircraft up. That gets explained two ways, by pressure and by Newton's third law, and NASA says both are…
How high do planes fly?
Passenger jets cruise at about 10 to 13 kilometres, according to Airbus. That is roughly 33,000 to 43,000 feet, or 6 to 8 miles up. It is a scale, not a set height for every plane,…
How fast do planes fly?
Today's larger airliners cruise at roughly 600 mph, about 80 per cent of the speed of sound, according to NASA. That works out at about 520 knots, or 965 km/h.
What is a knot in aviation?
A knot is one nautical mile per hour, and the international nautical mile is exactly 1,852 metres. Both figures are fixed by agreement, not by measurement.
What is turbulence?
Turbulence is rough, irregular air that an aircraft happens to be flying through, a property of the atmosphere and not a fault with the aeroplane. The FAA says the clear-air kind…
What are the main types of aircraft?
The main types of aircraft are aeroplanes, rotorcraft and gliders. The US federal regulations (14 CFR 1.1) tell them apart by one thing: where the lift comes from.
What is an aeroplane cockpit?
The aeroplane cockpit, called the flight deck on larger aircraft, is the compartment at the front where the flight crew sit and fly the thing.
Why are planes white?
The usual answer is heat, damage inspection and resale: white reflects sunlight, shows damage clearly and is cheaper to keep looking right. We found no regulator or manufacturer that…
Contrails: why planes leave white trails
Contrails, short for condensation trails, are the white lines aircraft leave across the sky. NOAA's description is about as plain as it gets: they form when water vapour from an…
What is a runway?
A runway is a defined area used for aircraft take-off and landing. It can be paved or unpaved. On numbered runways, the number gives a direction, not a name.
Airport codes: IATA and ICAO
Airport codes come in two systems, and most airports carry one of each: a three-letter IATA code for the commercial side of aviation, and a four-letter ICAO code for the operational side.
What is plane spotting?
Plane spotting is watching, photographing and identifying aircraft, usually from public ground near an airport or under a flight path.
What is a squawk code? Squawk 7700 and the rest
Squawk 7700 means the aircraft is in a state of emergency, and nothing more: the UK rule behind it, SERA.13005 in the CAA's regulatory library, names no cause. A squawk code is the…
The Lockheed Constellation: history, variants and where to see one
The Lockheed Constellation was a pressurised airliner that Lockheed began designing in the late 1930s to meet TWA's call for non-stop coast-to-coast flights. It first flew on 9 January…
Plane parts, explained: what each part of an aircraft does
The main plane parts, as NASA Glenn's guide sets them out, are the wings, which make most of the lift, the fuselage that holds everything together, the tail that keeps the aircraft…
The Concorde aeroplane: history, why it stopped flying and where to see one
The Concorde aeroplane was built by Britain and France under a treaty signed on 29 November 1962. It first flew on 2 March 1969, carried fare-paying passengers from 21 January 1976, and…
The largest aeroplane in the world: wingspan, weight and passengers
By wingspan, the largest aeroplane in the world is the Stratolaunch Roc, at 117.35 metres, according to Guinness World Records. No single aircraft wins on every measure: the Antonov…
Airport code lookup
Type a code - LHR, EGKK, or whatever is on the mug - and get the airport it belongs to, the other code it carries, and the coordinates. UK and Irish airports with an IATA code are here,…
Phonetic alphabet translator
Type a name, an aircraft registration or an airport code and see it spelled the way pilots say it on the radio, from Alfa to Zulu. Copy the result with one tap.
Flight distance calculator
Pick two airports and see how far apart they are in miles, kilometres and nautical miles, and about how long the flight takes with no wind.
Heathrow airport code: LHR
Heathrow's three-letter airport code is LHR (IATA); its ICAO code is EGLL.
Gatwick airport code: LGW
Gatwick's airport code is LGW (IATA); its ICAO code is EGKK.
Manchester airport code: MAN
Manchester's airport code is MAN (IATA); its ICAO code is EGCC.
Edinburgh airport code: EDI
Edinburgh's airport code is EDI (IATA); its ICAO code is EGPH.
Birmingham airport code: BHX
Birmingham's airport code is BHX (IATA); its ICAO code is EGBB.
What is an aerodrome reference code?
An aerodrome reference code is a design classification, usually written as a number and a letter. It isn’t the passenger airport identifier on a baggage label, and it isn’t a universal…
The Spitfire aircraft: a short history
The Supermarine Spitfire aircraft is a family of fighters, not one unchanged machine. Its story begins with a prototype in 1936 and continues through different versions, roles and…

Your aircraft

15 guides & references

The gift

10 guides & references

On the wall

1 guide or reference

Aviation wall art
Paper, frame, canvas, metal or a mug. What each format physically is, and which one suits the picture you have.

More guides and references

2 guides & references

Aviation guides

5 guides & references