The dream of human conquest of the air is reflected in the legends and tales of almost all peoples inhabiting the Earth. The first documentary evidence of human attempts to lift an aircraft into the air dates back to the first millennium B.C. Thousands of years of attempts, labor and reflection led to the full-fledged aeronautics only at the end of the 18th century, or rather to its development. First came the mongolfier, followed by the charler. These are two types of aircraft lighter than air – an aerostat, later development of aerostat technology has led to the creation – dirigibles. And these air leviathans were replaced by heavier-than-air vehicles.

About 400 B.C. the kites began to be massively used in China, not only for entertainment, but also for military purposes, as a means of signaling. This device can already be described as a device heavier than air, having a rigid construction and using for keeping in the air the aerodynamic lifting force of an incoming stream at the expense of jet air currents.

An aircraft is a technical device that is designed to fly in the air or in outer space. The general classification distinguishes between lighter-than-air, heavier-than-air, and space vehicles. Recently, the direction of allied vehicle design, especially the creation of a hybrid air-space vehicle, has been increasingly developing.

Aircraft can be classified in other ways as well, e.g. according to the following attributes:

by the principle of operation (flight);
by the principle of control
by their destination and the spheres of application
by the type of engines installed in the aircraft;
By design features concerning fuselage, wings, fins and landing gear.

Briefly about aircraft.

1. aeronautical aircraft. Aircraft are considered to be lighter than air. The air shell is filled with light gas. These include airships, balloons and hybrid aircraft. The overall design of this type of aircraft is still entirely heavier than air, but the difference in the density of the gas masses inside and outside the shell creates a pressure differential and, as a result, a buoyancy force, the so-called Archimedes force.
2. aircrafts using aerodynamic lifting force. This type of aircraft is considered to be heavier than air. The lifting force is generated by geometric surfaces – wings. The wings begin to support the aircraft in the air only after air flows begin to form around their surfaces. Thus, the wings start to work after the aircraft reaches a certain minimum speed of “triggering” of the wings. Lifting force begins to form on them. Therefore, for example, in order for an airplane to rise into the air or to descend from it to the ground, it needs a run.

Gliders, airplanes, screen planes, and winged rockets are vehicles that have lift generated by the flow of the wing;
Helicopters and similar units, in which lift is generated by the flow of the blades of the main rotor;
Aircraft that have a load-bearing hull designed according to the “flying wing” scheme;
Hybrid – these are devices for vertical takeoff and landing, both airplanes and rotorcraft as well as devices combining both aerodynamic and space aircraft;
Dynamic air cushion vehicles of the “screen-plane” type. 3;

3. Spacecraft. These vehicles are designed specifically to operate in an airless area with negligible gravity, as well as to overcome the gravitational force of celestial bodies, to enter outer space. These include satellites, spacecraft, orbital stations, rockets. The displacement and lifting force is created by jet propulsion, by throwing back some of the mass of the vehicle. The working body is also formed by converting the internal mass of the vehicle, which before the flight still consists of oxidizer and fuel.

The most common flying vehicles are airplanes. They are classified according to many characteristics:

Helicopters are the second most common. They are also classified according to different characteristics such as the number and location of the main rotors:

Having a single propeller scheme, which implies the presence of an additional tail rotor;
coaxial scheme – when two bearing propellers are on the same axis above each other and rotate in different directions;
longitudinal – this is when the bearing propellers are on the axis of motion one after another;
transversal – when the propellers are on either side of the helicopter fuselage.

In addition, helicopters can be classified according to their purpose:

for passenger transportation;
for military use;
for use as a means of transportation for various purposes;
for various agricultural purposes;
for medical support and search and rescue needs;
for use as air-crane devices.