If you’ve ever stuck your hand out the window of a car, you’ve experienced the basic principle that keeps airplanes in the air. As they reach high speeds, the wind resistance against the bottom of the airplane’s wing increases, and when it gets high enough, it pushes the plane into the air!

Only two airplanes have ever made it to space. They were powered by rockets, and carried to an altitude of 30,000 feet by a larger airplane before they flew on their own. It would be impossible for a regular airplane to fly to space - airplanes rely on wind resistance to stay in the air, and the closer you get to space, the less air there is!

Airplanes fly at around 36,000 feet in the air. Why? Well, the higher you get, the less air there is. That means less wind resistance to slow the plane down. So flying up high allows planes to fly faster while using less fuel.

Contrary to popular belief, cell phones and other electronic devices don’t pose a risk to safe operation of airplanes. The European Aviation Safety Agency even announced as much in 2014! However, other regulatory agencies have kept limitations on use of electronic devices aboard aircraft in place, because…well, it's not actually clear! One statement from the chairman of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission said he “value[d] a moment of quiet at 30,000 feet.” Whether the FCC will use this reasoning to limit loud conversations on airplanes remains to be seen.

The Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird is the fastest airplane of all time, with a speed of 2,190 mph (3,530 km/h), set on July 28, 1976. That’s 3 times the speed of sound!

The smallest aircraft ever flown is a biplane called the Starr Bumble Bee II. Its wingspan is only 5 ft, 6 inches - smaller than many adults, and it weighs just 396 lbs (179 kg)!

The world’s largest airplane, the Antonov AN-225, was sadly destroyed during the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. It was a massive cargo plane originally built to launch the Soviet Space Shuttle. Now, the largest airplane is the Roc, which was built to launch satellites into space.

The atmosphere on Mars is much thinner than Earth’s, which would make flying an airplane much, much harder. Flight on Mars has been achieved, though - not by an airplane, but by the helicopter Ingenuity, a small unmanned helicopter that arrived on Mars in 2021 with the Perseverance rover. Ingenuity made history by completing its first successful flight on April 19, 2022!

Yes! Some airplanes can fly upside-down. However, large commercial airplanes most likely cannot fly upside down, due to a lack of engine power relative to their size. That said, there is at least one recorded instance of a commercial airliner flying upside down - in 1955, the Boeing “Dash 80” performed two barrel rolls during a demonstration flight!

Yes! It was first completed in 1949 by the US Air Force B-50 Superfortress Lucky Lady II, and took 94 hours and 1 minute, with 4 in-flight refuelings. It wouldn’t be until 1986 that an airplane would fly around the world without being refueled in flight, taking 9 days, 3 minutes, and 44 seconds. The fastest trip around the world by plane? 46 hours, 40 minutes, and 22 seconds.