Aircrafts can be classified in different ways. I am going to use a simple classification method that will consider; how they gain its lift, the position of the main plane attachment and landing permissions.
The major aircraft classification is, those that are lighter than air (aerostats), which include the hot-air balloons, kites, and airships. They employ the use of buoyant gas (e.g helium) as a means to stay afloat.
The other class is one we are more familiar with. The heavier than air aircraft (aerodynes).
Aerodynes are sub-classified into rotary-wing aircrafts which include helicopters and gyrocopters. They generate lift through the incident of relative wind and the spinning rotors attached to a central mast.
The rotary-wing aircrafts are classified according to the rotor systems: Rigid, Semi-rigid, and fully articulated rotors systems.
These systems are based on the mode of attachment of the rotor blades to the hub and the freedom of the blade movements.
The rigid rotor system is fixed to the rotor hub without hinges and the hub is fixed to the rotor shaft. This allows the blades to flex giving them the freedom to feather.
The semi-rigid system the blades are attached to a teetering hinge which allows for feather and flapping. This is always a two rotor blade system.
The fully articulated rotor system has each of its rotor blades attached to hub through a series of hinges, this allows each blade to move independently of the others. This system usually has three or more blades attached to the mast.
Fixed-wing air crafts generate lift through the interaction of air and the main planes (wings)
I will first classify them according the position of wing attachments to the fuselage. They are categorise are:
High wing,
Low wing,
Mid wing
Biplanes.
These planes can either be single-engine, that is using a single-engine to produce thrust or they can be multi engines. That is they can employ two or more engines in their operation. the above images comprise of mostly single-engine fixed-wing aircrafts.
Another sub-classification is based on the places where the aircraft is designed to land. Going by this, we have Land planes and Amphibious planes.
The landing gear can be modified to enable the aircraft to land both on land and also on water bodies. These are called amphibious aircraft. Some are modified by the attachment of floats and retractable landing gear attached to the float. This enables extension when used on land and can be retracted into the floats when the aircraft is over a water body.
While others have the fuselage modified as ahull to enable easy landing and take off from water bodies, and also has a retractable landing gear system for use on land.
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