If you’re a frequent flier, you may barely pay attention to the routine stages of flight. Still, you know the basics: After takeoff, the airplane climbs for the first 15 to 20 minutes before reaching ...

Most airplanes in the world have vertical tails or rudders to prevent Dutch roll instabilities, a combination of yawing and sideways motions with rolling that looks a bit like the movements of a ...

Here's what that means for turbulence. Every flier waits to hear those magic words after takeoff: “We have reached cruising altitude; you’re now free to move about the cabin.” But what is cruising ...

How do helicopters fly? They face the same forces that planes do, but they have a special feature to help them hover and go where no plane can. Find out more. Science Trek is available to stream on ...

If you're reading this, you've probably been on your fair share of flights. And while you may understand the science behind how planes fly, there's still something magical about the idea of soaring ...

Humans tried to fly for centuries before Wilber and Orville Wright did it in 1903. Discover the history of human flight and how fast we can really go. Science Trek is available to stream on pbs.org ...

The first time I saw a visible sign of how heat can affect flying was while boarding a flight in Louisiana: Fog was pouring from the vents inside the cabin. It was pretty alarming, but I eventually ...