As a pilot I am often asked many questions about airplanes and their nature; I happily indulge their little heart's desires for the thirst for knowledge about aviation. What does this do? How does it work? What the hell is that thing? People are quite curious about the parts of an airplane. An airplane can be divided into four simple, simple categories: the fuselage, the wings, the empennage (tail section), and the engine. The fuselage, the part to which all other parts of the plane usually attach, contains the most important material, the passengers and the pilots. It is the equivalent of the car body/chassis and is easily recognizable because that is where the windows are located. At the front of the fuselage is the cockpit where the amazing pilots do their aviation and fly the plane. It also contains special points where the wings are attached. Under the fuselage is where the landing gear attaches. This is what usually retracts into the body of the plane and lowers for landings that the plane can rest on. The fuselage is a simple and simple piece of an airplane. What is the most recognizable part of an airplane? Wings are undoubtedly the distinctive piece of an aircraft. This is what makes them fly! The wings have control surfaces on themselves to help orient the aircraft. Inside the wings, usually ¼ to ½ the length of the wing at the tip, are separate, hinged wing pieces that move up and down called ailerons. The left and right ailerons move in opposite directions to momentarily change the direction of lift. This brief change in lift allows the plane to turn and change direction. The latest and most modern aircraft wings have so-called flaps. Flaps, an upward-curving end piece of the wing, diminish the tip of the wing... to the center of the paper... turned by pistons, it is powered by a combustion process that uses turbine exhaust to spin the propeller, hence the term turboprop. A turbofan is what you will find on all private corporate jets and airliners. Instead of spinning a propeller, turbofan engines use the exhaust to spin a fan which helps produce more thrust by helping to create bypass air. Military aircraft like the F-22 Raptor use the simple jet engine that produces thrust by, in simple terms, igniting jet fuel and pushing it out the back. Whatever the type of engine, they are all important parts of an aircraft. The fuselage, wings, empennage and engines all make up the parts of an airplane. They are all important to the well-being of an aircraft in flight; they are all parts; without one, the plane couldn't fly. The next time you see a plane, you can impress anyone with your newfound knowledge of planes.