Definitions of 'Aircraft'

LowObservable

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F-14D said:
Trivia note: The X-32 was the only Boeing aircraft to ever actually fly supersonically in normal flight.
F-14D: The only Boeing MANNED aircraft....
 

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LowObservable said:
F-14D: The only Boeing MANNED aircraft....

Low Observable:

This is getting off topic, but my ego won't let this pass :eek: If the CIM 10 (also known as the F-99) is being put up as an unmanned aircraft, then let me return the favor with a picture of a Raytheon unmanned, supersonic, VTO naval aircraft
Smiley
 

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LowObservable said:
The Bomarc has real wings and air-breathing engines...


Just popped back in on this dormant topic for a moment...

It these are the requirements to be considered "aircraft", then one would have to consider Snark, ALCM, Hound Dog, Boeing's own SLAM-ER, Tomahawk, etc. as unmannned aircraft. I suspect one would want to add to characteristics defining an unmanned aircraft the criteria "not designed to blow up or crash and the end of one flight".

We're way off topic here...
 
Funny how many people are completely unaware they had armed Firebees back in the 70s
 
sferrin said:
Funny how many people are completely unaware they had armed Firebees back in the 70s

Now, armed and recon Firebees would meet the definition of aircraft :-*

Somebody stop us before we start debating Frisbees! :D
 
Well, hopefully these will put this to rest:

Definitions of Aircraft on the Web:

means any vehicle capable of sustained air travel above treetop heights.
www.complianceregs.com/40cfr/ChapterI/subU/Part1068/1068-30.html

a conveyance by which human beings can rise into and/or travel through the atmosphere. Aircraft can be classified into those whose lifting power derives from aerostatic processes (buoyancy) as well as those rising under aerodynamic conditions (use of a static or moving airfoil and by those which ...
www.grazian-archive.com/quantavolution/Encyclopedia/encqnt5.htm

a vehicle for traveling through air.
www.cat.pinellas.k12.fl.us/ISTF/2006_2007/06-1450/Glossary.html

means a device that is used or intended to be used for flight in the air.
www.consistentformulations.com/Glossary.htm

includes a balloon.
scaleplus.law.gov.au/html/pasteact/2/3021/0/PA000110.htm

a vehicle that can fly
wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

An aircraft is any vehicle or craft capable of atmospheric flight.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aircraft



means any machine that can derive support in the atmosphere from the reactions of the air otherwise than by the reactions of the air against the surface of the earth (Civil Aviation Act 1990):
www.ew.govt.nz/policyandplans/navigation/safety2006/bylaw1.3.htm

Now, if we want to start breaking the 'aircraft' catagory down into airplanes, helicopters, balloons, etc, that's a whole different thing.


F-14D said:
LowObservable said:
The Bomarc has real wings and air-breathing engines...


Just popped back in on this dormant topic for a moment...

It these are the requirements to be considered "aircraft", then one would have to consider Snark, ALCM, Hound Dog, Boeing's own SLAM-ER, Tomahawk, etc. as unmannned aircraft. I suspect one would want to add to characteristics defining an unmanned aircraft the criteria "not designed to blow up or crash and the end of one flight".

We're way off topic here...
 
Dear me, I caused a problem here.
Actually there are all sorts of shades of grey here.
I'd start by establishing two end posts.
I don't think that anyone would argue that a Global Hawk is not an aircraft (albeit unmanned) or that an Atlas missile is an aircraft.
However, I'd suggest that a Snark was in many senses an aircraft; it was built and powered like an airplane and it flew like one. It looks a hell of a lot more like an F-84 than it looks like an Atlas. Also aircraft were the Tu-123 and the D-21, which did not meet a reusability criterion either but were not missiles. Any cruise missile is an unmanned aircraft by design and a missile by function.
What about a Meteor (MBDA not Gloster)? No wings, but definitely needs aero lift to do what it does, and has sustained power. Personally, I'd say that common sense is that it's a missile - but in many ways it is an air-to-air cruise missile, like the Bomarc is a surface-to-air cruise missile.
 
By the above definitions, missiles are aircraft. Aircraft covers a whole range of air vehicles. One thing that irks me is when we see books titled "Aircraft & Helicopters". Uh. helicopters ARE aircraft. They're not airplanes, but they ARE aircraft. I would put missiles, especially air to air types, but missiles meet the criteria in the definitions.



LowObservable said:
Dear me, I caused a problem here.
Actually there are all sorts of shades of grey here.
I'd start by establishing two end posts.
I don't think that anyone would argue that a Global Hawk is not an aircraft (albeit unmanned) or that an Atlas missile is an aircraft.
However, I'd suggest that a Snark was in many senses an aircraft; it was built and powered like an airplane and it flew like one. It looks a hell of a lot more like an F-84 than it looks like an Atlas. Also aircraft were the Tu-123 and the D-21, which did not meet a reusability criterion either but were not missiles. Any cruise missile is an unmanned aircraft by design and a missile by function.
What about a Meteor (MBDA not Gloster)? No wings, but definitely needs aero lift to do what it does, and has sustained power. Personally, I'd say that common sense is that it's a missile - but in many ways it is an air-to-air cruise missile, like the Bomarc is a surface-to-air cruise missile.
 
Is Superman an aircraft?
 
"..which did not meet a reusability criterion either but were not missiles. Any cruise missile is an unmanned aircraft "

And some manned aircraft were in fact missiles and not fitting into the "reusable/not
self-destroying" category : Yoksuka Okha, Me 328 and other suicide aircraft.

No rule without an exception ..
 
"The F-104 was the first manned missile ? "

Although especially within the german public it had the reputation, to be
a one-way-only aircraft, to me this seems a little bit unfair ... :D
 
"What about a balloon? "

I think, "heavier than air" is a presupposition in most definitions of aircraft.
In the english language, there seems to be no difference between flying an
aircraft and flying a balloon, but in german the term is "Ballonfahrt" (ride, drive),
as with a ship .
 

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