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Seaplanes are planes that have floats on the bottom rather than wheels. They don't need an airport with a runway to land, they just need a clear stretch of flat water. They are used a lot in remote places that are hard to get to.
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Another interesting kind of plane is the glider. Gliders have no engines, so they have to be towed up into the sky by a small plane. When they are up there, the tow rope is dropped, and they fly around, looking for thermals (areas where hot air is rising) to keep them up. Eventually they will glide in to land. |
Hang gliders are very small gliders. They
aren't towed up by planes. Usually a hang glider pilot will
run down a steep slope or off a cliff to get into the
air. You are hung below the sail by a harness,
and you steer the hang glider by pushing the triangular
control bar left and right, and up and down.
These days there are even tiny little
home made planes called Microlights. They have very small engines, and wings,
and they sound like a lawn mower going across the
sky!
