any machine supported for flight in the air by buoyancy or by the dynamic action of air on its surfaces, especially powered airplanes, gliders, and helicopters.
Origin of aircraft
First recorded in 1840–50; air1 + craft
Words nearby aircraft
air-cool, air-core, Air Corps, air corridor, air cover, aircraft, aircraft carrier, aircraft cloth, aircraftman, aircraftsman, aircraftswoman
Their work is being supported from the air by a large fleet of state-owned and contractor fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters, providing critical Air Attack retardant and water drops with pinpoint accuracy.
West Coast states are calling in all their best planes and helicopters to fight fires|By Dan Pimentel/Flying|September 25, 2020|Popular Science
As part of her work, she watched videos taken by drone aircraft flying above pods of surfacing whales.
Whale blowholes don’t keep out seawater|Rasha Aridi|September 22, 2020|Science News For Students
If development of the concepts goes to plan, Airbus will officially kick off its ZEROe aircraft program by 2025, with a full-scale prototype arriving in the latter half of this decade.
Check out Airbus’s concepts for the world’s first ‘zero-emission commercial aircraft’|David Meyer|September 21, 2020|Fortune
This whole system is exacerbated by the fact that it’s not just contracts for privately owned aircraft.
They Know How to Prevent Megafires. Why Won’t Anybody Listen?|by Elizabeth Weil|August 28, 2020|ProPublica
Then a Navy recruiter asked me to take a nuclear-based test – and I’m a really good test taker – so I passed and worked as a nuclear reactor operator on a few different aircraft carriers.