Question: How do planes stay up?

Hayley Evers-King answered on 12 Mar 2013:

I’m terrified of planes, so this is something I looked up a while ago! Planes stay up because of the way their wings are designed. It’s a really neat bit of physics! As the air passes over the wing, the shape of it causes lift, this balances the weight of the plane and the effect of gravity. When you take off, the engines are needed at full power to gain height (and in reverse to slow you down when you land) but when the plane is cruising at high altitude, you don’t need a lot of power at all, the shape of the plane and the lift of the wings keep it in the air mostly – cool hey?