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The Parts of a Plane for Students

Even the simplest airplane is a complex piece of engineering; first and foremost, it has to get off the ground and stay in the air. It must also allow for the safety and comfort of its passengers -- some planes carry hundreds of passengers at a time. To do this, many of the airplane's systems are computerized and/or redundant, and its crew must be rigorously trained. A fairly large commercial jet, like a Boeing 737-300, can have over 200 parts.

Specifications
- Knowing the physical specifications of an aircraft is crucial for the plane's proper performance. The Boeing 737-300 weighs, when empty, 69,580 lbs and can take a maximum payload of 35,420 lbs. It has a 94.75-inch wingspan, is 109 feet long and 36.5 feet high.
First Section and Flight Deck
- A flight attendant waits to greet passengers.
  
  The first section of a plane can have an optional weather radar, the nose can be hinged to allow access to controls, or be a support for a propeller. The pilots sit behind in this section in the flight deck. In the 737, the very first part of the airplane is the radome, which looks like the plane's black nose. It's actually a radar that picks up signals -- one of the plane's many sensory devices. Behind the radome is the weather radar scanner, a scanner tracking mechanism, lightning conductor strips and other mechanisms. The flight deck is the plane's control center, which contains the instrument panels, windows, panels for overhead controls and seats for the pilot and the copilot. The nosewheels are beneath the flight deck. Moving aft finds the entry door, with the escape chute storage and the retractable airstairs. There are overhead storage bins and a curtain cabin divider. Beneath the floor is an avionics equipment bay, and on the plane's belly a VHF aerial.
Passenger Compartment
- The passenger compartment is a commercial plane's reason for being. The compartment in a Cessna can sit four to seven people; the Boeing 747, up to 624. In a Boeing 737 the tourist compartment seats 114-120 passengers. The fuselage is lined with windows, some of which can be used for emergency exits. Also in this section, but unseen by the passengers, are air system ducts.
Wings and Fuselage
- Wings are largely configured in response to what the plane is meant to do, how many miles it has to fly, how high it might have to fly and for how long and the possible payload. In the Boeing 737-300 the wings each hold one turbo engine with its attendant fan casings, gear boxes, thrust reverse cascades, hot stream exhausts, tail cone fairings, nacelle cone fairings and everything else needed to keep the engine in order. The wings have fuel tanks as well as flaps, ailerons, outboard spoilers and other things that control the plane's speed, especially when it's landing. The twin main wheels also emerge from the thickest part of the wings. Back inside the plane there are more seats, exit doors, galley modules and lavatories. Very near the back is the rear freight door hold and just beyond that, beneath the floor, is the cockpit voice recorder. There are also rear entry and service doors, port and starboard, the cabin attendant's folding seat and another wardrobe closet.
The Tail
- Tail designs can be as varied as the design of the wings, and for many of the same reasons. In the 737, the fin root fillet construction begins near the last row of passenger seats and angles up into the tail. The tail and its fins are used to control the speed and direction of the plane and have stabilizers, rudders and elevators. The tail section also has another power plant, its rear pressure domes, intake duct, tail cone, exhaust duct and other elements. The tail and the fins also have static dischargers to reduce electrical charge buildups.

Aviation