Let's pretend that people could fly like birds. That is only pretend, because people cannot fly like birds. People invented airplanes to fly in. Never jump from a high place to try to fly. Let's look at how real wings work, and at what we have built instead.
Birds fly by flapping their wings, and their wings are covered in feathers. Feathers are made of keratin, a tough protein. Human fingernails and hair are made of a close cousin of it. Many birds have hollow bones too. Those bones keep them light so they can fly.
Lift is the force that holds an airplane up in the air. It is made by air moving past the wings. A hang glider is a light aircraft with cloth wings and no engine. The pilot starts it by running off a hill.
Now we can look at the first airplane flights. The Wright brothers' first airplane flight, in 1903, lasted only 12 seconds. The airplane flew 120 feet (37 meters) through the air. The brothers made four flights on that day in 1903. The longest went 852 feet in 59 seconds.
Bats are the only mammals that can fly. Bats have wings made of thin skin stretched between very long finger bones. A flying squirrel does not really fly. It glides from tree to tree. It has a loose flap of skin from its wrists to its ankles, called a patagium.
As of November 2026, the peregrine falcon is the fastest bird. When it dives, it is the fastest animal on Earth. The wandering albatross has the widest wings of any living bird, about 11 to 12 feet (3.4 to 3.6 meters) from tip to tip. Quetzalcoatlus was a giant pterosaur with wings as wide as a small airplane's.
Words to know
- keratin: tough protein
- lift: upward push
- patagium: skin flap
- glides: floats through air
- pterosaur: flying reptile
