You may be wondering why there are so many different types of airplanes out there. What makes them different from each other? And What makes each of the following airplanes unique?

Cargo/Transport Airplanes 

Cargo/transport airplanes have a lot of room inside them to carry things that would ordinarily be too large or too heavy to carry on other types of airplanes. Sometimes these planes carry trucks, packages, construction equipment, or even other airplanes! Since cargo/transport airplanes are so big they usually have large, powerful engines to help get themselves off the ground. Because of their large cargo bays, a few of these planes are a little unusual-looking. It's no wonder that the "Guppy" and the "Beluga" are named that way - they look like huge fish! Sometimes private shipping companies and the postal service use modified passenger jets as cargo planes. In those cases, most or all of the passenger seats are removed and large containers full of cargo go in their place.

Experimental Concept Airplanes

When engineers are designing an airplane, they often build one or two full-size airplanes of the design to see if it flies the way it should. Because the engineers are still experimenting with the design, these types of airplanes are sometimes called experimental concept airplanes or prototypes. A specially trained and very experienced pilot flies these airplanes, and then reports to the engineers. The research pilot can tell them what he or she thought were the good and bad features of the airplanes and what needs to be improved. Many times, experimental concept airplanes are quite unique-looking because they are trying out a strange, new concept or technological advance. Most experimental planes, like the X-36 and X-29 have names starting with "X" as in eXperimental.

Fighter/Military Airplanes

There are many different kinds of military airplanes. Transport airplanes carry armies, equipment, and supplies hundreds of miles to where they are needed. Reconnaissance, or spy, airplanes fly secret missions to photograph enemy territory. Fighter airplanes were used for the first time in World War I. Today, most fighters have advanced computer, navigational, and weapons systems and are able to maneuver quickly and precisely in case they have to participate in aerial combat. Some fighters are able to fly at supersonic (faster than sound) speeds for short periods of time, and other fighters use stealth technology to make themselves nearly invisible to enemy radar. The first letter in the name of a military airplane tells us what kind of mission it flies. For example, the F-16 and F-15 shown here are types of fighters. Similarly, a B-2 is a bomber, a A-10 is an attack airplane, and a C-7 is a cargo/transport airplane.

Passenger Airplanes

The airplanes most people see most often are passenger airplanes. These are the type of airplanes that you are more likely to board at the airport or see or hear flying overhead. The earliest airliners in the 1950s were very noisy and could not travel very far without refueling. Today, people use passenger jetliners to travel all over the world for both business and pleasure. Most jetliners travel at about 600 miles per hour (965 kilometers per hour), and some can carry people and cargo for over 8,000 miles (12,874 kilometers) non-stop. Some airplane designers are working on passenger airplanes that carry more than 600 people or fly at supersonic speeds. Right now, the Concorde is the only supersonic passenger jet, traveling at twice the speed of sound (1,400 miles per hour or 2,250 kilometers per hour)!