how do pilotless planes operate?
395913
There are pilots on the ground.  They fly by remote control.  Read more about it below.\n\nVery, very few can fly without some human intervention.
233387
Everything you want to know....\n\nhttp://www.howstuffworks.com/airplane.htm
193979
Airplane wings use a combination of Bernoulli's principle (the faster air flows over a surface the lower its pressure) and "Reaction" or Newtonian lift, the force produced by the downward acceleration of an air mass by a plane surface that is tilted with respect to the velocity. (See 1st & 2nd references). The upper surface of the wing is curved and the lower surface is relatively straight. Thus air passing over the wing has farther to travel before it rejoins the air that went under the wing, and must move faster. The lower pressure over the wing creates a Bernoulli lift force. The wing also has a positive "angle of attack" (basically the tilt angle of the wing's lower surface) producing Newtonian lift. Ref. 1 estimates that airliners have more Newtonian than Bernoullian lift. The wing transfers the sum of these lift forces to the airplane. And of course the thrust needed to reach the speed necessary for the wings to provide adequate lift comes from a motor-driven propellor or a jet engine. \nBirds, having movable wings, fly in two basic modes, gliding and flapping. These modes also use a mix of Bernoulli's principle and Newtonian momentum exchange to achieve lift. When gliding, the curved wing surface operates similarly to that of an airplane. More momentum exchange occurs when the wings are flapped; each downstroke pushes air downward and backward which provides an upward and forward force to the wing and through the wing to the bird's body. Feathers play a vital and mechanically complex role in flight, especially in flapping. The 3rd reference discusses this in some detail. I can't put pictures in this answer but the 4th reference provides a diagram of gliding lift, and you can find much more by googling "aerodynamic lift birds".
880506
that would depend on what kind of pilot they were.  A bomber pilot has a different mission than a fighter pilot,  then there are the transport guys, the refuelers.  It all depends.
509502
A plane can fly until it runs out of gas or conditions cause it to no longer have lift to allow it to fly.\n\nModern planes, however, oftentimes have the ability to refuel during flight as well as avoid conditions that cause it to no longer have lift so its entirely possible for planes to fly indefinitely.
872091
Autorotation works just like a parachute.  Its standard part of helicopter pilot training.  My very first time up, the instructor took me up about 1000 feet above the airport and the said "Now lets disengage the engine."  We started a rapid but controlled decent and safely landed in a grassy area at the airport.  No damage to either us or the helicopter.
899952
If you throw a ball across the room, it will stop accelerating as it leaves your hand.\n\nThe whole ball (including anything inside it) will carry on travelling according to the force you applied, but its direction will be altered by gravity (which is still pulling it downwards).\n\nThe shape it's flight makes is called a 'parabola', and this same shape happens whenever gravity stops an object from travelling upwards (even a purely vertical thrust will lead to some sideways movement; this is called 'Coriolis effect'), and makes it travel downwards instead.\n\nBecause the outside of the object is always travelling in the same direction as the objects inside it, they don't press on each other (their relative 'G' is zero). Because 'weight' is actually just relative pressure, the objects will seem weightless.\n\nThe American and Soviet 'vomit comets' are large transport aeroplanes with strengthened wing roots and a padded interior.\n\nThe pilot will first initiate a steep dive, and pull up out of this as if he is going to 'loop the loop'. Pulling up from a dive like this will press the passengers against the floor, so they seem heavier than normal; typically 3-4 times their normal weight (3-4G).\n\nAs the plane comes up from the dive, this extra 'G' will decrease, until it reaches zero, and the passengers feel 'weightless'. \n\nAt that point, the aeroplane is travelling upwards under the momentum of its own weight, like a roller coaster. If the pilot kept the engines accelerating, they would drive the plane upwards and press against the passengers, but by cutting the engines, the plane is left to rise like a thrown ball. It travels in a parabolic curve, but the passengers don't (they tend to bounce around in zigzags, perform somersaults for the camera, lose their sense of direction and start puking)\n\nAbout 40 seconds of weightlessness can be simulated in this way, because that's how long it takes for the plane to stop rising, and return to its downward dive speed. If it was left to dive for too long, pulling out of the dive would rip the wings off.\n\n(if that happened, the passengers would experience weightlessness (or very nearly; air resistance would slow the plane, but not them) all the way to the ground, but they wouldn't be able to tell us about it afterwards)
533244
The different control surfaces on the wings and tail can control both the angle of the plane and the amount of lift that the wings provide, while varying the engine power can control speed. For example, before landing, a plane is going much slower than crusing speed, but the flaps on the wings are extended, creating a little more drag, but increasing the lift.
508347
It needs air to fly.  However, it can use very thin air.  One idea for using the space plane is to fly it out of the atmosphere, where its engine will cease to function.  The plane then glides as far as it can outside the atmosphere.  As it begins loosing altitude (because it is on a suborbital trajectory) it reenters the atmosphere and the SCRAM jet engine will work again.  It keeps skipping across the top of the atmosphere this way until it reaches its destination.\n\nThis trick saves a lot of fuel because aerodynamic drag is minimal while the plane is outside the atmosphere.
11953
Wings are not welded on to Jumbo Planes.  Wings are structurally integral with the rest of the aircraft frame.  There is a big 'skeleton" of structural metal under the skin of a jet.
543687
If they have a fairly long distance to travel there is a group of volunteer pilots who will help with this. Check online for  "Angel Flight" There are certain restrictions that apply and flights may be dependent on weather, pilot availability etc.
1163348
You might be taking the phrase a bit too literally, because if you want to literally do this, you might have to knock off all the controls and instruments in a modern aircraft!\n\nBefore airplanes had sophisticated instruments and flight control systems, and even today, planes are piloted by feel. Pilots can feel the reactions of the plane in response to their actions at the controls.\n\nBeing the largest point of contact between pilot and plane, most of the feel or feedback comes through the seat of the pants.\n\nIf you are "flying by the seat of your pants" your are responding to the feedback received.
532059
When planes fly west to east, they can often go into the jet stream, which can add 100 or more miles per hour to their speed.  When flying in the other direction, they must fight this wind.  At the very least, they can fly above or below it, which reduces its effect, but they still have a ground speed of less than planes flying the other direction that can use the jet stream's assist.\n\nIt's the difference between trying to row a boat upstream vs. downstream.
1159470
Yeah, Kiran,\nCheck out "www.faa.gov", the federal aviation administration.  They can tell you all you need to know.
238988
No, standard air planes would not be able to fly on the moon for just the reason you described, there is not enough atmosphere for them to gain any lift.\n\nAlso, most all airplanes I know of use internal combustion or jet engines to provide the means of propulsion through the air and thus generate lift.  These types of engines require Oxygen from the air in order to work.  So without an Oxygen containing atmosphere, airplanes wont work for two very good reasons.
857757
because they don't have any anti aircraft weapons or defense, and they allow flight patterns in the area.\n\nAcutally the wonder is why one has not done it before.
383223
YOu may want to check with the FAA\n\nhttp://www.faa.gov/\n\nGood luck.