How does an airplane fly without falling?

An airplane stays up in the sky because it pushes air down, and that push helps it go up.

Imagine you're on a slide at the playground. When you jump off, you push the slide backward as you go forward. Similarly, an airplane’s wings work like a giant slide, when they move through the air, they push air down, and in return, the air pushes the airplane up. This upward force is called lift.

The top of the wing is slightly curved, while the bottom is flatter. As the airplane moves forward, air flows over the top of the wing faster than it does under the wing. Because of this speed difference, the air pushes harder on the bottom of the wing than on the top, and poof, the airplane gets lifted into the sky!

It’s like when you blow across the top of a piece of paper, it lifts up! That's how airplanes fly without falling.