What are blended-wing bodies?

A blended-wing body is like a airplane that’s also a big, smooth flying block, it doesn’t have separate wings and body like regular planes.

Imagine you’re playing with building blocks. Most airplanes look like they're made from two different blocks: one for the wings and one for the body. But a blended-wing body is more like squishing those two blocks together so smoothly that you can’t tell where the wings end and the body begins, it’s all one flowing shape.

If you’ve ever seen a pancake, you know how flat and round it can be. A blended-wing body is kind of like a flying pancake, wide and flat on top, with engines tucked in underneath. This shape helps the airplane use less fuel because it moves through the air more smoothly.

Birds don’t have separate wings and bodies, they’re all one flowing shape too! A blended-wing body airplane is kind of like a bird that can fly really far without getting tired, because it’s built to move efficiently through the sky.