Airplanes

How do planes know where to go? Pilots fly a route of named waypoints while onboard computers fix the position from GPS, ground beacons and inertia.

Air Force One pilots are hand-picked officers of the Presidential Airlift Group. Who flies the president, how they are chosen, and what the job pays.

The newest commercial airplanes in 2026, ranked by entry into service: the Airbus A321XLR, Comac C919, Boeing 777X and every new airliner still to come.

The most expensive aircraft in the world in 2026, from the $3.3 billion Air Force One to the B-2 Spirit, ranked by real cost per airframe.

The 10 largest commercial airplanes flying today, ranked by size. The Airbus A380 leads, but the longest passenger jet is a Boeing. See the full list.

The biggest aircraft in the world in 2026, from the Antonov An-225 and Stratolaunch to the A380, ranked by length, wingspan, and weight.

The fastest aircraft in the world in 2026, from the X-43A and X-15 to the SR-71 Blackbird, ranked by top speed and the record each class holds.

Planes don’t fly straight over the Pacific because the shortest route curves north over the Aleutians. Here is the geometry, the winds, and ETOPS behind it.

The doomsday plane, or E-4B Nightwatch, is America’s flying nuclear command post, built to keep the government running through the end of the world.

Transatlantic flights take a different route each way because of the jet stream. Here is why the trip home runs longer and how the ocean tracks shift daily.