Look at all these colorful kites. Hundreds of years ago, before we had balloons or airplanes, people flew kites. Chinese people made the first kites. They made kites from paper and bamboo. A kite needs wind and a very long piece of string to fly. Today you can see kites in the sky on windy days. People fly kites for fun, and because they look beautiful. Can you fly a kite? (p.4)
Do you know that hot air goes up? Cold air goes down, and hot air goes up. If you put hot air in a balloon, it goes up, too. Look at these balloons. Can you see people in the baskets under the balloons? They use fire to make the air hot. The hot air goes up into the balloon, and the balloon flies up into the sky. To come down, just turn the fire off. It's a fun way to fly. (p.6)
Wow! Look at this funny-looking balloon. Its shape looks a lit like a watermelon. This is not a hot-air balloon, it's an airship. The first airship flew in 1900. Airships had engines so they flew faster than hot-air balloons. Airships are full of gas. The gas is lighter than air so the airship can fly. Many years ago the biggest airships flew from Europe to America. (p.8)
People wanted to fly fast, so they built the airplane. The first airplanes looked like this. They had long wings, a big engine, and a propeller. They only carried one person. The Wright brothers flew the first airplane in 1903. They didn't fly very far, but today we can fly all around the world in airplanes. (p.10)
Today we use aircraft for many different things. We use them for travel, we use them for work, and we use them for fun. This airplane is landing on the water. It's called a seaplane. It can take people where cars cannot go. People use these seaplanes in places where they are many big lakes and not many roads. It's an exciting way to fly. (p.12)
This is hardworking airplane. It can carry four hundred people halfway around the world without stopping. It's called a jumbo jet because it is so big. It needs a lot of space to take off and land. A jumbo jet has four big engines on its wings. The engines are very strong and noisy, and the wings are very long. Have you been on a jumbo jet? (p.14)
This is not an airplane. This aircraft is called a helicopter. Helicopters are amazing. They can take off and land in a very small space. They can go straight up and come straight down. They can also hover. We use helicopters for many jobs: they can transport sick people, fight fires, and help lift heavy things. This helicopter is lifting a man out of the water. The helicopter is saving him. He's a very lucky man. (p.16)
To really fly like a bird you need to use a hang glider. Hang gliding is a sport. You fly a hang glider for fun. It's light like a kite, and it has wings like a bird. It doesn't need an engine. It uses the wind to help it glide through the air. To get started, people jump off a mountain or hillside, and they glide on the wind for a long time, like birds. Would you like to try to fly like this one day? (p.18)
This type of flying is very exciting. These skydivers go up in an airplane. They all jump out together with parachutes in their backpacks. They dive out of the airplane into the sky, so it's called skydiving. As they fall through the air, they make shapes with their bodies in the sky. Then they open their parachutes and glide down gently to the ground. It's a dangerous sport, but it's also very exciting. (p.20)
Let's look to the future. How do you think we will fly one hundred years from now? One day, perhaps, people will fly to Mars and back in a spacecraft just like this. Maybe we will even be able to fly to the moon for a vacation. That will be so cool! How do you like to fly? By hot-air balloon, helicopter, hang glider, or jumbo jet? Which do you choose? (p.22)
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