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Rihanna Hot Desktop Wallpapers

2009-08-23T20:20:00.000-07:00

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Robyn Rihanna Fenty (born 20 February 1988), who provide services under the mononym is Rihanna (, a Barbadian singer and model. At Saint Michael, Barbados, Rihanna was born in the United States moved in the age of 16 to pursue a recording career under the direction of the music producer Evan Rogers. then a contract with Def Jam Recordings to audition for former label boss Jay-Z .

In 2005, Rihanna released her first album out Music of the Sun, which reached the Top Ten on the Billboard 200 and features the Billboard Hot 100 hit single "Pon de Replay." Less than a year later they released their second studio album A Girl Like Me (2006), in the top five on the Billboard album charts shot, and produced her first U.S. number one hit single "SOS" and Billboard Hot 100 Top Ten entries "Unfaithful" and "Break It Off". Rihanna's third studio album "Good Girl Gone Bad (2007), a peak of number two on the Billboard 200, featured five top-ten hit, including three U.S. number one hit singles" Umbrella, "" Take a Bow "and" Disturbia "and the worldwide hit" Do not Stop the Music. "The album was nominated for nine Grammy Awards, winning Best Rap / Sung Collaboration for" Umbrella "which features Jay-Z.
Rihanna has more than 12 million albums worldwide in its four-year oldsgen sold Career span and has several awards, including 2007, the World Music Awards for received World's Best-Selling Pop Female Artist and Female Entertainer of the Year, has, like the American Music Awards 2008 for Favorite Soul / R & B Artist and Favorite Pop / Rock Female Artist. Achieved Rihanna five Hot 100 Singles number one, was the first of only two artists met with most of those in the 2000s. It also serves as a culture of volunteer Barbados' Ambassador.

Nikki Sanderson Wallpapers

2009-08-03T15:52:00.001-07:00

Sanderson joined Coronation Street in 1999 and left in Autumn 2005, when her character left Weatherfield to become a stylist for Status Quo.[2] Prior to this, she had appeared in children's drama Children's Ward and in 2004, the hit fitness DVD Coronation Street - Funk fit.

Since leaving Coronation Street she has appeared in episodes of the BBC television series' Holby City and New Street Law alongside fellow Coronation Street alumni Chris Gascoyne and Chris Bisson. British newspaper The Daily Express stated that she was in the running[citation needed] to replace Billie Piper as the Doctor's companion in Doctor Who, however Freema Agyeman was chosen for the role. In 2006, Sanderson appeared in a touring production of The Vagina Monologues with Jerry Hall amongst others and an episode of Kay Mellor's Strictly Confidential.

A vocalist, Sanderson loves to show this side of herself off. She jumps at the chance to sing at every opportunity; she is a self-confessed karaoke enthusiast. She has made several television appearances singing, most notably on ITV's Madonna Mania, Discomania, Abba Mania 2 and Celebrity Stars in Their Eyes, where her impression of LeAnn Rimes, singing the smash hit theme from the film Coyote Ugly, 'Can't Fight The Moonlight' earned her the winner's spot. She has also appeared on The X Factor: Battle Of The Stars in the solo 16-24 category, mentored by Sharon Osbourne where she was eliminated fifth. At the time, though, Sanderson was suffering from tonsillitis and was straining her voice to sing.

She has appeared in several British men's magazines in lingerie and other provocative outfits. She has appeared on the cover of Loaded magazine and in August 2005, the cover of Maxim magazine and in June 2006 the cover of FHM as the headlining feature of the issue, combining a photo shoot and exclusive interview with one of the magazine's journalists.

For 2006 and 2007, she was signed up by hip sports fashion footwear brand KangaROOS to head up their high-profile new print advertising campaign. She will shortly be seen in the new independent film Clubbed and in episodes of Cold Blood for ITV and The Afternoon play for BBC One.

In June 2007, it was reported that Sanderson would make a brief return to Coronation Street in Autumn 2007, when her character, Candice Stowe, turns up during the build up to another characters wedding[3]. However these reports were later dismissed by Sanderson during an appearance on ITV's Loose Women due to "scheduling problems".

She appeared in the "Tuareg Productions" play Living under one roof at the Theatre Royal, Nottingham from 26 - 30 June 2007.[4][dead link]

She appeared in the second series of All Star Family Fortunes which aired on 25 December 2007.[5]

In 2008 she joined the cast of the ITV1 series, Heartbeat, set in the 1960s, to play the part of Dawn Bellamy.[2] She played the part of Audrey in the new straight-to-DVD film Boogeyman 3 due for release in 2009.[6] And she plays the character Gee Gee, a dance teacher, in the 2008 film Clubbed, an underworld drama set in the early 1980s.[7]

World Vision

In 2007, Sanderson was chosen as the annual 24 hour Famine Celebrity Ambassador, for World Vision UK, a Christian relief and development organization. As part of her role she visited the Keembie community in Zambia who will benefit from the fund raising effort[8][dead link].

Personal life

Nikki dated her former Coronation Street co-star Danny Richardson-Young from 2005 to February 2009.

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Jessica Alba Wallpapers

2009-07-14T08:11:00.000-07:00

Jessica Marie Alba (born April 28, 1981)[1] is an American television and film actress. She began her television and movie appearances at age 13 in Camp Nowhere and The Secret World of Alex Mack (1994). Alba rose to prominence as the lead actress in the television series Dark Angel (2000–2002).[2][3] Alba later appeared in various films including Honey (2003), Sin City (2005), Fantastic Four (2005), Into the Blue (2005), Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer and Good Luck Chuck both in 2007.[4][5]

Alba is considered a sex symbol and often generates media attention for her looks. She appears frequently on the "Hot 100" section of Maxim and was voted AskMen.com's number one on their list of "99 Most Desirable Women" in 2006, as well as "Sexiest Woman in the World" by FHM in 2007.[6][7][8] The use of her image on the cover of the March 2006 Playboy sparked a lawsuit by her, which was later dropped.[9] She has also won various awards for her acting, including the Choice Actress Teen Choice Award and Saturn Award for Best Actress (TV), and a Golden Globe nomination for her her lead role in the television series Dark Angel.[10] Her acting has also been criticized, as she has been nominated for and won numerous Razzie Awards throughout her career. Alba's offscreen, personal life has been a frequent subject of media, celebrity, and tabloid journalism.

Alba dated her Dark Angel co-star Michael Weatherly from 2000 to 2003. In 2004, Alba began dating Cash Warren. They were married on May 19, 2008, and on June 7, 2008, Alba gave birth to the couple's first child, Honor Marie Warren.

Liv Tyler Wallpapers

2009-07-14T08:09:00.000-07:00

Liv Rundgren Tyler[1] (born July 1, 1977) is an American actress and model. She is the daughter of Aerosmith's lead singer, Steven Tyler and Bebe Buell, model and singer. Tyler began a career in modeling at the age of 14, but after less than a year she decided to focus on acting. She made her film debut in the 1994 film Silent Fall. She then appeared in supporting roles in Empire Records (1995), Heavy (1996), and That Thing You Do! (1996). Tyler later achieved critical recognition in the leading role Stealing Beauty (1996). She followed this by starring in supporting roles including Inventing the Abbotts (1997) and Cookie's Fortune (1999).

Tyler achieved international recognition as a result of her portrayal of elf princess Arwen Undómiel in the The Lord of the Rings films. She has appeared in an eclectic range of films, including the 2004 comedy Jersey Girl, the indie film Lonesome Jim (2005), the drama Reign Over Me (2007) and big-budget studio films such as Armageddon (1998), The Strangers (2008) and The Incredible Hulk (2008).

Since 2003, Tyler has served as a United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) Goodwill Ambassador for the United States, and as a spokesperson for Givenchy's line of perfume and cosmetics. Tyler married musician Royston Langdon of the band Spacehog in 2003; they have one son, Milo, born December 14, 2004. The couple announced their separation in May 2008.
Early life

Tyler was born Liv Rundgren[1] at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City, New York.[2] She is the first-born daughter of Bebe Buell, a model, singer, and former Playboy Playmate (Miss November 1974), and Steven Tyler, the lead singer of Aerosmith.[3] Her mother named her after Norwegian actress Liv Ullmann after seeing Ullmann on the cover of the March 5, 1977, issue of TV Guide.[2][4] She has three half-siblings: Mia Tyler (born 1978),[5] Chelsea Anna Tallarico (born 1989), and Taj Monroe Tallarico (born 1992).[6] Her maternal grandmother, Dorothea Johnson, founded the Protocol School of Washington.[7]

At birth, Buell claimed that rock star Todd Rundgren was Tyler's biological father.[1] Tyler discovered her true parentage at age nine.[1][4] She discovered that she was Steven Tyler's daughter after meeting him and noticing a resemblance she shared with his other daughter, Mia.[1][8] When she asked her mother about the similarity, the secret was revealed.[1][8] The truth about Tyler's paternity did not become public until five years later, in 1991, when she changed her name from Rundgren to Tyler, but kept the former as a middle name.[1][3] Buell's alleged reason for the initial decision was that Steven was too heavily addicted to drugs at the time of her birth.[3] Since learning the truth about her paternity, Tyler and Steven have developed a close relationship.[1] They have also worked together professionally, once when she appeared in Aerosmith's music video for "Crazy" in 1993 and again when Aerosmith wrote and performed many of the songs in the film Armageddon (1998), in which Tyler starred.[1]

Tyler attended the Congressional School of Virginia, Breakwater School and Waynflete School in Portland, Maine,[9][10][11] before returning to New York City with her mother at the age of 12.[1][4] She went to York Preparatory in New York City for junior high and high school, after her mother researched the school to accommodate Tyler's attention-deficit disorder.[12] She graduated in 1995 and left to continue her acting career.[1][4] When asked about the way she spent her early life, Tyler said: "For me, I didn’t get much of a childhood in my teen years because I’ve been working since I was 14. But that also kept me out of trouble. When everybody was doing acid and partying like crazy, I was at work on a movie in Tuscany ... having my own fun, of course, but it was a different kind of thing. I have no regrets. I love the way my life has gone."[13]

[edit] Career

[edit] Early work

At the age of 14, Tyler received her first modeling job with assistance of Paulina Porizkova who took photos of her that ended up in Interview magazine.[1][4] She later starred in television commercials.[1][4] However, she became bored with her modeling career less than a year after it started, and decided to go into acting.[4] She never took acting lessons.[14] Tyler first became known to television audiences when she starred alongside Alicia Silverstone in the music video for Aerosmith's 1993 song "Crazy".[1]

Tyler made her feature film debut in Silent Fall in 1994, where she played the older sister of an autistic boy.[15] In 1995, she starred in the comedy drama Empire Records.[16] Tyler has described Empire Records as "one of the best experiences" she has ever had.[17] Soon after, she landed a supporting role in James Mangold's 1996 drama Heavy as Callie, a naive young waitress. The film received favorable reviews;[18] critic Janet Maslin noted: "Ms. Tyler ... gives a charmingly ingenuous performance, betraying no self-consciousness about her lush good looks."[19]

[edit] Critical success

The breakthrough role in Tyler's career came in Stealing Beauty (1996), in which she played Lucy Harmon, an innocent, romantic teenager who travels to Italy intent on losing her virginity. The film received generally mixed reviews,[20] but every film critic complimented Tyler's performance; Variety wrote: "Tyler is the perfect accomplice. At times sweetly awkward, at others composed and serene, the actress appears to respond effortlessly and intuitively to the camera, creating a rich sense of what Lucy is about that often is not explicit in the dialogue."[21] Empire noted, "Liv Tyler (here radiantly resembling a ganglier young Ava Gardner) with a rare opportunity to enamour, a break she capitalises on with composure."[22] The film was directed by Bernardo Bertolucci. Bertolucci chose Tyler for the role after meeting with a number of young girls in Los Angeles, including Tyler's music video co-star Alicia Silverstone. But Bertolucci claimed "there was something missing in all of them".[23] He later admitted that what he saw in Tyler was a gravitas he described as "a New York aura".[23] During promotion of the film, Tyler admitted she wanted to separate herself from the character during production; "I tried my damnedest not to think of my own situation. But at one point, after a take, I just started to cry and cry. I remembered when I found out about my dad and how we just stared at each other from head to toe taking in every nook and cranny."[23]
Tyler at the premiere of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King in 2003

She later appeared in That Thing You Do! (1996), a movie about the story of a fictional one-hit wonder rock band called The Wonders, following their whirlwind rise to the top of the pop charts, and just as quickly, their plunge back to obscurity.[24] The film was written and directed by Tom Hanks.[25] It grossed over $25 million worldwide,[26] and was met with favorable reviews.[27] The following year, she appeared in Inventing the Abbotts in 1997, in which she played Pamela the daughter of Will Patton and Barbara Williams' characters.[28] The movie is based on a short story by Sue Miller.[29] Entertainment Weekly declared Tyler's performance as "lovely and pliant".[30] That same year, Tyler was chosen by People magazine as one of the 50 Most Beautiful People.[31]

Tyler next appeared in Armageddon (1998), where she played the daughter of Bruce Willis' character and love interest of Ben Affleck's character. The film generated mostly critical reviews,[32] but was a box office success earning $553 million worldwide.[26] The movie included the songs "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" and "What Kind of Love Are You On" by Aerosmith.[33] In a 2001 interview with The Guardian, she admitted that she turned down the role in Armageddon; "I really didn't want to do it at first and I turned it down a couple of times, but the biggest reason I changed my mind was because I was scared of it. I wanted to try it for that very reason. I mean, I'm not really in this to do amazing things in my career - I just want it to be special when I make a movie."[10]

She was then cast in the drama Onegin (1999), a film based on the 19th century Russian novel by Alexander Pushkin, in which she portrayed Tatyana Larina and co-starred with Ralph Fiennes.[34] Tyler was required to master an English accent, though Stephen Holden of the New York Times felt that her approximation of an English accent was "inert".[35] The film was critically and financially unsuccessful.[26][36] That same year, she appeared in the historical comedy film Plunkett & Macleane.[37][38]

She later appeared in two films directed by Robert Altman, Cookie's Fortune (1999) and Dr. T & the Women (2000).[1][34] In Cookie's Fortune, she was part of an ensemble cast that included Glenn Close, Julianne Moore, Chris O'Donnell, and Patricia Neal.[39] Her performance well received amongst critics; Salon.com wrote: "This is the first time in which Tyler's acting is a match for her beauty (she's always been a bit forlorn). Altman helps her find some snap, but a relaxed, silly snap, as in the cartoon sound she makes when she takes a midday swig of bourbon. The lazy geniality of the movie is summed up by the way Emma [Tyler's character] saunters off to take a swim with her cowboy hat and pint of Wild Turkey."[40] Entertainment Weekly also noted that Tyler is "sweetly gruff as the tomboy troublemaker".[41] In the romantic comedy, Dr. T & the Women, she played Marilyn, a gynecologist patient of Richard Gere's character, who is the lesbian lover of his daughter, played by Kate Hudson.[42]

In 2001, Tyler played the object of infatuation for three men (Matt Dillon, John Goodman and Paul Reiser) in the black comedy One Night at McCool's.[43] In discussion of the role, she said: "This was definitely the first part where I had to be so physically aware and have people so aware of me physically. Maybe it's not hard for anybody else, but it is a bit for me. I mean I love my body and I feel very comfortable in my skin, but this was tough."[44] Peter Travers of Rolling Stone wrote: "Tyler, a true beauty, gives the role a valiant try, but her range is too limited to play this amalgam of female perfection."[45]

[edit] Worldwide recognition

2001 marked a significant turning point in Tyler's career, when she starred in the feature film The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, directed by Peter Jackson. She depicted Arwen Undómiel the elf princess.[44][46] The film is based on the similarly titled first volume of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. The filmmakers approached Tyler after seeing her performance in Plunkett & Macleane.[47] She learned to speak the fictitious Elvish language that was created by Tolkien.[48] The film broke records for opening-day sales and opening weekend takings and was the second highest-grossing film of 2001.[49][50] Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle noted that Tyler's performance was "lovely and earnest".[51]
Tyler and co-star Sean Astin at the premiere of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King in 2003

A year later, Tyler again starred as Arwen in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, the second installment of the series. The film, like the first, received favorable reviews.[52] Tyler spent months before filming learning swordfighting, to be used during the concluding battle scenes in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers,[53] though her scenes from the battle were removed after the script was changed.[53] The film was an enormous box office success, earning over $926 million worldwide,[54] out grossing its predecessor, which earned over $871 million.[26] In 2003, the third and last installment of the series, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, was released.[55]

Following the success of The Lord of the Rings, she appeared opposite her Armageddon co-star Ben Affleck in writer-director Kevin Smith's romantic comedy Jersey Girl (2004), playing a woman who re-opens a widowed father's heart to love, played by Affleck.[56] In an interview with MTV News, Tyler confessed that she felt "scared and vulnerable" while filming Jersey Girl, adding "I was so used to those other elements of the character [Arwen]. On The Lord of the Rings, a lot of things were done in post-production, whereas this was really just about me and Ben sitting there, just shooting off dialogue."[57] However, she reiterated that doing Jersey Girl was what she wanted to do.[57]

In 2005 she appeared in Steve Buscemi's independent drama Lonesome Jim, where she was cast alongside Casey Affleck, as a single mother and nurse who reconnects with an old fling who has returned to their small town of Indiana after a failed run as a novelist in New York.[57] The film was screened at a special presentation at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival where it was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize.[58] Tyler's next appearance in film was in a supporting role as an insightful therapist who tries to help a once-successful dentist (Adam Sandler) cope with the loss of his family during the events of the September 11th attacks in Reign Over Me (2007).[59][60]

In 2008 she starred in the horror-thriller The Strangers with Scott Speedman, a film about a young couple who are terrorized one night by three masked assailants in their remote country house.[61][62] Although the film garnered a mixed reception among critics,[63] it was a box office success.[26] In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, she noted that The Strangers was the most challenging role of her career. "It was as far as I could push myself in every way: physically, emotionally, mentally."[17]

She appeared in The Incredible Hulk (2008), in which she played Dr. Betty Ross, the love interest of the title-character, played by Edward Norton.[64] Tyler was attracted to the love story in the script, and was a fan of the television show.[65] She said filming the part was "very physical, which was fun",[66] and compared her performance to "a deer caught in the headlights".[67] The Incredible Hulk was a box office success, earning over $262 million worldwide.[26] The Washington Post, in review of the film, wrote: "Tyler gives Betty an appropriately angelic nimbus of ethereal gentleness as the one Beauty who can tame the Beast ... during their most pivotal encounters."[68]

[edit] Personal life

Tyler dated actor Joaquin Phoenix from 1995 to November 1998;[69] the couple met on the set of Inventing the Abbotts.[1] In 1998, she began dating British musician Royston Langdon of the band Spacehog.[1] Tyler and Langdon became engaged in February 2001,[70] and got married in Barbados on March 25, 2003.[71] On December 14, 2004, she gave birth to a son, Milo William Langdon.[72] On May 8, 2008, the couple confirmed through representatives that they would be separating but remain friends.[73] In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, Tyler revealed that her separation from Langdon led her to move to Los Angeles, explaining that it was hard to be in the New York home they shared.[74]

Tyler is an active supporter of the charitable United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). She was appointed as a Goodwill Ambassador for the United States in 2003.[75][76] In November 2004, she hosted the lighting of the UNICEF Snowflake in New York City.[76] Tyler also served as spokesperson for the 2004 Givenchy Mother's Day promotion, in support of UNICEF's Maternal & Neonatal Tetanus (MNT) campaign.

Since 2004, she has donated to the Women's Cancer Research Fund to support innovative research, education, and outreach directed at the development of more effective approaches to the early diagnosis, treatment and prevention of all women's cancers.In October 2007, Tyler, along with her mother, Bebe Buell and her grandmother, Dorothea Johnson, helped launch the Emergen-C Pink energy drink, in which the event was in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness month.

She is good friends with designer Stella McCartney, model Helena Christensen and actresses Kate Hudson and Gwyneth Paltrow. Tyler has also stated that she is a vegan.In 2003, she became the spokesperson for Givenchy perfume and cosmetics; in 2005 the brand named a rose after her, which was used in one of its fragrances. In 2009, Tyler signed on for two more years as Givenchy spokesperson.

Alexander Rybak Wallpapers

2009-07-14T08:06:00.000-07:00

Birth name	Aliaksandr Iharavich Rybak
Born	13 May 1986 (1986-05-13) (age 23)
Origin	Nesodden, Akershus, Norway
Genre(s)	Pop, Folk, Classical
Occupation(s)	Singer, Actor, Composer, Pianist
Instrument(s)	Vocals, Violin, Piano
Years active	1991–present
Associated acts	Eurovision Song Contest 2009, Frikar

Alexander Igorovich Rybak (Aliaksandr Iharavich Rybak, Belarusian: Аляксандр Ігаравіч Рыбак, born 13 May 1986 in Minsk, Soviet Union) is a Norwegian^[1] singer, composer, violinist, pianist, writer, and actor. Representing Norway in the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest in Moscow, Russia, Rybak won the contest with 387 points — the highest tally any country has achieved in the history of Eurovision — with "Fairytale", a song he wrote and composed.
Biography

Early life

Rybak was born in Minsk, which at the time was in the Belarusian SSR in the Soviet Union. When he was 4 years old, he and his family moved to Norway.[2] At the age of five, Rybak began to play the piano. [2] His parents are Natallia Valiantsinauna Rybak, a classical pianist, and Igor Aliaksandravich Rybak, a well-known classical violinist who performs alongside Pinchas Zukerman.[3] Alexander Rybak stated "I always liked to entertain and somehow that is my vocation".[4] He currently lives in Nesodden in Norway.

Professional life
Alexander at the ESC 2009

Rybak has been a student at the Barratt Due Institute of Music in Oslo since the age of 10. Due to his success in the Eurovision Song Contest, he is currently taking a break from his Bachelor's degree studies at the Institute.[5][6] In 2004, Rybak was awarded the Anders Jahre Culture Prize.[7] In 2005, he entered the Norwegian version of Idol, reaching the semifinal. In 2006 Rybak won Kjempesjansen (The Giant Chance), a talent competition hosted by the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK), with his own song "Foolin'".[4] Alexander Rybak has collaborated with artists such as a-ha's lead singer Morten Harket and Arve Tellefsen. As of 2007, Rybak has played the fiddler in Oslo Nye Teater's production of Fiddler on the Roof and won the Hedda Award for this role.[4] He also stars as Levi in the film Yohan directed by Grete Salomonsen.[8]

Eurovision 2009
Rybak after the Eurovision 2009 final in a press conference in Moscow, Russia.
Main article: Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009

Rybak won the 54th Eurovision Song Contest in Moscow, Russia, with a record 387 points, singing "Fairytale",[9] a song inspired by Norwegian folk music. The song was composed and written by Rybak himself[10] and was performed together with the modern folk dance company Frikar. The song received good reviews with a score of 6 out of 6 in the Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet[4] and in an ESCtoday poll he scored 71.3%, making him the favourite to get into the final.[11]

In the Norwegian national heats Rybak achieved a clean sweep, gaining the top score from all nine voting districts and ending with a combined televote and jury score of 747,888, while the runner up Tone Damli Aaberge received a combined score of 121,856.[12]

The song competed in the second semi-final and won a place in the Eurovision final.

Rybak later went on to win the Eurovision final with a landslide victory, receiving votes from all the participating countries (except Norway, which was not allowed to vote for itself). He finished with a grand total of 387 points, breaking the previous record of 292 points scored by Lordi in 2006 and scoring 169 points more than runner up Iceland.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Rybak

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2009-05-26T13:24:00.000-07:00

An aircraft is a vehicle which is able to fly by being supported by the air, or in general, the atmosphere of a planet. An aircraft counters the force of gravity by using either static lift (as with balloons, blimps and dirigibles) or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil (as with vehicles that plane the air with wings in a straight manner, such as airplanes and gliders, or vehicles that generate lift with wings in a rotary manner, such as helicopters or gyrocopters).[1]

Although rockets and missiles also travel through the atmosphere, they are not considered aircraft because they use rocket thrust instead of aerodynamic loading as the primary means of lift. A cruise missile relies on a lifting wing throughout the majority of its flight regime.

The human activity which surrounds aircraft is called aviation. Manned aircraft are flown by an onboard pilot. Unmanned aerial vehicles may be [[remotely controlled or self-controlled by onboard computers. Target drones are an example of UAVs.
Lighter than air - aerostats
A hot air balloon (aircraft) in flight.

Aerostats use buoyancy to float in the air in much the same way that ships float on the water. They are characterized by one or more large gasbags or canopies, filled with a relatively low density gas such as helium, hydrogen or hot air, which is less dense than the surrounding air. When the weight of this is added to the weight of the aircraft structure, it adds up to the same weight as the air that the craft displaces.

Small hot air balloons called sky lanterns date back to the 3rd century BC, and were only the second type of aircraft to fly, the first being kites.

Originally, a balloon was any aerostat, while the term airship was used for large, powered aircraft designs - usually fixed-wing[citation needed] - though none had yet been built. The advent of powered balloons, called dirigible balloons, and later of rigid hulls allowing a great increase in size, began to change the way these words were used. Huge powered aerostats, characterized by a rigid outer framework and separate aerodynamic skin surrounding the gas bags, were produced, the Zeppelins being the largest and most famous. There were still no aeroplanes or non-rigid balloons large enough to be called airships, so "airship" came to be synonymous with these aircraft. Then several accidents, such as the Hindenburg disaster in 1937, led to the demise of these airships. Nowadays a "balloon" is an unpowered aerostat, whilst an "airship" is a powered one.

A powered, steerable aerostat is called a dirigible. Sometimes this term is applied only to non-rigid balloons, and sometimes dirigible balloon is regarded as the definition of an airship (which may then be rigid or non-rigid). Non-rigid dirigibles are characterized by a moderately aerodynamic gasbag with stabilizing fins at the back. These soon became known as blimps. During the Second World War, this shape was widely adopted for tethered balloons; in windy weather, this both reduces the strain on the tether and stabilizes the balloon. The nickname blimp was adopted along with the shape. In modern times any small dirigible or airship is called a blimp, though a blimp may be unpowered as well as powered.

Heavier than air - aerodynes

Heavier-than-air aircraft must find some way to push air or gas downwards, so that a reaction occurs (by Newton's laws of motion) to push the aircraft upwards. This dynamic movement through the air is the origin of the term aerodyne. There are two ways to produce dynamic upthrust: aerodynamic lift, and powered lift in the form of engine thrust.

Aerodynamic lift is the most common, with aeroplanes being kept in the air by the forward movement of wings, and rotorcraft by spinning wing-shaped rotors sometimes called rotary wings. A wing is a flat, horizontal surface, usually shaped in cross-section as an aerofoil. To fly, the wing must move forward through the air; this movement of air over the aerofoil shape deflects air downward to create an equal and opposite upward force, called lift, according to Newton's third law of motion. A flexible wing is a wing made of fabric or thin sheet material, often stretched over a rigid frame. A kite is tethered to the ground and relies on the speed of the wind over its wings, which may be flexible or rigid, fixed or rotary.

With powered lift, the aircraft directs its engine thrust vertically downwards.

The initialism VTOL (vertical take off and landing) is applied to aircraft that can take off and land vertically. Most are rotorcraft. Others, such as the Hawker Siddeley Harrier, take off and land vertically using powered lift and transfer to aerodynamic lift in steady flight. Similarly, STOL stands for short take off and landing. Some VTOL aircraft often operate in a short take off/vertical landing mode known as STOVL.

A pure rocket is not usually regarded as an aerodyne, because it does not depend on the air for its lift (and can even fly into space); however, many aerodynamic lift vehicles have been powered or assisted by rocket motors. Rocket-powered missiles which obtain aerodynamic lift at very high speed due to airflow over their bodies, are a marginal case.

Fixed-wing aircraft
NASA test aircraft
A size comparison of some of the largest aeroplanes. The Airbus A380-800 (largest airliner), the Boeing 747-8, the Antonov An-225 (aircraft with the greatest payload) and the Hughes H-4 "Spruce Goose" (aircraft with greatest wingspan).

Aeroplanes or airplanes are technically called fixed-wing aircraft.

The forerunner of the aeroplane is the kite. Whereas an aeroplane relies on its forward speed to create airflow over the wings, a kite is tethered to the ground and relies on the wind blowing over its wings to provide lift. Kites were the first kind of aircraft to fly, and were invented in China around 500 BC. Much aerodynamic research was done with kites before test aircraft, wind tunnels and computer modelling programs became available.

The first heavier-than-air craft capable of controlled free flight were unpowered aeroplanes. A glider designed by Cayley carried out the first true manned, controlled flight in 1853.

Besides the method of propulsion, aeroplanes are generally characterized by their wing configuration. The most important wing characteristics are:

* Number of wings - Monoplane, biplane, etc.
* Wing support - Braced or cantilever, rigid or flexible.
* Wing planform - including aspect ratio, angle of sweep and any variations along the span (including the important class of delta wings).
* Location of the horizontal stabiliser, if any.
* Dihedral angle - positive, zero or negative (anhedral).

A variable geometry aircraft can change its wing configuration during flight.

A flying wing has no fuselage, though it may have small blisters or pods. The opposite of this is a lifting body which has no wings, though it may have small stabilising and control surfaces.

Seaplanes are aircraft that land on water, and they fit into two broad classes: Flying boats are supported on the water by their fuselage. A float plane's fuselage remains clear of the water at all times, the aircraft being supported by two or more floats attached to the fuselage and/or wings. Some examples of both flying boats and float planes are amphibious aircraft.

Some people consider wing-in-ground-effect vehicles to be aeroplanes, others do not. These craft "fly" close to the surface of the ground or water. An example is the Russian ekranoplan (nicknamed the "Caspian Sea Monster"). Man-powered aircraft also rely on ground effect to remain airborne, but this is only because they are so underpowered—the airframe is theoretically capable of flying much higher. (Hovercraft are not considered to be aircraft, since they rely wholly on the pressure of air on the ground beneath, and have no other lift mechanism).

Rotorcraft
Main article: Rotorcraft
Mil Mi-26, the world's largest production helicopter.[2]

Rotorcraft, or rotary-wing aircraft, use a spinning rotor with aerofoil section blades (a rotary wing) to provide lift. Types include helicopters, autogyros and various hybrids such as gyrodynes and compound rotorcraft.

Helicopters have powered rotors. The rotor is driven (directly or indirectly) by an engine and pushes air downwards to create lift. By tilting the rotor forwards, the downwards flow is tilted backwards, producing thrust for forward flight.

Autogyros or gyroplanes have unpowered rotors, with a separate power plant to provide thrust. The rotor is tilted backwards. As the autogyro moves forward, air blows upwards through it, making it spin.(cf. Autorotation)
US-Recognition Manual (very likely copy of German drawing)

This spinning dramatically increases the speed of airflow over the rotor, to provide lift. Juan de la Cierva (a Spanish civil engineer) used the product name autogiro, and Bensen used gyrocopter. Rotor kites, such as the Focke Achgelis Fa 330 are unpowered autogyros, which must be towed by a tether to give them forward ground speed or else be tether-anchored to a static anchor in a high-wind situation for kited flight.

Gyrodynes are a form of helicopter, where forward thrust is obtained from a separate propulsion device rather than from tilting the rotor. The definition of a 'gyrodyne' has changed over the years, sometimes including equivalent autogyro designs. The most important characteristic is that in forward flight air does not flow significantly either up or down through the rotor disc but primarily across it. The Heliplane is a similar idea.

Compound rotorcraft have wings which provide some or all of the lift in forward flight. Compound helicopters and compound autogyros have been built, and some forms of gyroplane may be referred to as compound gyroplanes. Tiltrotor aircraft (such as the V-22 Osprey) have their rotors horizontal for vertical flight, and pivot the rotors vertically like a propeller for forward flight. The Coleopter had a cylindrical wing forming a duct around the rotor. On the ground it sat on its tail, and took off and landed vertically like a helicopter. The whole aircraft would then have tilted forward to fly as a propeller-driven aeroplane using the duct as a wing (though this transition was never achieved in practice.)

Some rotorcraft have reaction-powered rotors with gas jets at the tips, but most have one or more lift rotors powered from engine-driven shafts.

Other methods of lift
X24B lifting body, specialized glider

* A lifting body is the opposite of a flying wing. In this configuration the aircraft body is shaped to produce lift. If there are any wings, they are too small to provide significant lift and are used only for stability and control. Lifting bodies are not efficient: they suffer from high drag, and must also travel at high speed to generate enough lift to fly. Many of the research prototypes, such as the Martin-Marietta X-24, which led up to the Space Shuttle were lifting bodies (though the shuttle itself is not), and some supersonic missiles obtain lift from the airflow over a tubular body.
* Powered lifts rely entirely on engine thrust to hold them up in the air. There are few practical applications. Experimental designs have been built for personal fan-lift hover platforms and jetpacks or for VTOL research (for example the flying bedstead). VTOL jet aircraft such as the Harrier jump-jet take off and land vertically in powered-lift configuration, then transition to conventional configuration for forward flight.
* The FanWing is a recent innovation and represents a completely new class of aircraft. This uses a fixed wing with a cylindrical fan mounted spanwise just above. As the fan spins, it creates an airflow backwards over the upper surface of the wing, creating lift. The fan wing is (2005) in development in the United Kingdom.

Classification by propulsion

Unpowered

Gliders

Heavier-than-air unpowered aircraft such as gliders (i.e. sailplanes), hang gliders and paragliders, and other gliders usually do not employ propulsion once airborne. Take-off may be by launching forwards and downwards from a high location, or by pulling into the air on a tow-line, by a ground-based winch or vehicle, or by a powered "tug" aircraft. For a glider to maintain its forward air speed and lift, it must descend in relation to the air (but not necessarily in relation to the ground). Some gliders can 'soar'- gain height from updrafts such as thermal currents. The first practical, controllable example was designed and built by the British scientist and pioneer George Cayley, who many recognise as the first aeronautical engineer.[3]

Balloons
Main article: Balloon

Balloons drift with the wind, though normally the pilot can control the altitude, either by heating the air or by releasing ballast, giving some directional control (since the wind direction changes with altitude). A wing-shaped hybrid balloon can glide directionally when rising or falling; but a spherically-shaped balloon does not have such directional control.

Kites
Main article: kite

Kites are aircraft[4] that are tethered to the ground or other object (fixed or mobile) that maintains tension in the tether or kite line; they rely on virtual or real wind blowing over and under them to generate lift and drag. Kytoons are balloon kites that are shaped and tethered to obtain kiting deflections, and can be lighter-than-air, neutrally buoyant, or heavier-than air.

Powered

Propeller aircraft
A turboprop-engined DeHavilland Twin Otter adapted as a floatplane

A propeller comprises a set of small, wing-like aerofoils set around a central hub which spins on an axis aligned in the direction of travel. Spinning the propeller creates aerodynamic lift, or thrust, in a forward direction. A contra-prop arrangement has a second propeller close behind the first one on the same axis, which rotates in the opposite direction.

A tractor design mounts the propeller in front of the power source, and a pusher design mounts it behind. Although the pusher design allows cleaner airflow over the wing, tractor configuration is more common because it allows cleaner airflow to the propeller and provides a better weight distribution.

A variation on the propeller is to use many broad blades to create a fan. Such fans are traditionally surrounded by a ring-shaped fairing or duct, as ducted fans.

Many kinds of power plant have been used to drive propellers.

The earliest designs used man power to give dirigible balloons some degree of control, and go back to Jean-Pierre Blanchard in 1784. Attempts to achieve heavier-than-air man-powered flight did not succeed until Paul MacCready's Gossamer Condor in 1977.
Gossamer Albatross, a human-powered aircraft

The first powered flight was made in a steam-powered dirigible by Henri Giffard in 1852. Attempts to marry a practical lightweight steam engine to a practical fixed-wing airframe did not succeed until much later, by which time the internal combustion engine was already dominant.

From the first controlled powered aeroplane flight by the Wright brothers until World War II, propellers turned by the internal combustion piston engine were virtually the only type of propulsion system in use. (See also: Aircraft engine.) The piston engine is still used in the majority of smaller aircraft produced, since it is efficient at the lower altitudes and slower speeds suited to propellers.

Turbine engines need not be used as jets (see below), but may be geared to drive a propeller in the form of a turboprop. Modern helicopters also typically use turbine engines to power the rotor. Turbines provide more power for less weight than piston engines, and are better suited to small-to-medium size aircraft or larger, slow-flying types. Some turboprop designs (see below) mount the propeller directly on an engine shaft, and are called propfans.

Since the 1940s, propellers and propfans with swept tips or curved "scimitar-shaped" blades have been studied for use in high-speed applications so as to delay the onset of shockwaves, in similar manner to wing sweepback, where the blade tips approach the speed of sound. The Airbus A400M turboprop transport aircraft is expected to provide the first production example: note that it is not a propfan because the propellers are not mounted direct on the engine shaft but are driven through reduction gearing.

Other less common power sources include:

* Electric motors, often linked to solar panels to create a solar-powered aircraft.
* Rubber bands, wound many times to store energy, are mostly used for flying models.

Jet aircraft
Main article: Jet aircraft

Air-breathing jet engines provide thrust by taking in air, burning it with fuel in a combustion chamber, and accelerating the exhaust rearwards so that it ejects at high speed. The reaction against this acceleration provides the engine thrust.
A jet-engined Boeing 777 taking off

Jet engines can provide much higher thrust than propellers, and are naturally efficient at higher altitudes, being able to operate above 40,000 ft (12,000 m). They are also much more fuel-efficient at normal flight speeds than rockets. Consequently, nearly all high-speed and high-altitude aircraft use jet engines.

The early turbojet and modern turbofan use a spinning turbine to create airflow for takeoff and to provide thrust. Many, mostly in military aviation, use afterburners which inject extra fuel into the exhaust.

Use of a turbine is not absolutely necessary: other designs include the crude pulse jet, high-speed ramjet and the still-experimental supersonic-combustion ramjet or scramjet. These designs require an existing airflow to work and cannot work when stationary, so they must be launched by a catapult or rocket booster, or dropped from a mother ship.

The bypass turbofan engines of the Lockheed SR-71 were a hybrid design - the aircraft took off and landed in jet turbine configuration, and for high-speed flight the afterburner was lit and the turbine bypassed, to create a ramjet.

The motorjet was a very early design which used a piston engine in place of the combustion chamber, similar to a turbocharged piston engine except that the thrust is derived from the turbine instead of the crankshaft. It was soon superseded by the turbojet and remained a curiosity.

Helicopters
HAL Dhruv, a multi-role utility helicopter.

The rotor of a Helicopter may, like a propeller, be powered by a variety of methods such as an internal-combustion engine or jet turbine. Tip jets, fed by gases passing along hollow rotor blades from a centrally-mounted engine, have been experimented with. Attempts have even been made to mount engines directly on the rotor tips.

Helicopters obtain forward propulsion by angling the rotor disc so that a proportion of its lift is directed forwards to provide thrust.

Other forms of propulsion

* Rocket-powered aircraft have occasionally been experimented with, and the Messerschmitt Komet fighter even saw action in the Second World War. Since then they have been restricted to rather specialised niches, such as the Bell X-1 which broke the sound barrier or the North American X-15 which travelled up into space where no oxygen is available for combustion (rockets carry their own oxidant). Rockets have more often been used as a supplement to the main powerplant, typically to assist takeoff of heavily-loaded aircraft, but also in a few experimental designs such as the Saunders-Roe SR.53 to provide a high-speed dash capability.
* The flapping-wing ornithopter is a category of its own. These designs may have potential, but no practical device has been created beyond research prototypes, simple toys, and a model hawk used to freeze prey into stillness so that it can be captured.

Classification by use

The major distinction in aircraft types is between military aircraft, which includes not just combat types but many types of supporting aircraft, and civil aircraft, which include all non-military types.

Military aircraft
Main article: Military aircraft
Saab Gripen, a Swedish multi-role fighter aircraft.

Combat aircraft divide broadly into fighters and bombers, with several in-between types such as fighter-bombers and ground-attack aircraft (including attack helicopters).

Other supporting roles are carried out by specialist patrol, search and rescue, reconnaissance, observation, transport, training and Tanker aircraft among others.

Many civil aircraft, both fixed wing and rotary, have been produced in separate models for military use, such as the civil Douglas DC-3 airliner, which became the military C-47/C-53/R4D transport in the U.S. military and the "Dakota" in the UK and the Commonwealth. Even the small fabric-covered two-seater Piper J3 Cub had a military version, the L-4 liaison, observation and trainer aircraft. Gliders and balloons have also been used as military aircraft; for example, balloons were used for observation during the American Civil War and World War I, and military gliders were used during World War II to land troops.

Civil aircraft
The Premium Class cabin of Jet Airways Boeing 777.

Civil aircraft divide into commercial and general types, however there are some overlaps.

Commercial aircraft

Commercial aircraft include types designed for scheduled and charter airline flights, carrying both passengers and cargo. The larger passenger-carrying types are often referred to as airliners, the largest of which are wide-body aircraft. Some of the smaller types are also used in general aviation, and some of the larger types are used as VIP aircraft.

General aviation
Eurocopter EC 145 of the Rega air rescue service.

General aviation is a catch-all covering other kinds of private and commercial use, and involving a wide range of aircraft types such as business jets (bizjets), trainers, homebuilt, aerobatic types, racers, gliders, warbirds, firefighters, medical transports, and cargo transports, to name a few. The vast majority of aircraft today are general aviation types.

Within general aviation, there is a further distinction between private aviation (where the pilot is not paid for time or expenses) and commercial aviation (where the pilot is paid by a client or employer). The aircraft used in private aviation are usually light passenger, business, or recreational types, and are usually owned or rented by the pilot. The same types may also be used for a wide range of commercial tasks, such as flight training, pipeline surveying, passenger and freight transport, policing, crop dusting, and medical evacuations. However the larger, more complex aircraft are more likely to be found in the commercial sector.

For example, piston-powered propeller aircraft (single-engine or twin-engine) are common for both private and commercial general aviation, but for aircraft such as turboprops like the Beechcraft King Air and helicopters like the Bell JetRanger, there are fewer private owners than commercial owners. Conventional business jets are most often flown by paid pilots, whereas the new generation of smaller jets are being produced for private pilots.

Experimental aircraft

Experimental aircraft are one-off specials, built to explore some aspect of aircraft design and with no other useful purpose. The Bell X-1 rocket plane, which first broke the sound barrier in level flight, is a famous example.

The formal designation of "experimental aircraft" also includes other types which are "not certified for commercial applications", including one-off modifications of existing aircraft such as the modified Boeing 747 which NASA uses to ferry the space shuttle from landing site to launch site, and aircraft homebuilt by amateurs for their own personal use.

Model aircraft
A model aircraft, weighing 6 grams.

A model aircraft is a small unmanned type made to fly for fun, for static display, for aerodynamic research (cf Reynolds number) or for other purposes. A scale model is a replica of some larger design.