Unpowered Fixed-Wing Flight Craft

A fixed-wing aircraft is a heavier-than-air aircraft capable of flight using aerodynamic lift generated by wings that do not flap or rotate, distinguishing it from a rotary-wing aircraft or an ornithopter. Fixed-wing aircraft are not necessarily engine-powered: gliding fixed-wing aircraft, including free-flying gliders and tethered kites, can use moving air alone to gain altitude, and a hang glider is a light, non-motorised, fixed-wing heavier-than-air aircraft flown by a pilot in a harness beneath the wing. This class gathers the atlas's own unpowered, human-controlled fixed-wing flight craft: devices that achieve or sustain flight through aerodynamic lift on a rigid or semi-rigid wing without an onboard engine, relying instead on a tether, rising air, or the pilot's own launch and control.