To further answer the questions on the title page, this aircraft can move 416 passengers or cargo of equal weight, from Seattle to Boston in five and one half hours. Before being             provided with the visual aid, one could have been thinking a large barge or ferry, or maybe a Mack truck. These answers might have been acceptable but the Mack truck does not              weigh that much, and the barge and ferry do not move as fast. Here we have an example of a piece of transportation for large amounts of people or cargo, moves at a velocity greater         than 500 mph, and does it all thousands of feet off the ground.

        The next question is why is this possible and how does it even get off the ground?
    Before answering this question, take another look at this particular aircraft.

  
    We know:

    It weighs over 350,000 lbs

    It appears to be large and cumbersome

    It looks somewhat aerodynamic

    It has multiple (four) turbines on the sides that provide the plane with power

    It has a set of large wings towards the center and a set of smaller wings towards the tail end

    It appears that if something were to lift it up, it would fall right out of the sky

    We are told:

    It flies thousands of feet off the ground

    It hauls heavy loads

    It cruises at over 500 mph

    It can travel from Seattle to Boston in five and one half hours

    We want to know:

    How is all this possible?
   
    Click next to further answer these questions.