Taxiing in the context of "Carrier-based aircraft"

Landing is the last part of a flight, where a flying animal, aircraft, or spacecraft returns to the ground. When the flying object returns to water, the process is called alighting, although it is commonly called "landing", "touchdown" or "splashdown" as well. A normal aircraft flight would include several parts of flight including taxi, takeoff, climb, cruise, descent and landing.

Landing gear is the undercarriage of an aircraft or spacecraft that is used for engaging the surface — typically land, but may also be the surface of a water body — when parking, taxiing, takeoff or landing. It was also formerly called alighting gear by some manufacturers, such as the Glenn L. Martin Company. For aircraft, Stinton makes the terminology distinction undercarriage (British) = landing gear (US).

For aircraft, landing gear is the foundational part of airframe that supports the craft's weight when it is not in flight, keeping the fuselage at a clearance off the ground so it can avoid sustaining frictional/collisional damages. Wheeled landing gear is the most ubiquitous, used in almost all aircraft that perform conventional and short takeoff and landing, while skids or floats are used in aircraft that can take off and land vertically or operate from snow/ice/water. Landing gears from early aircraft are usually fixed, and remain protruded under the aircraft during flight, with no or only partial fairing coverage to reduce drag; while most modern aircraft have retractable undercarriages that fold into the fuselage during flight, which maximizes aerodynamic streamlining and allows for faster airspeeds and smoother flight control.

A taxiway is a path for aircraft at an airport connecting runways with aprons, hangars, terminals and other facilities. They mostly have a hard surface such as asphalt or concrete, although smaller general aviation airports sometimes use gravel or grass.

Most airports do not have a specific speed limit for taxiing (though some do). There is a general rule on safe speed based on obstacles. Operators and aircraft manufacturers might have limits. Typical taxi speeds are 20–30 kn (37–56 km/h; 23–35 mph).

The Dulles International Airport Main Terminal is located in Loudoun and Fairfax counties in Dulles, Virginia, United States. The original structure, 600 feet (180 m) long and 150 feet (46 m) wide, was designed by Eero Saarinen and completed in 1962 as the first terminal at Dulles International Airport. Annexes to the west and east were completed in 1996 as part of a renovation designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), bringing its total length to 1,240 feet (380 m). The terminal is operated by the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, which operates Dulles Airport as a whole. The terminal's design is a suspended structure with roof panels of precast concrete suspended between cables which span the width of the building.

The Main Terminal's design includes parallel slanted colonnades on the terminal's north and south facades, interspersed with glass walls. The landside facade to the north is taller than the airside facade to the south; a concave roof supported by cables connects the two facades, descending toward the center. A concourse and control tower extend south toward the airport's apron. The interior was originally divided into two levels: an upper story for departing passengers and a lower story for arriving passengers. Saarinen's original design included mobile lounges that ferried passengers directly to planes, reducing the need for long walks or taxiing while increasing the airport's operational flexibility. The modern terminal includes four airline gates known as Z gates, where aircraft could unload passengers directly. In addition, two basements contain security screening facilities and an AeroTrain people-mover station.

A conventional take-off and landing (CTOL), also known as horizontal take-off and landing (HTOL), is the usual process whereby fixed-wing aircraft perform takeoff and landing. As fixed-wing aircraft must have a forward motion to have relative air flow over the airfoils (wings) in order to generate lift, they require a period of ground acceleration before takeoff and conversely also a period of safe, gradual ground deceleration after landing, both translating to the necessity of sufficient distance for linear ground movement, which conventionally involve the use of dedicated runways.

During takeoff, the aircraft will first taxi or be tugged into a launch position at one end of the runway, where a final preflight check known as the run-up is completed. When cleared to proceed, the aircraft engines power up and the aircraft, propelled by the engines' thrust, begins accelerating down the runway in a takeoff roll with its landing gear wheels still contacting the ground. The takeoff roll ends when sufficient speed has been reached for the wings to generate more lift than the combined weight of the aircraft and its payloads, at which point the pilot manipulates the flight controls to pitch up the aircraft and raise the angle of attack of the wings, which further increases their lift coefficient and causes the aircraft to finally break contact with the ground (i.e. the liftoff) and transition into actual flight.