Why Planes Be Like That?

The other day, our lead designer Ray was talking to a buddy when a jet plane flew over their heads. Ray identified it as a Boeing 777. His friend (who is an avid car guy) shook his head and said, “How can you tell them apart? They all look exactly the same.”




With all due respect, dude…they don’t.




Some planes look alike, true. But there is as much diversity in aviation design as there is in automotive. And because we are a studio that cares about informing the general public about all things design, we want to explain why planes can differ so drastically from one another.

First things first: you need to understand some basic categories. In aviation design, the three most important functions to consider are speed, efficiency, and maneuverability. Those three functions determine the design of the wings, fuselage, and engine.







If you tell an engineer, “I need a plane that can fly pretty much forever using almost no fuel,” and they come back with something straight out of Top Gun, that person is definitely not an engineer and you should probably apologize for mistaking them for one.

Let’s dive in (get it? Dive in? HaHA)!


Fast planes, slow planes, you oughta know planes


The fastest air-breathing plane in the world is the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird. If you see this plane and think, “huh, that looks a lot like Darkstar from the newest Top Gon,” yes, yes it does. That’s because Lockheed Martin, the company that created the Blackbird, worked with designers on the film to create an aircraft worthy of Tom Cruise.

The whole point of the movie is that Maverick wants to fly the fastest airplane. So, what about this plane’s design made it (theoretically) fast? 

  • Short, razor-thin, tapered wings -- more strength, less drag, and less weight

  • Bullet-like fuselage -- more speed

  • All engine -- more power

Now let’s consider the opposite: a plane that is designed for low speeds, which is ideal for something like a short take-off and landing (STOL) competition. The current world record for the shortest landing was set by Dan Reynolds in 2019, at nine feet, five inches. The only way to land Darkstar at that length would be to crash it straight into the ground. So what enabled Dan Reynold’s plane to slow down and land with such precision?

  • Fat, square wings -- more lift, more stability, easy to build

  • Lightweight materials -- less weight, less lift needed, less engine needed

  • Little engine at the front -- less weight, less power needed, less left needed

Less is more

Why wings make a plane

If you’ve been paying attention, you’ll notice that a plane’s function is largely determined by wing design. There are three key ratios to note when designing a wing: aspect ratio, or the length of the wingspan compared to how deep the wing is; taper ratio, or the degree that the wing narrows from the fuselage to tip; and sweep, the angle of the wing in relation to fuselage.


High aspect ratio wings and long in span and skinny in depth and, largely determines efficiency. A glider, for example, has an enormous wingspan, which enables it to stay in the air pretty much indefinitely despite having zero horsepower. However, gliders are slow as molasses, difficult to maneuver, and their long wings are vulnerable. A fighter jet, on the other hand, has a relatively short wingspan, which means they can pull off crazy evasive maneuvers at mach speeds, but they burn a ton of fuel.

Taper ratio simply means how tapered the wing is from one end to the other. When planes were first being built, their wings resembled Hershey bars: long rectangles that were fast, easy and cheap to build. Nowadays, you’ll notice that many wings are tapered. This design makes wings lighter and more efficient.



Sweep, or the angle of the wing, is a relatively modern development. As planes got faster, engineers had to make some major improvements. A swept wing is designed to stay within the “cone” that is created as air passes over the plane. At very high speeds, this is necessary in order to balance lift and drag. There is no reason why a slow plane would need swept wings, but there is a very good reason why the Grunnmen F-14 Tomcat (which was not named after Tom Cruise, but should have been) has what are called “swing wings,” or wings that can be swept back: without any sweep, the jet could land on aircraft carriers, but when the wings were swept back, it could reach crazy top speeds. This is also why Navy pilots give Airforce pilots a lot of crap about needing long runways.

Future planes

Everything is different now. Blown flaps, distributed propulsion, electric motors. The shape of aircraft must change based on electrification, autonomy and new and exciting possibilities that are opening up. We can wait to see what the future shape of aircraft will be.


“Why you spend so much time talking about planes?”

First and foremost, because we are design nerds and we think planes are cool. But also, it’s important to understand what has defined aviation design for the last century because in the next twenty years, this information may no longer be relevant.

In every plane we discussed, the most important piece of the design -- yes, even more important than the wings -- is the center of gravity. Because all of these planes rely on engines that use fuel, they need to account for an ever-changing (read: emptying) center of gravity. As battery technology improves, more planes will become electric, and this limitation will no longer apply. Anything will be possible in terms of aviation design. We’ve already seen the impact of this with drones and EVTOLs. But that’s just the beginning, y’all.


Do you like planes as much as we do?

Let us know on LinkedIn or Facebook. For more information about us, you can read our blog, check out our design process, or contact us directly.

Cultural North