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Aircraft Vehicle
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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, being able to take off from and alight on both land and water.
Some people consider wing-in-ground-effect vehicles to be fixed-wing aircraft, 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.
• Rotorcraft
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.
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