Airplane Crossword Puzzles Free Printable

Print a criss-cross airplane crossword of short words such as Wing, Tail and Jet, with its answer key.

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Airplane Crossword

Read each clue and write the answer in the squares that start at its number, one letter in each square.

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Answer key: Airplane Crossword

1JE2K3T4AXIP5TR6AYREIOSN7LL8HOVE9RUO10AGENTUGT11FLEETEIN

Across 3 TAXI · 5 TRAY · 8 HOVER · 10 AGENT · 11 FLEET

Down 1 JET · 2 KITE · 4 APRON · 6 AISLE · 7 LOUNGE · 9 ROUTE · 11 FIN

Next step Find travel words in a word searchColor an airplane by number

All 147 clues

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Parts of an Airplane 37

  • Aileron Hinged panel near a wingtip that tips one side of the plane up and the other down
  • Aisle Narrow walkway that the drink cart rolls along
  • Altimeter Dial that shows how high the plane is
  • Autopilot System that can steer a plane with no hands on the controls
  • Bin Overhead place for a carry-on bag
  • Black box Nickname for a flight recorder, which is really painted bright orange
  • Cabin Part of a plane where the passengers sit
  • Cockpit Front room where the pilots sit at the controls
  • Elevator Hinged panel at the very back that points the front of the plane up or down
  • Fin Upright surface at the back that keeps a plane pointing straight
  • Flap Panel that slides back and down so a plane can fly slowly before touchdown
  • Fuel Liquid that the engines burn
  • Fuselage An airplane's main body, which holds the people and the cargo
  • Galley Small kitchen on an airplane
  • Hatch Small door or opening in an aircraft
  • Hold Space under the floor where suitcases and cargo ride
  • Landing gear Wheels and legs that a plane rolls on along the ground
  • Nose Pointed front tip of an airplane
  • Propeller Fan-like set of twisted blades on the front of a small plane
  • Radar Screen system that shows controllers where every plane is, using radio waves
  • Rivet Metal pin that fastens the sheets of an airplane's skin
  • Rudder Hinged panel on the upright part at the back that swings the plane left or right
  • Seat belt Strap you buckle across your lap before the plane moves
  • Spoiler Panel that pops up on top of the wings to slow a plane after touchdown
  • Stabilizer Small fixed surface at the back that keeps a plane steady
  • Strut Rod that braces part of a plane or holds a wheel
  • Tail Back end of a plane, with one part that stands straight up
  • Throttle Lever that gives the engines more or less power
  • Tire Rubber ring around each wheel; it touches the ground first
  • Tray Little fold-down table on the back of the seat in front of you
  • Turbine Wheel of blades spun by hot gas inside an airliner's engine
  • Window Many travelers ask for the seat beside this
  • Windshield Front glass that the pilots look through
  • Wing Long flat part that reaches out from each side and holds the plane up
  • Winglet Upturned tip found at the ends of many airliners' wings
  • Wingspan Distance across a plane from one tip to the other tip
  • Yoke Control wheel that pilots push, pull and turn

Airport and Crew 39

  • Agent Airline worker at the desk who checks you in
  • Apron Paved area where planes park, load and refuel
  • Arrival Word on the airport board for a plane coming in
  • Attendant Flight ___: worker who looks after the travelers and their safety
  • Aviator Old-fashioned word for a person who flies planes
  • Baggage Suitcases and bags that go with a traveler, counted together
  • Beacon Rotating light that shows pilots where an airport is at night
  • Captain The person in command, responsible for the safety of the whole flight
  • Carousel Moving belt that brings the suitcases around after a trip
  • Controller Air traffic ___: worker who tells pilots when to take off and land
  • Copilot Second person at the controls, also called the first officer
  • Crew All the people who work on a flight
  • Customs Stop after an international trip where officers ask what you are bringing in
  • Delay What a storm can cause, making your plane leave late
  • Departure Word on the airport board for a plane going out
  • Gate Numbered door where you board your plane
  • Hangar Big building where aircraft are parked and repaired
  • Helipad Flat pad marked with a big H
  • Instructor Teacher who sits beside a student in a small plane
  • Jet bridge Covered walkway that swings out to meet the plane's door
  • Layover Wait at an airport between two flights
  • Lounge Quiet room with soft chairs for waiting
  • Luggage What you pack for a trip and claim at the other end
  • Marshaller Ground worker who waves two wands to guide a plane to its parking spot
  • Mechanic Worker who inspects and repairs airplanes
  • Navigator Person on board who keeps track of where the plane is and which way to go
  • Passenger Person who rides in a plane without working on it
  • Passport Travel booklet with your photo, needed for a trip abroad
  • Pilot The person who flies an aircraft
  • Runway Long paved strip where planes speed up to leave and slow down to stop
  • Schedule List of the times planes leave and arrive
  • Security Line where travelers and bags are screened before boarding
  • Skydiver Person who jumps from a plane for sport
  • Suitcase Boxy bag with a handle, often on small wheels
  • Taxiway Paved path that links the long strip with the parking areas
  • Terminal Airport building where travelers check in and wait
  • Ticket It shows that you have paid for your trip
  • Tower Tall building with glass all around, where controllers watch the field
  • Windsock Cone of cloth on a pole beside the field that fills and points with the wind

How Flight Works 39

  • Airfoil Name for the curved shape of a plane's wings, seen from the side
  • Airspeed How fast a plane moves through the air around it
  • Altitude How high a plane is above the sea or the ground
  • Bank To tip to one side in a turn
  • Climb To gain height after leaving the ground
  • Contrail White line of cloud that forms behind a high-flying plane
  • Crosswind Wind that blows across the paved strip instead of along it
  • Cruise Long, level middle part of a flight
  • Descent The trip back down toward the airport
  • Dive Steep, fast drop with the front end pointed down
  • Drag Force of the air that holds a moving plane back
  • Glide To fly without engine power, slowly coming down
  • Gravity It pulls every plane toward the ground
  • Headwind Wind that blows against the front of a plane
  • Horizon Far edge of the view, where ground and sky meet
  • Hover To stay still in midair, neither rising nor sinking
  • Jet stream Fast river of wind high above the ground that airliners ride
  • Knot Unit of speed for planes and ships: one nautical mile an hour
  • Landing Return of a plane to the ground
  • Lift Upward force that wings make as air flows over them
  • Loop Stunt in which a plane flies a full upright circle
  • Mach Number that compares a plane's speed with the speed of sound
  • Navigation The skill of finding the way from one place to another
  • Oxygen Gas that drop-down masks supply if the air inside gets thin
  • Pitch Tilting of a plane's front end up or down
  • Pressure The air's push; it grows weaker the higher you fly
  • Roll Tilting of a plane so that one side dips and the other rises
  • Route Planned path from one airport to another
  • Soar To ride rising air and stay up without engine power
  • Sonic boom Thunder-like noise from a plane flying faster than sound
  • Stall Sudden loss of the upward force when the wings tilt up too steeply
  • Tailwind Wind that pushes a plane from behind, shortening the trip
  • Takeoff Moment a plane leaves the ground
  • Taxi To move slowly along the ground under the plane's own power
  • Thrust Forward push that the engines give a plane
  • Turbulence Rough air that makes the ride bumpy
  • Visibility How far pilots can see through haze, fog or rain
  • Weight Downward pull that the upward force has to balance
  • Yaw Swing of a plane's front end to the left or right

Kinds of Aircraft 32

  • Airmail Letters carried by plane
  • Airship Lighter-than-air craft with engines that can be steered
  • Aviation The whole business of making and flying aircraft
  • Balloon The hot-air kind carries people in a basket below it
  • Biplane Plane with an upper and a lower pair of wings, common in the early days of flying
  • Blimp Soft, gas-filled craft that keeps its shape with no frame inside
  • Bush plane Rugged small aircraft that serves places far from any road
  • Crop duster Small farm plane that sprays fields from low in the air
  • Drone Small aircraft flown from the ground with nobody inside
  • Fighter Fast, nimble military plane
  • Fleet All the planes that one airline owns
  • Floatplane Small plane that sits on long floats instead of wheels
  • Flyer Name of the Wright brothers' plane that first flew in 1903
  • Freighter Plane that carries cargo and no travelers
  • Glider Engineless aircraft that stays up by riding rising air
  • Hang glider Light craft that a person hangs beneath and steers by leaning
  • Helicopter Aircraft lifted by spinning blades on top; it can go straight up
  • Jet Fast plane with no propellers; hot gas rushing out the back pushes it
  • Jumbo jet Nickname for a very large airliner with two aisles
  • Kite Toy on a long string that the wind lifts
  • Monoplane Plane with a single pair of wings, like most planes today
  • Parachute Folded canopy that opens to float a jumper safely down
  • Prototype First test model of a new plane
  • Seaplane Plane that can take off from water and come down on it
  • Squadron Unit of military aircraft and their crews
  • Supersonic Word for a plane that flies faster than sound
  • Tanker Plane that refills other planes in the air
  • Trainer Plane built for teaching new pilots
  • Triplane Plane with three sets of wings stacked up
  • Turboprop Plane whose propellers are spun by hot gas rushing through its engines
  • Ultralight Very small, very light plane for one or two people
  • Water bomber Firefighting plane that drops its load on a wildfire

How this list was compiled: Clues written for this site for elementary and middle school classes: the parts of an airplane, the airport and its crews, how flight works, and kinds of aircraft. Every answer is an entry in Wiktionary (en.wiktionary.org), and each fact about a part, a force or an aircraft was checked in English Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org, CC BY-SA 4.0) in October 2026. No airline and no aircraft maker is named. No clue was copied from a published puzzle. Licence: own work

How it works

These airplane crossword puzzles are free printable vocabulary crosswords for a transportation unit or a lesson on flight. They open on Short Airplane Words; four more sets cover plane parts, the airport, how flight works and kinds of aircraft.

Read the full guide

Five clue sets

Short Airplane Words keeps to answers of six letters or fewer: Wing, Nose, Gate, Pilot. Parts of an Airplane has Cockpit, Fuselage, Aileron and Landing gear. Airport and Crew has Runway, Hangar, Windsock and Marshaller. How Flight Works has Lift, Drag, Thrust, Altitude and Contrail. Kinds of Aircraft has Biplane, Glider, Seaplane and Blimp.

The four forces, in one set

How Flight Works holds the four forces on a plane in flight (Lift, Weight, Thrust and Drag) and the three ways it turns (Pitch, Roll and Yaw), for a unit on forces.

  • Before a class trip to an airport, print the Airport and Crew set and have students check off each thing they spot.

Questions and answers

Are the airplane crossword puzzles free to print?

Yes. Every puzzle prints free on Letter or A4 with no sign-up. The answer key prints last, and the line beside Print gives the page count.

What parts of an airplane are in the crossword?

Wing, Cockpit, Propeller, Fuselage, Tail, Rudder, Aileron, Flap, Elevator, Landing gear, Cabin and Winglet, among others. Each clue says what the part does, such as the hinged panel that swings the plane left or right.

What age is the airplane crossword for?

Short Airplane Words suits about grades 3 to 5: the answers are short, but Yaw, Mach and Rivet are not everyday words. The themed sets, with Aileron and Turbulence, suit about grades 4 to 8. These bands are our judgment, not a published standard.

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