Airplane wings are shaped to make air move faster over the top of the wing. When air moves faster, the pressure of the air decreases. So the pressure on the top of the wing is less than the pressure on the bottom of the wing. The difference in pressure creates a force on the wing that lifts the wing up into the air.

Yes, we have a comprehensive scientific understanding of how planes fly, though it is often explained using two complementary physical principles rather than just one. The first is Bernoulli’s Principle, which explains that the shape of an airplane wing (an airfoil) causes air to move faster over the top than the bottom, creating lower pressure above and higher pressure below, resulting in "lift." The second is Newton’s Third Law of Motion, which states that as the wing moves through the air, it deflects the air downward; the "equal and opposite reaction" to this downward push is an upward force on the wing. In 2026, modern computational fluid dynamics (CFD) allow engineers to simulate these interactions with extreme precision. While some simplified textbooks once suggested "equal transit time" (the idea that air molecules must meet at the back of the wing), we now know that is a common misconception—the air actually moves much faster over the top than that theory would suggest.