Thrust

Thrust is the force that propels an aerospace vehicle or marine craft. Thrust is a vector quantity. Its magnitude is usually given in newtons (N) in International System (SI) units or pounds-force (lbf) in U.S. Customary Units.

A fixed-wing aircraft generates forward thrust when air is pushed in the opposite the direction of flight. This can be done in several ways including by the spinning blades of a propeller, or a rotating turbine pushing air out the back of a jet engine, or by ejecting hot gases with a rocket engine. The forward thrust is proportional to the mass of the airstream multiplied by the velocity of the airstream. Reverse thrust can be generated to aid braking after landing by reversing the pitch of variable pitch propeller blades, or using a thrust reverser on a jet engine. Rotary wing aircraft and thrust vectoring V/STOL aircraft use engine thrust to support the weight of the aircraft, and vector some of this thrust fore and aft to control forward speed.