ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Flight airspeed record

Do you remember the time you ran as fast as you could and felt the wind blowing in your face? Well, airplanes can do the same thing but instead of running, they fly in the sky.

The flight airspeed record is like a race that airplanes compete to see who can fly the fastest. Just like how you run faster than your friends and become the champion of your playtime, airplanes also want to be the champion of their own race.

To make the airplanes fly faster, they need a lot of strong engines that push them forward. These engines are like the muscles that help you run fast. The more engines they have, the faster they can fly.

The airplanes also have a special shape that helps them cut through the air really fast like a sharp knife. This shape is called aerodynamics. Just like how a rocket has a pointy shape to go up to space, airplanes have a pointy shape to go through the sky really fast.

The pilots who fly these airplanes need special training to be able to handle the speed. They need to be really good at controlling the airplane so it doesn’t go too fast or slow. It’s like driving a car on a highway - you need to be careful not to go too fast or too slow.

When the airplanes finish their race, they measure how fast they went and compare it to other airplanes. The airplane that went the fastest becomes the new champion and holds the flight airspeed record until another airplane beats it.

So, the flight airspeed record is like a really cool race that airplanes compete in to see who can fly the fastest by using big muscles (engines), a pointy shape (aerodynamics), and skilled pilots.