Monoplane

A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with one main set of wing surfaces, in contrast to a biplane or other multiplane. Since the late 1930s it has been the most common form for a fixed-wing aircraft.

Characteristics

A monoplane has inherently the lowest drag of any wing configuration and is the simplest to build. However these advantages may be offset by its inherent weight and need for higher power.

Monoplane vs. biplane

The wing of a monoplane must nominally have twice the area of the equivalent biplane wing, because the biplane has two of them. This makes the monoplane larger and less manoeuvrable. However, in practice the biplane's wings interfere with each other and the handicap to the monoplane is reduced.

A biplane wing is usually braced to stiffen the structure and allow it to be much lighter and to fly slower. However even a braced monoplane will still be more efficient and human-powered aircraft, which are among the slowest and lightest of flying machines, are monoplanes with very large wings for their weight.