We flew to Romania once. Clearly not in this plane. Mrs B said she'd only fly if I explained how the plane worked. So this is what I told her. The wings are an aerofoil shape. The curvature means that the air has to travel a longer distance over the top of the wing than under. This means that the particles become more spread out above the wing than below so there is less pressure above than below so there must be a resultant force upwards. This is a version of the Bernoulli Effect. I have come to understand in recent years that this is seen as controversial. I had heard of a rival explanation and was amazed to hear that it is actually Newton's Third Law. This version says that the wing shape is designed to push air down so the air pushes back up on the wing. The lift is basically the equal and opposite reaction. Here's a summary of the debate http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/fluids/airfoil.html
