A jet plane is an aircraft powered by jet engines, which work by sucking in air, compressing it, mixing it with fuel, and igniting it to create a powerful blast of hot exhaust that shoots out the back. This blast pushes the plane forward at tremendous speeds, much faster than propeller planes.

Jet planes revolutionized air travel starting in the 1950s. Before jets, propeller planes took many hours to cross continents or oceans. The first commercial jet, the de Havilland Comet, could fly faster and higher than any propeller plane. Today, nearly all commercial airliners are jet planes, carrying millions of passengers around the world every day at speeds around 500 miles per hour.

Military jets can fly even faster. Fighter jets reach supersonic speeds (faster than the speed of sound), and some can accelerate so quickly that the pilots experience intense G-forces that press them back into their seats. The roar you hear when a jet plane takes off comes from those powerful engines creating thrust.

People sometimes shorten the term to just jet, as in “catching a jet to California” or “a private jet.” The invention of the jet engine, along with the jet plane, represents one of humanity's greatest engineering achievements.