Definition
An airplane on which the main wing is mounted on top of the fuselage, so the wing sits above the cabin rather than below it.
Plain English
An airplane where the wings are attached above the cockpit and cabin, so they're over your head when you're sitting inside.
Context Anchor
Seen in aircraft handling and visibility discussions, including ground reference maneuvers such as turns around a point.
Why Pilots Care
The high mounting gives the propeller extra ground clearance and lets the pilot look straight down at a ground reference point without the wing blocking the view.
Intuition Check
High-wing does not mean the airplane flies high. It means the wing is mounted high on the airplane’s body.
Example Sentence 1
The student chose a high-wing airplane for the cross-country lesson because the unobstructed downward view made it easier to identify landmarks.
Example Sentence 2
Because it was a high-wing airplane, the propeller had enough clearance when the wing dipped toward the ground in a steep turn.