The most obvious impact of the airplane is the drastic reduction in travel time. A car journey that normally takes 6 hours takes about 80 minutes by plane. With the airplane, trips that before were only possible by boat could by taken by plane. Airplanes also drastically changed military tactics. Not only are armed aircraft and bombing planes important parts of military strategy, airplanes have also enabled armies to transport soldiers and supplies, as well as spy on enemies.
In addition, the technology for flight on earth directly led to the possibility of traveling in space.
There are also many commercial impacts of air travel. Airplanes make transporting supplies and products to remote places much easier. They also create an industry unto themselves, by requiring people to build and fly them and even more people to man the airports used by airplanes.
There are also many environmental impacts of airplanes. Most notable is pollution, both of the air and of the land from runoff of fuel, oil and grease spilled during maintenance. In addition, airplanes introduce noise pollution when they fly.
