A former is a structural member of an aircraft fuselage, of which a typical fuselage has a series from the nose to the empennage, typically perpendicular to the roll axis of the aircraft. The formers establish the shape of the fuselage. Formers are typically attached to longerons, which support the skin of the aircraft. The Former-and-Longeron technique was adopted from boat construction, and was typical of light aircraft built until the advent of structural skins such as fiberglass and other composite materials. Many of today's light aircraft, and homebuilt aircraft in particular, are still designed in this way. An aircraft is any machine capable of atmospheric flight. ... In an aircraft, the fuselage is the main body section that holds crew and passengers or cargo. ... Empennage is an aviation term used to describe the tail portion of an aircraft. ... A Longeron is a thin strip of wood or metal, used in aircraft construction to support the skin of the fuselage or the wing. ... Fiberglass or fibreglass is material made from extremely fine fibers of glass. ... Composite materials (or composites for short) are engineering materials made from two or more components. ... Also known as amateur-built aircraft, homebuilt aircraft are constructed by one or more persons for whom this is not a professional activity. ...