As usual, EASA questions only go halfway, or less. To understand how lift works, we must understand how static pressure works.
The weight of the air inside a column that is 1 foot square at sea level is 2116.16 lbs (on a standard day). This pressure surrounds the aircraft from above and below and all around. That is, the aircraft is being squeezed from all directions at a static pressure of around 2000 lbs per square foot. If you can reduce the pressure above its aerofoils by more than the weight of the aircraft, it will fly, which is what we do mechanically, by moving forward to concentrate the airflow over the top of the wing and bring its streamlines closer together, because we cannot affect static pressure directly.
Instead, we mess with the dynamic pressure over the upper surface of the wings, especially in the first quarter, which makes the changes we need. This is often discussed with reference to Bernoulli’s Theorem, whose involvement is b*llocks anyway for this discussion (except for altering the pressures), partly because it assumes a closed system, and no friction but, mainly, the theorem only applies if no energy is imparted to the system - a propeller is an actuator!
The aircraft is not sucked up into the air, as forces generally do not pull. Atmospheric pressure from underneath pushes the aircraft up. There is enough upwards pressure on a 10 foot square ceiling to support a 737. No air movement would be necessary were it not for the need to reduce the pressure on the upper surface.
Of course, we also start with the flat plate to deflect air downwards, with some shaping to help with the turbulence and to create the lower pressure, and a down force also comes from wingtip vortices (NASA).
An inverted aeroplane will still fly under the above conditions, of course, but with a much higher angle of attack.
Hopefully, that's a less gross simplification, Genghis!
