Most of the lift comes from the main wing, and in fact the tail lifts down, so the main wing also has to support that.
(That's for a stability reason.)
The lift of a wing is roughly proportional to two things:
- angle of attack, and
- airspeed squared
so, the slower an airplane is flying, the more it raises the nose.
You will notice this the next time you fly.
At cruising speed, the plane is at around 300 knots (a knot is about 1.16 mile per hour), and it is pretty flat, with an angle of attack in the range of 1-2 degrees.
(At altitude, 300 knots corresponds to a much higher ground speed, due to the thinner atmosphere, but that doesn't change the lift relationship.)
When the plane is maneuvering in the approach pattern, its airspeed is more like 150 knots, half of cruise speed.
So it has to have roughly 4 times as much angle of attack, anywhere up to about 8 degrees, thus the high nose.
The maximum angle of attack is around 19 degrees, at which the wing stops working.
The crew has to stay well below that in order to have reserve lift in case they need to pull up suddenly, like if they hit a downdraft or wind shear, or if they have to turn quickly.
That beautiful photograph of the 747 was taken by another plane flying in formation with it, and for a photo shoot it was probably not travelling at cruising speed.
(It's also not very high, unless that's the Himalayas in the background.)
Rather than try to debug a Wikipedia page, I suggest two things:
Take your time and read this delightful on-line book. Also, why not get a copy of Stick and Rudder? It's been a classic for 70 years.
Take an introductory flight lesson. It's a lot of fun and totally safe. They let you take off and fly around, and then you will understand all the basics. Don't worry about landing - they will do it for you.
How airplanes work is not a mystery.
They've been around almost as long as automobiles, and they are just as well understood.
Best Answer
Birds' wings don't just flap straight up and down. They angle their bodies in order to change the angle of attack of their wings, thus creating a component of thrust or drag, depending on whether or not they're slowing down or taking off. This can be illustrated by the corresponding Force-Body Diagrams:
Take Off
Slow Flight
Cruising Flight
Approach