Calculation and optimisation of flight performance is required to design or select new aircraft, efficiently operate existing aircraft, and upgrade aircraft. It provides critical data for aircraft certification, accident investigation, fleet management, flight regulations and safety. This book presents an unrivalled range of advanced flight performance models for both transport and military aircraft, including the unconventional ends of the envelopes. Topics covered include the numerical solution of supersonic acceleration, transient roll, optimal climb of propeller aircraft, propeller performance, long-range flight with en-route stop, fuel planning, zero-gravity flight in the atmosphere, VSTOL operations, ski jump from aircraft carrier, optimal flight paths at subsonic and supersonic speed, range-payload analysis of fixed- and rotary wing aircraft, performance of tandem helicopters, lower-bound noise estimation, sonic boom, and more.This book will be a valuable text for undergraduate and post-graduate level students of aerospace engineering. It will also be an essential reference and resource for practicing aircraft engineers, aircraft operations managers and organizations handling air traffic control, flight and flying regulations, standards, safety, environment, and the complex financial aspects of flying aircraft. Unique coverage of fixed and rotary wing aircraft in a unified manner, including optimisation, emissions control and regulation. Ideal for students, aeronautical engineering capstone projects, and for widespread professional reference in the aerospace industry. Comprehensive coverage of computer-based solution of aerospace engineering problems; the critical analysis of performance data; and case studies from real world engineering experience. Supported by end of chapter exercises

Annotation The measurement of performance during an airplane's flight, testing is one of the more important tasks to be accomplished during its development as it impacts on both the airplane's safety and its marketability. This book discusses performance for both propeller-driven and jet aircraft.

This undergraduate textbook offers a unique introduction to steady flight and performance for fixed-wing aircraft from a twenty-first-century flight systems perspective. Emphasizing the interplay between mathematics and engineering, it fully explains the fundamentals of aircraft flight and develops the basic algebraic equations needed to obtain the conditions for gliding flight, level flight, climbing and descending flight, and turning flight. It covers every aspect of flight performance, including maximum and minimum air speed, maximum climb rate, minimum turn radius, flight ceiling, maximum range, and maximum endurance. Steady Aircraft Flight and Performance features in-depth case studies of an executive jet and a general aviation propeller-driven aircraft, and uses MATLAB to compute and illustrate numerous flight performance measures and flight envelopes for each. Requiring only sophomore-level calculus and physics, it also includes a section on translational flight dynamics that makes a clear connection between steady flight and flight dynamics, thereby providing a bridge to further study. Offers the best introduction to steady aircraft flight and performance Provides a comprehensive treatment of the full range of steady flight conditions Covers steady flight performance and flight envelopes, including maximum and minimum air speed, maximum climb rate, minimum turn radius, and flight ceiling Uses mathematics and engineering to explain aircraft flight Features case studies of actual aircraft, illustrated using MATLAB Seamlessly bridges steady flight and translational flight dynamics

Few technological advances have affected the lives and dreams of individuals and the operations of companies and governments as much as the continuing development of flight. From space exploration to package transport, from military transport to passenger helicopter use, from passenger jumbo jets to tilt-rotor commuter planes, the future of flying is still rapidly developing. The essays in this volume survey the state of progress along several fronts of this constantly evolving frontier. Five eminent authorities assess prospects for the future of rotary-wing aircraft, large passenger aircraft, commercial aviation, manned spaceflight, and defense aerospace in the post-Cold War era.

This book discusses aircraft flight performance, focusing on commercial aircraft but also considering examples of high-performance military aircraft. The framework is a multidisciplinary engineering analysis, fully supported by flight simulation, with software validation at several levels. The book covers topics such as geometrical configurations, configuration aerodynamics and determination of aerodynamic derivatives, weight engineering, propulsion systems (gas turbine engines and propellers), aircraft trim, flight envelopes, mission analysis, trajectory optimisation, aircraft noise, noise trajectories and analysis of environmental performance. A unique feature of this book is the discussion and analysis of the environmental performance of the aircraft, focusing on topics such as aircraft noise and carbon dioxide emissions.