Flap Flap Rudder Horizontal stabilizer Elevator Landing gear

University Press. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by any electronic or mechanical means (including photocopying, recording, or information storage and retrieval) without permission in writing from the publisher, except for reading and browsing via the World Wide Web. Users are not permitted to mount this file on any network servers. Introduction Flying has become so common that we tend to take many details of flight for granted. Nevertheless, flight is a complex process, involving the equilibrium , stability, and control of a machine that is both intricate and elegant in its design. All aircraft are governed by the same rules of physics, but the details of their motions can be quite different, depending not only on the shapes, weights, and propulsion of the craft but on their structures , control systems, speed, and atmospheric environment. This book presents the flight dynamics of aircraft, with particular attention given to mathematical models and techniques for analysis, simulation, evaluation of flying qualities, and control system design. In this chapter, we introduce the basic components of configuration that are common to most aircraft (Section 1.1) and provide illustrative examples through descriptions of contemporary aircraft (Section 1.2). Notation that is used throughout the book is presented in Section 1.3, with an introductory example based on the flight of a paper airplane. Aircraft configurations are designed to satisfy operational mission and functional requirements, with considerable consideration given to cost, manufacture, reliability, and safety. All aircraft have structures that generate aerodynamic lift, mechanisms for effecting control, and internal spaces for carrying payloads. Most aircraft also have propulsion systems and associated propellant tanks, undercarriage for takeoff and/or landing, and navigation systems. The layout and interactions of all these components have major influence on an aircraft's motions [e. Consider the Cirrus SR20 aircraft shown in Fig. 1.1-1. A single-propeller-driven aircraft, the SR20 has all the elements of a conventional aircraft: 2 Chapter 1 wing, fuselage, horizontal tail, vertical tail, and control surfaces, as well as cockpit/cabin, engine, and landing gear. The wing provides the aircraft's largest aerodynamic force, used principally for supporting the vehicle's weight and changing the direction of flight. The wing's fore-aft location is near the vehicle's center of mass for good balance, and the wing itself is shaped to provide a large amount of lift with as little energy-absorbing drag as possible. The fuselage is the aircraft's …