42nd AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting and Exhibit AIAA 2004-570

5 - 8 January 2004, Reno, Nevada

SOME USEFUL CONCEPTUAL ASPECTS IN FLIGHT MECHANICS

by
M. R. Ananthasayanam*, Department of Aerospace Engineering, Indian Institute of Science,
Bangalore, 560 012, INDIA, [email protected]

ABSTRACT AVIATION HISTORY

The author has observed while teaching that at Many recent textbooks include the topic of aviation
times it takes many years in order to pick up the history. Apart from knowing the historical
basic concepts in a subject whereas they could evolution what are the lessons and benefits for the
have been taught very early and easily. For those professionals? History teaches ‘humility’ in the
learning the subject for the first time the style and face of a large number of pioneers who have
the language of the teaching in general appears worked and did far more under many trying
more formal rather than informal. Such an circumstances that what one could ever imagine!
approach is not conducive to convey with ease the At the same time it provides a ‘hope’ for the latter
behind the scene arguments that has gone on in the people to be able to contribute in a small way to the
evolution of the subject. There are in general many progress of the field. The evolution in science and
broad conceptual frameworks to facilitate a strong technology following intuitive or inspirational,
understanding of any subject and in particular theoretical, and experimental approaches back and
Flight Mechanics is no exception. This feature is forth as shown in Figure 1 have helped to realise
illustrated in the present paper with examples from great achievements. Successful achievement comes
the various topics that are generally covered in his first followed by refinement. In general it takes a
treatment of Flight Mechanics. finite amount of time for a new idea to become
realistic. It is not possible to make a large scale
INTRODUCTION shortening to reach the goal. There is a synergistic
somewhat equally good and important advances in
After having taught Airplane Flight Mechanics for other allied fields that enrich the overall capability,
many years the author has observed that many and efficiency of the field. Perhaps if one specialty
students and professionals have not grasped the like aerodynamics, structures, propulsion, or
fundamentals. The general reason seems to be the guidance and control had lagged very much behind
stress on ‘information’ as against such as the then it would have put an enormous impediment to
‘insight’, ’overview’, or the ‘behind the scene the overall progress of aerospace engineering.
arguments’. The students are in general overawed Predictions are very difficult and even great men in
by the details. This in general does not help to one field can fail in other fields. Even culture plays
provide them an insight even after much work. The a crucial role in the progress contributed to the
same information, but with different views of field. The advancements have been very similar in
looking at it can help in a better understanding. many other fields such as for example space flight.
In the earlier papers1,2,3,4,5,6,7 the author has
considered the various topics in Airplane Flight ATMOSPHERE
Mechanics8,9,10,11,12,13 from many different views. It
is presently illustrated with further views useful for The treatment of the atmosphere generally provides
a better understanding of Airplane Flight only the International Standard Atmosphere14
Mechanics. These are sufficiently general and (ISA). It is useful to note that the climatic
common and can be applied to many other subjects characteristics vary over the globe and these are
in science, and technology. quite important for performance evaluations. In
_______________________________________ order to deal with such conditions some
* temperature corrections are recommended. For the
Non Member, Professor
tropics that occupy a larger extent of area of the
globe there is a proposed International Tropical
Reference Atmosphere15 (ITRA) as shown in
Figure 2. The mean atmospheric conditions are
useful for design, the variability accounted for

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Copyright © 2004 by "Copyright 2004 by Ananthasayanam. Published by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc., with permission.
during operations, and the extremes can prohibit AERODYNAMICS OF BODIES
the operation of the flight itself. It is desirable to
mention that apart from ISA there exist many other A lot of discussion goes on in the literature about
reference atmospheres16 valid over appropriate the mechanism of the creation of lift. There are
space and time in the literature as also the extremes many explanations7 such as (i) equal transit time,
which are quite important from the point of view of (ii) skipping stone, (ii) venturi, or (iv) curvature of
specifications, and systems in airplanes. The the airfoil. The first one is supported by von
characterization of winds and many other Karman himself. The two approaches based on
phenomena are also quite relevant for flight Newtonian mechanics and Bernoulli’s theorem are
operations. Though the International Civil Aviation equivalent since the latter theorem is derived from
Organization (ICAO) has been revising its the momentum equation of the former applied to
atmosphere after appropriate time periods, many the flow of fluids and is more convenient. Another
textbooks specify only some early atmospheres! mystery about the airfoils to the students is the
Even some well known regulations are yet to revise introduction at low speeds, the concept of
their atmospheres for too long a time. It is better to ‘aerodynamic center’ (AC) at the quarter chord for
give prominence to International standards rather an airfoil as against the natural one of ‘center of
than national standards though the former might pressure’ (CP) at the point where the resultant
have originated from the latter. force acts. The CP varies with angle of attack and
the AC does not vary albeit at low angles of attack
FLIGHT REGIMES only. Based on the NACA style18 of specifying the
airfoil shape in terms of the thickness distribution,
It is quite convenient to specify the force and the camber line at the ideal angle of attack with
moment inputs to the equations of motion of an smooth leading edge flow, and the flat plate angle
airplane in terms of suitable nondimensional of attack effect, the location of the aerodynamic
parameters. It has taken nearly two centuries at center at quarter chord can be justified. The
least for the free stream dynamic pressure q∞ to concept of AC disappears and the CP appears for
evolve as the nondimensionalising factor. But this launch vehicles since the moment varies with the
is introduced as if it very natural and self evident! Mach number and is more important in such
The are infinite such factors having the same studies.
dimensions of pressure out of which how one could
choose q∞ is not clear at all. As fortune favours the FLIGHT LIMITATIONS
brave(!) the derivation of q∞ by Newton though not
correct has gained strength fortuitously with An airplane can in principle operate all over the
passage of time. In fact many detailed theoretical altitude-velocity plane but there are limitations due
analysis, and/or experimental results have been to aerodynamic stall, heating, engine blow out,
used to arrive at just this as the most appropriate sonic boom, noise, pollution and others which the
one17. The author has discussed some very subtle designer has to overcome. In particular since the
reasons for it to be appropriate over the whole induction of the jet engines the suppression of
range from streamlined to bluff bodies, low to high noise is a classic example of operational
Reynolds and Mach numbers7. Further the choice considerations forcing the design of engines with
of suitable reference area to specify the lower noise19 as well as the high lift devices to
nondimensional coefficients and the length for the shorten the field lengths21. For limiting maximum
Reynolds number is another aspect that needs noise limits around the airport three reference
detailed discussion. Such choices must necessarily locations which can be considered optimal namely
lead to an insight into the physical mechanisms
along the approach, sideline and takeoff are utilised
operating in the flight scenario. It should be (i)
to specify the effective perceived noise level.
easy to evaluate, (ii) fix the geometry in a
meaningful way, and (iii) help to compare the
aerodynamic performance characteristics of similar AIRPLANE DRAG
vehicles. Another interpretation is that the choice
From a variation of around 5% based on many
of suitable dimensional or nondimensional
theories for the drag coefficient of a flat plate with
parameters encompassing the largest number of
a turbulent boundary layer flow, the aim to achieve
variables governing the mechanisms as a function
even a better accuracy for the full scale airplane
of the smallest number of parameters (say even
with complex geometry, with interference and
one) that has the best statistical correlation2 as
surface characteristics is praiseworthy but it also
shown in Figure 3.

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indicates the much greater effort that is needed. THRUST OR POWER AND SFC
There are a large number of reports and methods
each differing in the amount of information they Considering a generic propulsive system the thrust
seek with the consequent accuracy. The Figure 4 T produced by it equals
shows the various levels of drag estimation
commencing from the conceptual, and preliminary
T = m (V j − V∞ )
design in a class room based on correlations,
moving on to the detailed computer calculation where m  is the mass flow through the system, Vj
based on the industrial standard programs, wind is the velocity of the exhaust fluid and V∞ is the
tunnel tests, and finally the flight tests continues fluid velocity of far upstream. It is interesting to
even during the service. The classroom calculations note that the pressure far downstream is assumed to
can never match the industrial standard since the equilibrate to the far upstream value. However
latter need orders of magnitude of more work, since the thrust is continuously produced it is
funding, and man power to obtain a linear increase reflected in the exhaust velocity Vj being different
in the desired accuracy! Jobe20 has stated that it is from the free stream velocity V∞. Thus the power
an aerodynamicist’s dream to get around 2% available from the propulsive system is
accuracy in the estimation of the drag coefficient,
and 5% is considered to be very good. Hardly one T V∞ = m (V j − V∞ ) V∞
ever gets the individual values for the above from
the airplane manufacturer but only its performance
based on the difference of the thrust and drag is all But the increase in the kinetic energy of the fluid
that is guaranteed. equals

At times there are discussions about the figure of 1

merit based on a comparison of, in particular the m (V j2 −V∞2 )
zero lift drag coefficient with that of a flat plate. It
2
should be stressed that such comparisons are
Hence the propulsive efficiency of the system
formal since the reference areas for two airplanes
becomes
could be very different. Then one can attempt to
compare the equivalent parasite area, which is the
product of the drag coefficient, and the reference Power Available 2 V∞ 2 V∞
area. Even this has the difficulty if the two
np = = =
Power Input (V j + V∞ ) ( 2 V∞ + ∆V )
airplanes are flying at different Reynolds numbers
(R). The same airplane flying at two values of R
will experience differing values of drag coefficient! where ∆V is the increased velocity of the exhaust.
This means that airplanes with similar geometry For improved efficiency ∆V should be much
cannot be compared easily for aerodynamic smaller than V∞.
cleanliness. But the comparison of airplanes with
different geometries as in the history are proper. The very fact that one is creating thrust by
There is another dimension to the above issue. As increased velocity, the increased energy goes as
it has happened and will continue to occur an waste! The situation is similar to what one has in
airplane designer stretches or shortens his the well known Carnot’s efficiency in
successful type. This could slightly degrade the thermodynamics where an engine operating
aerodynamic characteristics. It should be between temperatures T2 and T1 (T2 > T1) the
remembered that an airplane is built not only for highest possible efficiency is (1 – T1/T2) even
good aerodynamic characteristics but more so for where there are no other losses whatsoever due to
better operational economics. Under such dissipation and so on. Propellers with large
circumstances the slight deterioration in the diameters handle more mass but at lower velocity
aerodynamic properties is acceptable with better increase. On the other hand jets have a large
operational costs with respect to the initial exhaust velocity not conducive to better efficiency
design21. Another way of looking at this is the and the bypass turbofan engines handle larger air
space for optimization has expanded and the cost mass, mix them with exhaust air and increase the
function is not based on aerodynamic properties efficiency. The limiting system is the turboprop
but the operational cost. engine.

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 INTRODUCTION TO AIRPLANE on the specific control actuation. The flight
PERFORMANCE envelope limits the operating region in the altitude
and velocity plane for steady, level and
The fortuitous differences in the time scales of unaccelerated flight. However it can possibly leave
performance, stability and control, and the envelope during transient maneuvers involving
aeroelasticity studies was intuitively and correctly dive to a lower altitude or zoom to a higher
understood by the pioneers of aviation. The first altitude. The aerodynamic limitation of maximum
corresponds to the point mass treatment as lift coefficient can further restrict the minimum
proposed by Cayley and the second so well speed to the stall speed. For safety an airplane has
recognised for a successful powered flight by the to fly higher than the stall speed. For minimum
Wright brothers, and the third occurring due to the time to climb performance the ‘energy height’ is
flexibility of present day big airplanes. The above used as against other functions of altitude and
leads naturally to varying levels of sophistication in velocity22. The trajectory shown in Figure 6 in the
the equations of motion as well as the inputs to be altitude-velocity plane is such that the rate of
considered for analysis. This is just the reason for increase of the energy height using the specific
discussing only the speed stability of airplanes at excess power (SEP) which is the excess power per
the maximum and minimum speeds shown in unit weight of an airplane, is maximised at all
Figure 5 on the forward and backside side of a drag altitudes. The reason being from classical
(or power) curve respectively. Further the airplane mechanics when a conservative system evolves we
behaviour below the minimum speed cannot be do not know of anything other than momentum and
considered since it depends on control actuation energy (potential + kinetic) remaining as constants
causing speed and altitude changes possibly of motion. An airplane after the drag is subtracted
leading to a retrieval from stall or an incident or an from the thrust behaves as if it is a conservative
accident. For performance studies the control system. The small changes in the angle of attack do
actuation is alien and assumed to have been not change the drag much and the transfer of
appropriately carried out by the pilot to follow the energy from linear motion to rotary motion is small
desired path in the altitude and velocity space. due to the point mass assumption.
However for example when the performance and
stability and control time scales merge as in the RANGE AND ENDURANCE
study of the one engine inoperative takeoff case or
in the airborne path of takeoff or landing where the The classroom treatments of the range and
piloting techniques are important that somehow endurance help to provide an insight into the
they will have to be accounted for. In a classroom variety of possible programs. One works out the
analysis the airborne distance is accounted for in best possible cruise speeds for various fixed
terms of a statistical correction factor from an altitude, or the cruise climb programs in the
assumed reference model trajectory estimate for troposphere or the stratosphere. There are also
the airborne distance. some figures of merit proposed but all these are
limited to the aerodynamic characteristics. In
Similar to the inertial velocity in Newtonian airline operations the best possible speeds are
mechanics, the relative air speed strongly governs determined from many operational considerations
the performance of an airplane, the piloting such as wind, the time schedule, and of the weather
techniques, its safety and so on. If in Newtonian conditions at the landing airfield all of which
mechanics a body exhibits inertia with respect to dictate the cruise speed. It is useful to stress the
the inertial velocity, an airplane exhibits inertia above extra aerodynamic considerations for an
with respect to the airspeed. It is just the reason for economic and scheduled flight operation. An
an airplane encountering a wind shear during appreciation of the above can be based on the five
landing tends to maintain the airspeed! Even a levels of analysis2.
very accurate GPS based information about the true
speed is not as important as the airspeed indicator TAKEOFF AND LANDING
for a pilot during takeoff and landing!
Among all aspects of an airplane performance
CLIMB AND TURN perhaps the takeoff and landing is most involved.
This is because they control the safety, and the
The excess thrust or power available in between economy of an airline operation. These flight
the minimum and the maximum level flight speeds phases involve large variations in speed and
is useful to carry out many maneuvers depending configuration, and increased pilot workload. Also

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for purposes of safety apart from the all engine atmospheric disturbances or pilot error can be
operative (AEO) case one has to consider the one tolerated while still maintaining control, (iv) has a
engine inoperative (OEI) situation with time delay lift margin for maneuvers like climb or turn, and
in the recognition of the engine failure, and the (v) can tolerate some reduction below the target
airplane drag variations. Thus there exist many safety speed, and still maintain a positive climb.
mathematical models for analysing the takeoff and
landing of an airplane. In particular the piloting FLYING ACTIVITY, FLIGHT SAFETY
technique during the airborne phase is very AND ECONOMY
difficult to model leading to uncertainty in
estimating the takeoff field length. Hence finally it The various measures of flying activity, flight
is the experimental data that caps over all the safety, and the economic activity are subjective and
mathematical modelling and analysis efforts. they are all correlated. The acceptable levels of
safety in different walks of life or mode of
The design sizing studies are carried out for transport are very different. Even in flying a light,
meeting many specifications of an airplane among commercial, or military transport the accepted
which the takeoff field length is an important one23. safety standards are very different.
The airworthiness regulations specify
quantitatively the climb gradients that must be
The study of the safety relative levels achieved by
achieved in the event of an engine failure during
various airline operators in different countries
takeoff. However they specify only the way the have been studied by deterministic approach by
takeoff or landing field lengths must be Ramsden24 and by probabilistic approach by Smith
determined. This is acceptable and advantageous
and Taylor25. Their conclusions regarding the
for a designer due to the wide range of weight,
relative safety levels achieved by the various
thrust, configurations, and speeds that exist not
countries can be altered in fact more than
only among many types but also during their
marginally based on the following considerations.
service operations. Thus the designers utilise the Ramsden utilised the data for every decade and he
correlation between the field length and the takeoff
ranks each country based on its performance in
parameters defined by
each of the four measures namely (i) fatal crashes
per 1012 CTK, (ii) fatal crashes per 106 flights, (iii)
TOP25 = (W/S) (W/T) / (σ CLmax) fatalities per 109 CTK, and (iv) fatalities per 106
and TOP23 = (W/S) (W/P) / (σ CLmax ) flights which are not homogeneous. An index 100
is assigned for the country with the best safety
where W is the weight, S is the wing area, σ the level in each measure. Then all other countries are
relative air density, and CLmax is the maximum lift related to this index by multiplying it with the
coefficient in the takeoff configuration and thrust appropriate proportionate values. The four safety
conditions in order to obtain quantitatively the measures for each country are then added to get the
takeoff field length not quantitatively mentioned in resultant score. Then ranking is given according to
the FAR25 and FAR23 regulations as shown in this total score. However as he himself mentions,
Figure 7. One can thus appreciate the simplicity of this ranking has no mathematical validity, but is
the regulations which would otherwise have to one possible method of approach. In fact any
consider perhaps the thrust, weight, configurations theory commences from an intuitive feeling to be
and the implied maximum lift coefficients, takeoff later cast in a mathematical framework. The basis
speeds all of which would have made the of the ranking cannot be provided by any theory
specifications too detailed for their administration. just as the assignment of probability is extra-
This is a fine example of simplicity of rule making! probabilistic! Instead of the proportionate values,
one could have rank ordered the countries in each
Finally the various speeds specified during takeoff measure of safety and just added them and then
and landing help to ensure that the airplane (i) is graded them according to the sum total of the rank
controllable by aerodynamic means alone on the order. Also the weightages for the four measures
ground or in the air using average piloting skills instead of being equal could have been unequal.
when the critical engine becomes inoperative, (ii)
after the critical engine failure the control can be Since the occurrence of an accident is not
recovered and it is flown straight or without excess deterministic and an element of chance exists in
of a yaw or bank or rudder force, (iii) has incident nature, a probabilistic approach would be more
margins to avoid stall or control loss due to an up- appropriate. As the number of flights is large and
gust, (iii) some reduction in speed due to

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fatal accidents are small the accidents tend to other issues. The Figure 9 shows as to how the
follow a Poisson distribution the time interval implied safety levels are passed on sequentially to
being one year as shown by Narasimha26. For an the various groups of people and each one needs to
observed number of accidents in a year it is thus know just the minimum and each is assured of
possible to obtain the expected range of the rate of having achieved the acceptable safety level.
accidents for any specified confidence level
(generally taken as 95 percent). Such an The present style of codes is due to the unavoidable
information has been plotted in Figure 8. Next for variability in airplane performance. For example
each country they calculated an expected number even the same airplane flown by the same or
of accidents based on the relative magnitude of the different pilots at about time in the same day will
flying activity with respect to the world. For achieve different climb gradients. The variability in
example, if the world average is 2.5 fatal performance gets translated into the multiplicative
crashes/106 flights, then corresponding to the factors for the field lengths and as a ‘margin’ to be
number of flights of each country the expected added to the ‘net’ climb gradient during takeoff
number of fatal crashes is calculated. The number and landing.
of accidents actually suffered by any country in
any period is then compared with the expected The subject of ETOPS is very controversial and
number of fatal crashes. If any country has suffice it to say that the discussions can be viewed
experienced less than the expected number of from the point of whether one is looking at the
accidents then it is considered to have performed achieved safety levels from the overall probability
well. If the number of accidents actually of occurrence or subsequent to an engine failure or
experienced by a country with respect to the in other words what is the sample space28?
expected number of fatal crashes lies within the
range of expectation (95% confidence band of PRELIMINARY AIRPLANE DESIGN
observed number of accidents) then its
performance is considered as not statistically The classroom design is fundamentally limited as
significant at 95% confidence level. On the other against the industrial design. The former generally
hand if the country has experienced more than the based on correlations is rapid, qualitative, showing
above 95% confidence band then it is considered to the trend, moderately accurate but is not sufficient
have performed badly. Further even the choice of to guarantee the ultimate goal. The latter based on
the confidence level is subjective! sophisticated computations and possibly with some
wind tunnel estimates is time consuming,
But even in such an analysis due to the far higher quantitative, working in the noise level for
safety level achieved by USA, the average is improvements, realistic and is sufficiently accurate
weighted in its favour. If only all other nations for firming up the project commitments. It takes
excluding USA is considered then a somewhat exponentially more amount of time, effort, and
different conclusion can arise! This is like funding to realise linear improvement in the
considering a very unusual sample in statistics in accuracy of the aerodynamic characteristics.
rather than a highly likely sample.
Finally thousands of component choices are
AIRWORTHINESS CODES available to the designer and his choice has to be
necessarily subjective and the consequent
One very nice characterization of the codes is that uncertainty in the eventual airplane behavior will
they are sharp lines in a hazy situation. The always remain. There is nothing like the best
acceptable level of safety implied in the ICAO airfoil, wing, other components and even the
Codes is in the range of (2 to 7) x 10–6 fatalities per airplane or its performance! It is not different from
hour or flight and it is in the range during average the choices that one has to make in daily life.
life span of a person of about 60 years. The ICAO
Performance Committee report27 is a classic CONCLUSIONS
example of dedicated work. The specifications are
not too detailed to the extent of interfering with the The discussion provided some examples of the
implementation and still provides the freedom in a ‘insight’, ’overview’, or the ‘behind the scene
simple way for its achievement by any means by arguments’ existing in various topics in Airplane
the concerned authorities. The airworthiness Flight Mechanics to provide further clarity in the
documents are too thin when compared to similar understanding to carry out the details with ease.
legal documents in the society dealing with many

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American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
 REFERENCES 14. ICAO (International Civil Aviation
Organization) Manual of the ICAO Standard
1. Ananthasayanam M.R., “Teaching of Airplane Atmosphere extended to 80 km (262 500 ft)
Flight Performance at the Indian Institute of Doc 7488, Third Edition (1993).
Science, Bangalore”, AIAA-98-4524, (1998). 15. Ananthasayanam M. R., and R. Narasimha,
2. Ananthasayanam M.R., “Flight Mechanics `Reference Annual Atmospheres for
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and Random Process”, Proceedings of the 13, No. 1. pp(1) 95 - (1)104, (1993).
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China, (2000). Reference and Standard Atmosphere Models”.
3. Ananthasayanam M.R., “The Aspect of AIAA – G – 003 (1988).
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Proceedings of the Meeting of the JSASS held W.P., ``Similitude Requirements and Scaling
at Gifu, Japan, during 29-31, Oct (2001). Relationships as Applied to Model Testing'',
4. Ananthasayanam M.R., “Flight Mechanics NASA TP-1435, August (1979).
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Variables, and Approaches”, Proceedings of of Wing Sections”, McGraw Hill Book
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Conference. AIAA-2001-4315 (2001). Publications, Inc., New York, (1959).
5. Ananthasayanam M.R., “3A13. Five Levels of 19. Smith M.J.T., “Aircraft Noise”, Cambridge
Looking at the Various Topics in Airplane Aerospace Series, Cambridge University
Flight Mechanics ”, Proceedings of the Press, (1989).
Meeting of the JSASS held at Yokohama, 20. Covert E.E., James C.R., Kimzey W.F.,
Japan, during 9-11, Oct (2002). Richey G.K. and Rooney E.C., ``Thrust and
6. Ananthasayanam M.R., “Analysis of the Trend Drag: Its Prediction and Verification'', Vol.98,
and Scatter among the Relations in Airplane Progress in Astronautics and Aeronautics,
Flight Mechanics”, Proceedings of the Third AIAA, Inc., New York, (1985).
APCATS, November 4-8, 2002, Chongqing, 21. Loftin Jr. L.K., “Subsonic Aircraft: Evolution
China, (2002). and the Matching of Size to Performance”,
7. Ananthasayanam M.R., “The Intuitive NASA Reference Publication 1060, (1980).
Beginning, Mathematical Framework, and 22. Bryson A. E., Denham W. F., ``A Steepest-
Experimental Aspects in Airplane Flight Ascent Method for Solving Optimum
Mechanics”, Proc. of AIAA Conference on Programming Problems'', Journal of Applied
Flight Mechanics, AIAA-2002-4877, (2002). Mechanics, pp.247-257, June (1962).
8. Smith C.H.G., “Aviation-A Historical Survey 23. Williams J., “Airfield Performance Prediction
from its Origin to the end of World War-II'', Methods for Transport and Combat Aircraft”,
Her Majesty's Stationery Office. London AGARD Lecture Series No. 56, April (1972).
(1950). 24. Ramsden J.M., “World Airline Safety”, Flight
9. McCormick B.W., “Aerodynamics, International, 17th May (1973).
Aeronautics and Flight Mechanics”, Wiley, 25. Smith C.W., and Taylor J., “Towards an
New York, (1979). Overall Safety Index”, Flight International,
10. Hale F.J., ``Introduction to Aircraft 28th November (1974).
Performance Selection and Design''. John 26. Narasimha R., ``Flight Safety and National
Wiley & Sons, (1984). Economy'', Report 77 FM 1 Department of
11. John D. Anderson, Jr., ``Introduction to Aerospace Engineering, Indian Institute of
Flight''. Second Edition, McGraw-Hill Science, Bangalore, India (1977).
International Editions, (1985). 27. ICAO Final Report of the Standing Committee
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Approach”. AIAA Education Series. Series AIR/OPS/613 (1953).
Editor-in-Chief J.S. Prozemieniecki (1989). 28. Ananthasayanam M.R., “Importance of
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Przemieniecki (1995). Nagano, Japan (2003).

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American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
 Theoretical: Experiments:
Intuitive / Mathematical Consistency with
Inspirational: MODEL Observations
MIND MEASUREMENT

Figure 1. Approaches to Progress in Science and Technology.

80

70

Dependent Quantity, Y
ISA
GEOPOTENTIAL ALTITUDE, KM

60
ITRA

50

40

30

20

10

Correlating Parameter, Θ
0
180 200 220 240 260 280 300 320
TEMPERATURE, DEG K

Figure 2. Comparison of the Temperature Figure 3. Typical Regression

Distributions in ISA and ITRA15. Relation2.

GEOMETRIC UNCERTAINTY

METHOD + GEOMETRIC INITIAL “BEST GUESS”

UNCERTAINTY PERFORMANCE POLAR
RELATIVE TO ROLL-OUT
PROBABLE % ERROR,

CONFIGURATION

20
15
10
METHOD UNCERTAINTY ± 2%,
5 REPRESENTATIVE
0 OF A VERY GOOD
PREDICTION
PRELIMINARY WIND TUNNEL FLEET SERVICE

Figure 4. The Variation of the Estimation Accuracy with Time.

(From Jobe20)

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American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
 Constant Energy Height Contours
Unstable Stable
Thrust

Altitude
Thrust,
Drag
Drag

Back side Forward side

of drag curve of drag curve Optimal
Path

Speed Speed
Figure 5. Variation of Thrust Figure 6. Constant SEP Contours and
and Drag with Forward Speed. Minimum Time to Climb Path22.
3
14000 10
FLIGHT DATA

NUMBER OF FATAL ACCIDENTS EXPERIENCED

CORRELATION
12000

2
10 UK
10000
FAR25 TOFL IN FEET

8000
Scan
1 Ind Bzl FrCan
10 Jp
USA It
6000 Ctry A
Blg Ger
Nd
Aus
4000 0
10

2000

-1
0 10 Ctry B
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 -1 0 1 2 3
10 10 10 10 10
TOP25
EXPECTED NUMBER OF FATAL ACCIDENTS

Figure 7. Correlation of TOFL with Figure 8. Safety Levels of Various

Parameter TOP25 to meet FAR2521. Countries from Smith and Taylor25.

DATA ON AIRPLANE
OPERATIONS AND
THEIR STATISTICAL
ANALYSIS

ISL PUBLICATIONS

AIRWORTHINESS
AUTHORITIES

ISL AIR WORTHINESS CODES

AIRCRAFT DESIGNER
ISL FLIGHT MANUAL

AIRLINE OPERATORS

ISL FLIGHT OPERATIONS

PUBLIC WHO TRAVEL

Figure 9. Flow of Implied or Acceptable Safety Level (ISL) in Airline Activity.

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American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
 TABLE 1. TOPICS IN FLIGHT MECHANICS WITH SOME CONCEPTUAL ASPECTS.

No. TOPIC CONSIDERS REMARKS RELATED TO

CONCEPTUAL ASPECTS

1 Aviation Evolution of airplane and The evolution followed intuitive or inspirational,

History its characteristics. experimental, and theoretical approaches. Some of the
lessons are: Teaches humility and hope. Finite time for
achievement. Synergistic equally competent advances in
allied fields. Successful achievement is followed by
refinement. Predictions are difficult even for great men.
2 Atmosphere Characterization of various Generally only ISA is mentioned. There are other
atmospheric properties atmospheres like ITRA. Many extreme atmospheres also do
over useful scales of space exist. Better to give prominence to International standards
and time.

3 Flight / Flow Interaction of flow with It took more than two centuries for the free stream dynamic
Regimes body flying at various pressure to evolve as the non dimensionalising factor to
altitudes and speed. specify the aerodynamic characteristics. Care must be
Specification of forces, exercised in choosing the reference area and length to
moments and heat transfer. specify nondimensional parameters or the Reynolds
number. These must be easy to evaluate, fix the geometry,
and help to compare aerodynamic characteristics of similar
bodies. Statistical interpretation for the above is possible.
4 Flight Limitations in the altitude- The limitations of flight in the altitude-speed plane are
Limitations velocity plane due to imposed from extra-flight mechanical namely aerodynamic,
aerodynamic forces, structural, propulsive, operational or other considerations.
heating, structure, engine, Well known examples being the high lift devices to operate
materials and noise with short airfields and the reduction of noise. These have
considerations. had a strong influence on the design.
5 Aerodynamics Forces and moments The explanation of lift based on Newtonian dynamics and
of Bodies experienced by bodies at Bernoulli theorem are fundamentally equal. But the latter is
various M and R. more natural in dealing with fluid flows. It is good to stress
the importance and advantages of the aerodynamic center
and center of pressure in subsonic airplane and supersonic
launch vehicle studies.
6 Airplane Drag Estimation of the drag of a From an accuracy level of around 5% for the turbulent drag
vehicle in terms of various coefficient of a flat plate, the same for a complex geometry
components at different R of an airplane with interference and surface characteristics
and M. to achieve the same is remarkable for a full scale airplane.
Manufacturers guarantee only the performance based on the
thrust minus the drag. Comparison of the drag standards of
similar airplanes is tricky due to differences in the reference
area, flight R. Airplanes with higher CDO and lower L/D
may be better off operationally due lower operating costs.
7 Thrust or power Specification of the thrust By the very creation of thrust by increased velocity, the
and specific fuel or power and sfc of power increased energy goes as waste! The is similar to the
consumption. plants with altitude and Carnot’s efficiency in thermodynamics where an engine
speed. operating between temperatures T2 and T1 (T2 > T1) the
highest possible efficiency is (1 – T1/T2) even where there
are no other losses due to dissipation and so on.

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8 Introduction Performance for the The time scales of performance, stability and control, and
to Airplane purpose of teaching, aeroelasticity are generally widely separated. Hence the
Performance design, airworthiness, operation of the control is alien to performance. Such an
operational and accident approach pervades in most other aerospace vehicles. In
analysis. The above need some cases these times merge. In some other treatments
increasing detail but piloting techniques are accounted for with statistical
provide higher accuracy. additive or multiplicative corrections.

9 Climb and Turn Climb and turn The flight envelope is only for steady, level, and
characteristics, their unaccelerated flight. The concept of ‘energy height’ is due
optimums for jets and to the conservation of energy for a conservative system in
piston props. mechanics. When the drag is accounted by the thrust the
airplane becomes a good approximation to a conservative
system.
10 Range and Range and endurance The classroom calculations of optimum range and
Endurance calculations for a variety of endurance consider only the aerodynamics. Some figures of
programs and their merit parameters exist but these refer to only the
optimum for jets and piston aerodynamic properties. For operational flights extra
props. Effect of Wind. aerodynamic considerations such as wind, time schedule,
weather at the landing field matter more.
11 Takeoff and Takeoff and landing Apart from importance due to safety, economy, and
Landing field length calculations. increased pilot workload even the modelling of takeoff and
land landing are difficult. This in particular due to the
airborne phase involving piloting techniques. The
airworthiness Codes cleverly have handled the large
variations of weight, configurations, flight conditions, by
not explicitly stating the quantitative field length
requirements during takeoff and landing but providing the
procedure to estimate the field lengths.
12 Flying activity, Measures of flying activity, The deterministic analysis of Ramsden or the probabilistic
Safety and safety and economy and analysis of Smith and Taylor the relative safety standards
Economy their correlations. achieved by various airline in the world are subjective and
the conclusions can be somewhat changed. In the former
instead of proportionate values if rank ordering is used the
conclusions could be different. The sample space including
the USA which is far more safe leads to an unlikely sample
in statistics! If USA is excluded then the results would
change. Even the choice of the confidence limit at 95% is
subjective so using another value the conclusions can differ.
13 Airworthiness Acceptable level of safety. The acceptable level of safety is subjective and vary widely
Codes Specification of among different activities. The choice of the sample space
appropriate climb gradients is very crucial in arriving at the conclusions.
and field lengths in various
flight stages.
14 Preliminary Sizing of an airplane for a The classroom design cannot match industrial design with
Airplane Design given specification and the database, experience, and effort that exist in industrial
meeting airworthiness design.
standards.

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