Aircraft Performance

MAIDO SAARLAS, who is recently retired, has been a professor or chairman of the Aerospace Engineering Department at the United States Naval Academy for the last thirty eight years. He received his undergraduate and master s degrees at the University of Illinois and his doctorate at the University of Cincinnati. His industrial experience includes work with Bell Aircraft, North American, Douglas Aircraft, and General Electric companies. He is an author or coauthor of two books: Steam and Gas Turbines for Marine Propulsion and An Introduction to Aerospace Propulsion.

1 The General Performance Problem. 1.1 Introduction. 1.2 Performance Characteristics. 1.2.1 Absolute Performance Characteristics. 1.2.2 Functional Performance Characteristics. 1.3 The Approach. 2 Equations of Motion. 2.1 General Information. 2.2 The Energy Approach. 3 The Basics. 3.1 Fundamental Performance Equation. 3.2 Stalling Speed. 3.3 Maximum Velocity and Ceiling. 3.3.1 General Considerations. 3.3.2 Drag and Drag Polar. 3.3.3 Flight Envelope: Vmax, Vmin. 3.3.4 Power Required and Power Available. 3.3.5 Turboprop Engines. 3.4 Gliding Flight. 3.4.1 Glide Angle and Sinking Speed. 3.4.2 Glide Range and Endurance. 4 Climbing Flight. 4.1 General. 4.2 Rate of Climb, Climb Angle. 4.3 Time to Climb. 4.4 Other Methods. 4.4.1 Shallow Flight Paths. 4.4.2 Load Factor n != 1 . 4.4.3 Partial Power and Excess Power Considerations. 5 Range and Endurance. 5.1 Introduction. 5.2 Approximate, But Most Used, Methods. 5.2.1 Reciprocating Engine. 5.2.2 Jet Aircraft. 5.3 Range Integration Method. 5.3.1 Basic Methodology. 5.3.2 An Operational Approach. 5.4 Other Considerations. 5.4.1 Flight Speeds. 5.4.2 Effect of Energy Change on Range. 5.5 Endurance. 5.5.1 Reciprocating Engines. 5.5.2 Turbojets. 5.5.3 Endurance Integration Method . 5.6 Additional Range and Endurance Topics. 5.6.1 The Effect of Wind. 5.6.2 Some Range and Endurance Comparisons. 6 Nonsteady Flight in the Vertical Plane. 6.1 Take off and Landing. 6.2 Take off Analysis. 6.2.1 Ground Run. 6.2.2 Rotation Distance. 6.2.3 Transition Distance . 6.2.4 Take off Time . 6.2.5 Factors Influencing the Take off. 6.3 Landing. 6.3.1 Landing Phases. 6.3.2 Landing Run. 6.3.3 The Approach Distance . 6.3.4 The Flare Distance . 6.4 Accelerating Flight . 7 Maneuvering Flight. 7.1 Introduction. 7.2 Turns in Vertical Plane: Pull Ups or Push Overs. 7.3 V n Diagram. 7.4 Turning Flight in Horizontal Plane. 7.5 Maximum Sustained Turning Performance. 7.5.1 Maximum Load Factor. 7.5.2 Minimum Turn Radius. 7.5.3 Maximum Turning Rate. 7.6 The Maneuvering Diagram. 7.7 Spiral Flight . 8 Additional Topics. 8.1 Constraint Plot. 8.1.1 Take off and Landing. 8.1.2 Constraints Tied to Performance Equation. 8.2 Energy Methods. A Properties of Standard Atmosphere. B On the Drag Coefficient. C Selected Aircraft Data. D Thrust Data for Performance Calculations. E Some Useful Conversion Factors. Index.