Exercises Lecture 9 - Answers

Special vehicles

Prof. dr. ir. Jacco Hoekstra

Tim van Leeuwen
Delft University of Technology

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M. Scheikl - CC - BY
- NC

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 AE1110x - Introduction to Aeronautical Engineering

Exercise 1
According to internet sources the wing area of an Airbus A319 is 122.4 square metres. Since
flying so low gives a lift increase of 40% (an increase by a factor 1.4), the wing surface area can
be reduced by a factor 1.4. So the new wing area needs to be (122.4 / 1.4 = ) 87.4 square
metres.

Exercise 2
A & D) As explained in the clip, the reasons the Russians designed these "Caspian Sea Monsters"
was to transport troops over the vast Caspian sea, whilst being invisible to radar (as it flew so low).
Additionally the vehicles are harder to notice by sonar as they fly over the water.

Exercise 3

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B) Airbreathing engines don’t function properly when they ingest a lot of water. Therefore the en-
gines of the Russian sea planes were placed high up. This same design consideration is encountered

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with all amphibious planes (capable of landing on both land and water).

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Exercise 4
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C) The main difficulty in flying a helicopter is that a helicopter has many cross-couplings in its
controls (which an aircraft does not). For example requiring the helicopter to climb has as a side-
effect that the helicopter will turn, meaning the pilot has to apply his pedals after requesting a
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higher lift force.

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Exercise 5
In case the engine of a helicopter fails, we should perform a manoeuvre referred to as autorotation:
one keeps the main rotor turning whilst descending fairly quickly, and then pulls up sharply just
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before landing. This removes as much kinetic energy as possible from the helicopter and allows for
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a (relatively) soft landing.

Exercise 6
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B & C) The swashplate has two main functions: it controls the angle of attack of the rotor blades,
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both collectively and individually.

By collectively increasing the angle of attack of the blades the whole rotor will produce more lift,
causing the helicopter to climb. Collectively reducing the angle of attack of the rotor blades results
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in a descent.
By individually controlling the angle of attack of the blades (so increasing the angle of attack on
one side and decreasing it on the other side) results in a lift imbalance, causing the helicopter to
tilt either longitudinally or laterally.

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Answers to Exercises Lecture 9 - Special vehicles 1
 AE1110x - Introduction to Aeronautical Engineering

Exercise 7
We know that the rotor torque Q and the tail rotor moment arm ltr are related through:

Q = Ttr · ltr

Hence, knowing the tail rotor thrust and main rotor torque, we can compute:
Q 4800Nm
ltr = = = 6.67 m
Ttr 720N

Exercise 8
Hovering a powerful jet was sometimes called "balancing on a pole". Imagine you putting a tennis
ball on top of a stick. If you balance the stick on your finger, the stick will immediately fall over as
soon as it deviates from its equilibrium position. This is typical for negative static stability. Since

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the jet is negatively statically stable, it can’t be dynamically stable.

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Exercise 9

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The hovering action of a Harrier or a Joint Strike Fighter requires an enormous amount of thrust
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(consider the weight of these planes!). Since thrust is equal to mass flow times the change in
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velocity of the air, it is clear that an enormous mass flow is required to hover. Therefore the
hatches serve as air inlets to allow the generation of a big enough mass flow.
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In normal flight (with speed) a small hatch suffices as a lot of air enters the opening at speed,
however when hovering all the air needs to be sucked in, rather than it entering an opening by
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itself.
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Exercise 10
JATO stands for "Jet-assisted take-off", a take-off using (solid) rockets to give the aircraft addi-
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tional thrust and reduce the take-off distance. At the end of 2013 the term popped up again in
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the media, after a Boeing 747 "Dreamlifter" accidentally landed at the wrong airport (click for a
link) with a shorter runway).
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Exercise 11
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A & D) We know that it is technically feasible to make passenger aircraft fully automated. Also
the communication between ground and aircraft is good enough to let aircraft fly autonomously.
Automation reliability and acceptance form the main challenges in trying to make passenger aircraft
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autonomous.

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2 Answers to Exercises Lecture 9 - Special vehicles

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