Ace Rewrite

Chapter 1: Aerodynamics

Maximum glide range is achieved at VMD

The mean aerodynamic chord (MAC)

show in yellow is the average chord
length of an airfoil. It is used in larger
aircraft during CG calculations, where
CG is expressed as a % of the MAC ,
starting from leading edge.

Not to be confused with the main

camber line, which is a line from
leading to trailing edges equidistant from the top and bottom surfaces of the wing.

Washout on a wing is the decrease in angle of incidence from root to tip, it compensates for early
wingtip stall due to higher loading in that region by maintaining the ⍺ lower at tips.

Center of pressure is the theoretical point through which the sum of lifting force acts on along the
chord line of a wing. As ⍺ increases, the CP moves toward the leading edge.

Direct lift control is a system through which the wing spoilers are used to dump lift during an
instrument approach in order to maintain glide slope.

There is pro le and induced drag, “pro le” drag is made up of form, friction and interference drags.

Induced drag is drag created as a byproduct of lift. The more lift being generated, and the higher
angle of attack, the more a wing will generate induced drag as a byproduct of the lift it is
generating.

VMD is the minimum drag speed, it is the point where induced and pro le drag are equal, creating
the lowest point in the total drag curve.

Straight winged piston aircraft have a steeper increase in pro le drag with speed as their wings are
not designed for it. There is also a steeper increase in induced drag (and therefore total drag)
below VMD, remember having to apply a lot of power to maintain slow ight.

The drag curve of a jet aircraft is noticeably atter than that of a piston counterpart. VMD is
typically higher on a jet aircraft because the swept wing is more e cient against pro le drag.

Wingtip vortices create downwash, something that reduces the amount of lift produced. To
compensate, ⍺ must be increased, which creates induced drag.


Vortex generators energize the boundary layer and helps keep it attached to the wing surface, this
helps prevent stall at low speeds and increase control surface e ectiveness.

CG is forward limited so that the plane is not nose heavy, this can decrease are rate and cause
high stick forces.

FWD CG also increases the amount of tail-down force to be generated by the tailplane, this TDF
causes increased drag and thus decreased performance and e ciency.

The e ective weight increase caused by the balancing force of the tailplane (TDF) increases stall
speed, trimmage of which results in decreased range of motion and less range during rotation/
are. Minimum speeds are also restricted for the same reason. The aircraft is heavier, less
responsive and requires more stick force.

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CG beyond the aft limit causes short tailplane moment (CG to TP-CP): the aircraft will be
longitudinally unstable and low stick forces leave it prone to over-stressing of the airframe. There
will be less induced drag on the tailplane which decreases required wing ⍺, increased range and
high speed performance. A tailplane trimmed for far-aft CG may not be able to produce the nose-
down forces required to maintain steady AOA at high cruise speeds.

An aft CG (but still within limits) is bene cial, it produces a lighter and more responsive aircraft
which costs less to operate.

In order to control its stronger momentum, a heavier aircraft will have a further TOD for a shallower
descent gradient requirement.

A swept wing has a higher Mcrit due to the division of ow over the wing between the increased
span wise compared to chord wise ow. A swept wing produces less lift and is therefore less
sensitive to turbulence.

A swept wing stalls at the tip rst, during the stall there is a forward and inward movement of the
CP.

Reaching critical mach, shockwaves increase drag and create a shift from stick push to stick pull
force required to maintain level ight. A nose down e ect called ‘mach tuck’. Passing critical mach
there is a rearward shift in CP.

Speed margin of a jet aircraft is more signi cant due to the overspeed tendencies at low altitude of
a jet aircraft, because of its huge power.

Mach number is the ratio of TAS to LSS.

The maneuverability margin/envelope is the area between the top and bottom ends of the speed
range, wether this is in terms of actual stall speed and MDF or margined speeds

(ie. 1.3Vs)

Greater camber, lower incidence help to delay stall, wing slots are the main feature to serve this
purpose, re-energizing the boundary layer increases coe cient of lift, delaying stall.

In most swept or tapered wings, the wing root is designed to stall rst, this moves the CP rearward
and causes a stable nose down moment at the stall.

At very high altitudes, mach compressibility disturbs pressure and increases e ective weight on the
wing, the EAS stall speed will therefore be higher. Compressibility error (that is corrected in the
conversion from IAS to EAS) means that the IAS stall speed will be higher at higher altitudes, due
to the mach e ect.

Dutch Roll (aka oscillatory stability) is a combination of slight yaws developing into slight rolls, it is
caused by swept wings. Although the source of Dutch Roll is yaw, the correction for it -assuming
INOP yaw dampers- is to apply opposite aileron, because it is practically impossible to time the
application of yaw against it. It is more useful for an aircraft to be spirally unstable than to su er
from Dutch Roll, a spiral instability can easily be corrected by opposite aileron.

Stability is the ability of an aircraft to return to a previous condition following a disturbance

(assuming no con g and power changes)

Directional Stability = Return to heading after a yaw force

Spiral Stability (weird one) = Return to wings level after aileron release in a coordinated turn

Lateral Stability = Return to level ight after a roll force

Longitudinal Stability = Return to straight ight after a pitch force

A statically stable aircraft will return to original attitude following disturbance, if in this process it
oscillates with decreasing amplitude, it is also dynamically stable. If there is a divergent oscillation,
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 the aircraft may be statically stable, but is dynamically unstable. Static stability is the immediate
reaction of the airframe following a disturbance, dynamic stability is the reaction over time. Either
can be positive, neutral, or negative levels of stability.

Aerodynamic damping forces decrease with altitude, so at higher altitudes dynamic stabilities will
be reduced. Except for spiral stability, which increases at high altitudes. Spiral stability always
opposes oscillatory stability (OS is the same as Dutch Roll, it increases with altitude).

Yaw induced adverse rolling motion happens at very high speeds (above MMO), applying right
rudder causes a rolling force since the rudder is not central to the rolling axis, and thus acts like a
wing with aileron de ection.

Spoilers can be used for rolling because they disrupt air ow to decrease lift, this is useful at high
speeds where increased span wise ow decreases aileron e ciency. They also cause drag in
speed brake usage.

Series yaw dampers do not a ect pedal movement, so they can be used in modern aircraft during
takeo s and landings since they do not increase pedal forces required by the pilot.

Variable-incidence tailplanes are used in jet aircraft to allow for a large speed range and shifting CG
due to fuel burn. If this system becomes stuck, stick forces will increase and the aircraft will be less
responsive. Moving passengers (and therefore CG) aft ameliorates this condition. - If this happens,
land at the nearest alternate to avoid diversions from the trimmed condition due to CG shift by fuel
burn, moving CG aft will decrease the force required for landing are. Use a reduced ap setting
for landing to reduce forces required, plan a long approach to give time to control during
con guration changes.

A runaway stabilized will max out at its top or bottom stop, if this happens the control column must
be gripped rmly, AP disengaged, trim switches to the cut out position and manual grasp on the
trim wheel. Manual trim to be used for the remainder of the ight.

If there is a reduction in elevator feel, it can be easy to over stress the airframe, in this condition
shifting the CG forward can help return some stick force for safer ying.

Balance tabs are a mini aileron on an aileron (or other control surface) used to reduce stick force.
Serve the same purpose as a horn or mass balance.

Q-feel is a computerized system that uses dynamic pressure (as in IAS) to simulate natural stick
forces on a y-by-wire aircraft (powered control surfaces).

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