Homework 1

1 - A subsonic transport aircraft has a tapered, untwisted sweptback wing with straight
leading and trailing edges. The wing tips are straight and parallel to the root chord. In
the following, use the data of Appendix C and assume that the airfoil section local
1
aerodynamic center is at the 4-chord point.
(a) Make an accurate three-view drawing of the wing chord plane.
(b) Calculate wing area 𝑆, aspect ratio 𝐴, taper ratio 𝜆 = 𝑐𝑡 /𝑐𝑟 and the mean aerodynamic
chord 𝑐‾.
(c) Calculate the location of the wing's mean aerodynamic center, and locate it and 𝑐‾ on
the side view of the wing (with dimensions). (Assume a uniform additional lift coefficient
𝐶𝑙𝑎 = 𝐶𝐿 .)
(d) The aircraft is to be operated with its most rearward CG position limited to 25ft
(7.62 m) aft of the apex of the wing. The distance between the wing and tail mean
aerodynamic centers is 𝑙‾𝑡 = 55ft(16.76 m). Estimate the tail area required to provide a
control-fixed static margin of at least 0.05 at all times. Assume that 𝑎𝑡 = 𝑎𝑤𝑏 and ℎ𝑛𝑤 =
ℎ𝑛𝑤𝑏 . Ignore power plant effects and use ∂𝜖/ ∂𝛼 = 0.25.

Geometric Data
Wing Span, 𝑏 150ft(45.72 m)
Root Chord, 𝑐𝑟 25ft(7.62 m)
Tip Chord, 𝑐𝑡 12ft(3.66 m)
Leading edge sweep, Λ 0 26∘
Dihedral angle, 𝛾 4∘

2- The McDonnell Douglas C-17 is a four-engined jet STOL transport airplane.

(a) Find 𝐴𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑡 𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜 and 𝑐‾ for the wing using the geometrical data and Appendix C
(Mean Aerodynamic Chord appendix).
(b) Use Appendix B (Estimation of Aerodynamic Derivatives) to estimate 𝑎𝑤 , the wing
lift curve slope, assuming that 𝛽 = 1 and 𝜅 = 1.
(c) If 𝑎𝑡 = 0.068/deg and 𝑎𝑤𝑏 = 𝑎𝑤 , find the lift curve slope, 𝑎, of the aircraft. Assume
∂𝜖 2𝑎
∂𝛼
= 𝜋𝐴𝑤 (with 𝑎𝑤 expressed in rad−1 ).
(d) Find 𝐶𝑚 for the case where 𝑙𝑡 = 𝑙‾𝑡 = 92ft (28.04 m). Ignore propulsion effects.
𝛼

Wing area, 𝑆 3,800ft 2 (353.0 m2 )

Wing span, 𝑏 165ft(50.29 m)
Root chord, 𝑐𝑟 37.3ft(11.37 m)
Tip chord, 𝑐𝑡 8.8ft(2.68 m)
Geometric Data 1
4
chord line sweep, Λ 25∘
1
2
chord line sweep, Λ 𝑐/2 22∘
Tail area, 𝑆𝑡 870ft 2 (80.83 m2 )