Aerospace Engineering Desk Reference

Note from the Publisher

This book has been compiled using extracts from the
following books within the range of Aerospace books in
the Elsevier collection:
Filippone (2006) Flight Performance of Fixed and Rotary
Aircraft 9780750668170
Megson (2007) Aircraft Structures for Engineering Students
9780750667395
Cook (2007) Flight Dynamics Principles 9780750669276
Jenkinson and Marchman (2003) Aircraft Design Projects 9780750657723
Tooley (2007) Aircraft Digital Electronic and Computer
Systems 9780750681384
Tooley and Wyatt (2007) Aircraft Communications and
Navigation Systems 9780750681377
Watkinson (2003) Art of the Helicopter 9780750657150
Curtis (2005) Orbital Mechanics for Engineering Students
9780750661690
De Florio (2006) Airworthiness 9780750669481
The extracts have been taken directly from the above
source books, with some small editorial changes. These
changes have entailed the re-numbering of Sections and
Figures. In view of the breadth of content and style of the
source books, there is some overlap and repetition of
material between chapters and significant differences in

style, but these features have been left in order to retain

the flavour and readability of the individual chapters.
End of chapter questions
Within the book, several chapters end with a set of
questions; please note that these questions are for reference only. Solutions are not always provided for these
questions.
Units of measure
Units are provided in either SI or IP units. A conversion
table for these units is provided at the front of the book.
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Aerospace
Engineering
Desk Reference

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Contents
Author Biographies ................................................................................................................ vii

Section 1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................. 1

1.0 Introduction ............................................................................................................ 3

Section 2 FLIGHT PERFORMANCE .............................................................................................. 11

2.1 The Aircraft and its Environment ......................................................................... 13

2.2 Weight .................................................................................................................. 25
2.3 Aerodynamics ...................................................................................................... 36
2.4 Engines ................................................................................................................. 56
2.5 Rotorcraft ............................................................................................................. 79
2.6 V/STOL ................................................................................................................. 88
Section 3 AIRCRAFT STRUCTURES............................................................................................101

3.1 Materials ............................................................................................................. 103

3.2 Structural Components...................................................................................... 119
3.3 Airworthiness...................................................................................................... 134
3.4 Airframe Loads ................................................................................................... 138
Section 4 FLIGHT DYNAMICS .....................................................................................................155

4.1 Introduction to Flight Dynamics ........................................................................ 157

4.2 System of Axes and Notation ............................................................................ 164
4.3 Static Equilibrium and Trim ............................................................................... 178
4.4 Longitudinal Dynamics ...................................................................................... 202
4.5 Lateral-Directional Dynamics............................................................................. 227
Section 5 AIRCRAFT DESIGN PROJECTS...................................................................................253

5.1 Long-Range Business Jet.................................................................................. 255

5.2 Military Trainer.................................................................................................... 296
Section 6 AVIONIC SYSTEMS .....................................................................................................329

6.1 VHF Communications ........................................................................................ 331

6.2 HF Communications .......................................................................................... 346
6.3 Aircraft Navigation ............................................................................................. 359
6.4 Automatic Direction Finder ................................................................................ 376
6.5 VHF Omnidirectional Range............................................................................... 387
6.6 Distance Measuring Equipment......................................................................... 401
6.7 Flight Management Systems ............................................................................. 412

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Contents

6.8 Air Traffic Control System.................................................................................. 424

6.9 Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System ................................................... 442
6.10 Data Buses ......................................................................................................... 456
6.11 Software ............................................................................................................. 468
Section 7 ROTORCRAFT .............................................................................................................477

7.1 Introduction to Rotorcraft .................................................................................. 479

7.2 Helicopter Dynamics .......................................................................................... 495
Section 8 SPACE VEHICLES AND ROCKETS..............................................................................537

8.1 Satellite Attitude Dynamics................................................................................ 539

8.2 Rocket Vehicle Dynamics .................................................................................. 596
Section 9 AIRWORTHINESS ........................................................................................................617

9.1 The ICAO and the Civil Aviation Authorities...................................................... 619

9.2 Airworthiness Requirements.............................................................................. 636
Index .................................................................................................................................. 661

Author Biographies
Michael Cook was a Lecturer for the Aerodynamics
Department of the College of Aeronautics, Cranfield.
He is a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society and
a Chartered Engineer. He has contributed to industrial
research projects, including the BAe Fly-By-Wire Jaguar
programme, various advanced helicopter concepts and
the development of digital flight control technology. He
has written or contributed to over 100 technical reports,
papers and in 1994 was awarded the Royal Aeronautical
Society John Britten prize for a paper on hang glider
stability.

agencies. At Virginia he has held several positions, including Assistant Department Head of Aerospace and
Ocean Engineering and Associate Dean of Engineering
for Academic Affairs. His experience elsewhere includes
positions as an Aerospace Engineer, U.S. Army Aviation
Test Activity, Edwards AFB, CA and Research Assistant,
North Carolina State University. He is Associate Fellow
of the AIAA and a member of the ASEE.
Dr. THG Megson took early retirement from his post
as Senior Lecturer in Civil Engineering at the University of Leeds in 1996 and became a Senior Fellow lecturing part-time for three years until he retired fully in
1999. Since then he has produced the fourth edition of
Aircraft Structures, been engaged in consultancy for different firms and been a governor of Harrogate Grammar
School in North Yorkshire for eight years including
a four-year term as Chairman.

Howard D. Curtis is a former Associate Dean at the

College of Engineering, ERAU, and Associate Fellow of
the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
(AIAA). He is also the former Chair of the Aerospace
Engineering Department, ERAU. He has also held
various roles at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, MIT
Lincoln Laboratory and Martin-Marietta.

Mike Tooley is an ex-Vice Principal and Dean of Engineering at Brooklands College in Surrey, England. He
was responsible for the delivery of learning to over
10,000 Further and Higher Education students increasingly by flexible, open and on-line distance learning. Mike is the well-known author of a large number of
popular engineering and related text books, including
the principal course texts used by many of todays UK
engineering students.

Filippo De Florio is a retired aeronautical engineer and

private pilot. He previously worked in the Technical
Services at ALITALIA and AERFER and as a researcher
in the Institute of Aerodynamics at the University of
Naples. He was inspector at the RAIs (now ENAC)
regional office in Milan and also director of the RAI/
ENAC Type Certification Division in Rome. He was
a Member of the JAA Certification Committee and is
currently Honorary Member of UVS International and
Member of the OSTIV Sailplane Development Panel.
He was recently awarded the first UAS Pioneer Award.

John Watkinson is an independent author, journalist

and consultant in the broadcasting industry with more
than thirty years of experience in research and development. He has held teaching posts at a senior level
with The Digital Equipment Corporation, Sony
Broadcasting and Ampex Ltd., before forming his own
consultancy. He presents lectures, seminars, conference
papers and training courses worldwide, in audio, video
and data recording. He is a Fellow of the AES, a member
of the British Computer Society and a chartered information systems practitioner.

Dr. Antonio Filippone is a senior lecturer in aerospace

engineering at The University of Manchester, where he
teaches subjects on flight mechanics, helicopter flight
and high-speed aerodynamics. His research interests are
in the area of aero-flight mechanics of fixed and rotarywing aircraft, and also non-conventional vehicles at the
frontier of flight.
Dr. Lloyd Jenkinson has worked for most of his professional life on aircraft project design in industry and
at university. He has also acted as a consultant to industrial and government agencies. He has presented
several technical papers on aircraft design at RAeS,
AIAA and SAE conferences and journals. He is currently
working as an engineering consultant, and as a parttime senior lecturer at Loughborough and Southampton
Universities.

David Wyatt is currently the Design Manager at Lees

Avionics for GA and business aircraft. He was previously
a Development Engineer (B747 avionic systems) at
British Airways; Product Support Engineer (B737
FMCS) with Lear Siegler; Business Development
Manager at Kidde Graviner (Eurofighter, Tornado and
AVRO RJ fire and overheat protection systems). This
was followed by commercial positions with Weston
Aerospace (aero-engine transducers) and Ametek
(cooling and demist systems). David also lectured EASA
Part 66 modules at Brooklands College.

Dr. Jim Marchman is Professor of Aerospace and Ocean

Engineering at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State
University, and consultant to various commercial

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