Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Flight dynamics is the science of air vehicle orientation and control in three dimensions. The three critical flight dynamics parameters are the angles of rotation in three dimensions about the vehicle's center of gravity (cg), known as pitch , roll and yaw .
Forces of flight on a powered aircraft in unaccelerated level flight. Understanding the motion of air around an object (often called a flow field) enables the calculation of forces and moments acting on the object. In many aerodynamics problems, the forces of interest are the fundamental forces of flight: lift, drag, thrust, and weight. Of ...
Aircraft flight mechanics are relevant to fixed wing (gliders, aeroplanes) and rotary wing (helicopters) aircraft. An aeroplane ( airplane in US usage), is defined in ICAO Document 9110 as, "a power-driven heavier than air aircraft, deriving its lift chiefly from aerodynamic reactions on surface which remain fixed under given conditions of flight".
Aerodynamics – Branch of dynamics concerned with studying the motion of air; Aircraft flight control system – How aircraft are controlled; Fixed-wing aircraft – Heavier-than-air aircraft with fixed wings generating aerodynamic lift; Flight control surfaces – Surface that allows a pilot to adjust and control an aircraft's flight attitude
Most aircraft trimmed for straight-and-level flight, if flown stick-fixed, will eventually develop a tightening spiral-dive. [2] If a spiral dive is entered unintentionally, the result can be fatal. A spiral dive is not a spin; it starts, not with a stall or from torque, but with a random perturbation, increasing roll and airspeed.
The science of aerodynamics deals with the motion of air and the way that it interacts with objects in motion, such as an aircraft. The study of aerodynamics falls broadly into three areas: Incompressible flow occurs where the air simply moves to avoid objects, typically at subsonic speeds below that of sound (Mach 1).
Flight dynamics depends on the disciplines of propulsion, aerodynamics, and astrodynamics (orbital mechanics and celestial mechanics). It cannot be reduced to simply attitude control; real spacecraft do not have steering wheels or tillers like airplanes or ships.
The distribution of forces on a wing in flight are both complex and varying. This image shows the forces for two typical airfoils, a symmetrical design on the left, and an asymmetrical design more typical of low-speed designs on the right. This diagram shows only the lift components; the similar drag considerations are not illustrated.