Flight Mechanics and Control

Dr. Mohd Fadhli Bin Zulkafli

 DRIFT-DOWN PERFORMANCE

• AEO altitude: Whenever a multi-engine airplane is

operated at its normal cruise altitude with all
engines operating (AEO)
• If one engine becomes inoperative (OEI) the
airplane may no longer be able to climb or maintain
the AEO altitude.
• Airplane in Drift-down mode: Power required may be
greater than Power available.
• Airplane need to be flown to OEI cruise altitude.

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 DRIFT-DOWN PERFORMANCE

• Power required to fly level with OEI altitude: 𝑃𝑟𝑒𝑞𝑂𝐸𝐼

𝑃𝑟𝑒𝑞𝑂𝐸𝐼 > 𝑃𝑟𝑒𝑞𝐴𝐸𝑂
• Power available with OEI altitude: 𝑃𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑂𝐸𝐼
𝑃𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑂𝐸𝐼 < 𝑃𝑎𝑣𝑒𝐴𝐸𝑂
• Rate of descent:
𝐷−𝑇 𝑃𝑟𝑒𝑞𝑂𝐸𝐼 −𝑃𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑂𝐸𝐼
𝑉𝐷 = 𝑉 =
𝑊 𝑊
• Concern:
• What is possible OEI altitude?
• What is the time required to drift down to that altitude
• How is the steepness of the flight path during drift down?

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 TIME AND HORIZONTAL DISTANCE FOR DRIFT-
DOWN

• During OEI, performance of an airplane is affected

in 2 ways:
• The amount of available thrust is reduced
• Drag is increased (extra drag due to stopped engines and
trim drag to keep airplane at straight path)
• So when airplane at max cruise altitude it will have
to descend (drift-down) to a lower altitude.
• Rate-of-decent:
𝑑ℎ
𝑉𝐷 = −
𝑑𝑡
• Time and distance for drift-down:
𝑑ℎ
𝑡=− 𝑠 = − 𝑉 cos 𝛾 𝑑𝑡
𝑉𝐷

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 LANDING PROCESS

Landing
Process

Approach
Phase

Air distance
Phase

Ground roll
Phase

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 LANDING PROCESS

During final approach, the Airplane is in landing configuration:

• Gear down
• Flaps in landing position
So drag must include these factors!
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 LANDING PROCESS

Approach speed:
𝑉𝐴 ≥ 1.3𝑉𝑆𝑡𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑟

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 LANDING PROCESS

During landing ground Airplane nose is lowered until

roll, the airplane use nose-wheel contacts the runway
brake (𝑉𝑇𝐷 = 1.15𝑉𝐴 )
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 EQN OF MOTION DURING LANDING PROCESS

3 2 1

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 DURING APPROACH AND DESCENT FROM OBSTACLE

• Straight line descent:

• Acceleration perpendicular to
flight path is assumed zero.
• Ideally:
• If approach is stabilized, the
approach speed will be
constant at
𝑉𝐴 = 1.3𝑉𝑆𝑡𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑟
• Therefore, deceleration along
flight path also zero
Typical approach flight
angle g: 2.5 - 3 degrees

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 DURING LANDING TRANSITION

• Transition start at Flare height (ℎ𝐹𝐿 ) until touchdown (TD)

• Decelerations along and perpendicular to the flight path
cannot be neglected

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 DURING LANDING GROUND ROLL

• Nose-gear will be on the

ground only after rotation
phase completed

• Assume:
• Only braking is used
• Airplane moment is in
equilibrium
• Landing gear and tire dynamic
effects on the eqn of motion
are negligible
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 DURING LANDING GROUND ROLL

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 DURING LANDING GROUND ROLL

• Combining those 2 eqns, we can get:

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 AIR DISTANCE DURING DESCENT FROM OBSTACLE SLDES

Equation of Motion during descent from obstacle:

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 AIR DISTANCE DURING DESCENT FROM OBSTACLE SLDES

Due to straight landing approach and sufficiently small aoa and thrust
inclination angle:

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 AIR DISTANCE DURING DESCENT FROM OBSTACLE SLDES

Due to straight landing approach and sufficiently small aoa and thrust
inclination angle:
Required L can get from
velocity VA

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AIR DISTANCE DURING FLARE/TRANSITION SLTR

Load factor (1.04 – 1.08)

depends on pilot technique
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 DISTANCE DURING ROTATION

𝑆𝐿𝑅 : Only main gear touch the ground (speed decrease 𝑉𝑇𝐷  𝑉𝐿𝑅 )

𝑆𝐿𝑁𝐺𝑅 : All wheels on the ground (speed decrease 𝑉𝐿𝑅  0)

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 DISTANCE DURING ROTATION

𝑆𝐿𝑅 : Only main gear touch the ground (speed decrease 𝑉𝑇𝐷  𝑉𝐿𝑅 )

• To estimate the ground, it is necessary to know time needed to get nose-wheel

on the ground, 𝑡𝐿𝑅 (typically 1-3 sec)
• If average deceleration during this time is called, 𝑎𝑔𝐿𝑅 then

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 DISTANCE DURING ROTATION

𝑆𝐿𝑅 : Only main gear touch the ground (speed decrease 𝑉𝑇𝐷  𝑉𝐿𝑅 )

• Or we can use

• And integrate it by considering

head/tail wing effect to get 𝑆𝐿𝑅

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 DISTANCE DURING NOSE-WHEEL ON THE
GROUND SLNGR

𝑆𝐿𝑁𝐺𝑅 : All wheels on the ground (speed decrease 𝑉𝐿𝑅  0)

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