How Pilots Actually Fly Airplanes, 8 Pages

Flight Mechanics Basics • 69
Figure 2.13. Unit Reynolds number as a function of Mach number and

pressure altitude (ft).
The Standard Atmosphere also defines the dynamic pressure per Mach
number squared, (q/M2), as a function of altitude, ALT. Thus, the dynamic
pressure as a function of flight conditions may be dimensionalized as
q
q ( M , ALT ) = ( ALT ) ⋅ M 2 (2.22)
M2
These values are plotted in Figure 2.14. With equally spaced contours in
Copyright © 2016. Momentum Press. All rights reserved.
dynamic pressure, the student can observe the quadratic nature of dynamic
pressure with increasing velocity. On a standard day at sea level, the dy-
namic pressure reaches a value of 1481 lbf/ft2 when the airframe attains
the speed of sound.
2.4 HOW PILOTS ACTUALLY FLY AIRPLANES
In order for an engineer to plan how to fly an aircraft, the engineer needs to
understand the envelope of speeds and altitudes where an airplane can fly.
History documents two distinctly separate intellectual traditions re-
garding the approximate computation of aircraft performance for design
purposes: one directly traceable to the seminal work of Louis Breguet,7 the
other traceable to the landmark paper by Rutowski.8
The Breguet tradition (see Chapter 6) emphasizes the analytical esti-
mation of cruise range based on a quasi-steady flight.
Takahashi, Timothy. Aircraft Performance and Sizing, Volume I : Fundamentals of Aircraft Performance, Momentum Press,
2016. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/kaau-ebooks/detail.action?docID=4432251.
Created from kaau-ebooks on 2023-08-16 01:41:47.
70 • AIRCRAFT PERFORMANCE AND SIZING
Figure 2.14. Dynamic pressure as a function of Mach number and pressure

altitude (ft).
The Rutowski tradition (see Chapter 5) built upon work pioneered in

Nazi Germany by Fritz Kaiser.9 Rutowski presents aircraft performance
in graphical form as contour plots of parameters of interest expressed as
a function of speed and altitude. Rutowski defined procedures to identify
the indicated airspeed schedule that a pilot should follow to efficiently
climb to a specific speed and altitude. Kaiser and Rutowski’s insight were
expanded by Korean War fighter ace John Boyd. He realized that the tac-
tical give and take of air-to-air combat was a dance where potential and
kinetic energy could be conserved. This led to the development of the

energy maneuverability theory.10 Like Rutowski and Kaiser before him,
Boyd11 requires the engineer to think of aircraft performance in terms of
flight envelope. The pilot must understand how to trade speed against alti-
tude to maximize different aspects of performance. The best fuel economy
may be found at one speed altitude pairing. The best instantaneous turn
occurs at other speeds and altitudes. The best sustained turn rate occurs at
still another and the best climb rate at yet another.12,13,14
2.4.1 BASIC SPEED AND ALTITUDE—FLIGHT AT CONSTANT

INDICATED AIRSPEED
Indicated, calibrated and equivalent airspeed, for all practical purposes,

function as a proxy for dynamic pressure (refer back to Equation 2.19).
Compare Figure 2.11 (the KEAS skymap) with Figure 2.14 (the dynamic
pressure skymap). Thus, pilots (and autopilots) that rely upon instru-
mentation that senses stagnation pressure and static pressure have flights
scheduled to maintain an indicated airspeed. In reality, they have flights
scheduled to maintain a specific value of dynamic pressure.
If an aircraft climbs from sea level to 30,000 ft while maintaining 250
KEAS, the true airspeed climbs from 250 KTAS (Mach ~0.38) to ~410
KTAS (Mach ~0.70). The dynamic pressure, however, remains constant;
q = 212 lbf/ft2.
2.4.2 COMPASS HEADINGS
Aircraft are equipped with both a magnetic compass (see Figure 2.15a)
and a gyroscopically stabilized heading indicator (see Figure 2.15b).
These instruments are used by the pilot to set a designated heading. It is
difficult to get a good magnetic compass reading in turbulent air. Engi-
neers should understand that a gyroscopic heading indicator (a form of
inertial navigation) is not truly direction seeking, as is the magnetic com-
pass. Pilots must periodically recalibrate the gyroscopic heading indicator
to align it with the magnetic compass.
The magnetic field of the Earth lies only roughly north and south as
compared to geographic charts. Today, the magnetic north pole is found
in Canada. Historically, it has shifted over a wide range and has even in-
verted. The angular difference between a geographical true north and the
direction indicated by the magnetic compass is called variation.
Engineers should note that aircraft never fly using geographic heading
(as would be reported by a GPS system). Instead, they always fly on mag-
netic compass headings. Thus, the standard airport runway nomenclature
Figure 2.15. Aircraft instruments: (a) Compass (b) Heading indicator.

(using magnetic headings) is consistent with all other aircraft navigation

procedures. Unmanned systems, as they become more prevalent, will need
to conform to traditional norms and standards for aeronautical navigation.
2.4.3 HEADING CHANGES
Aircraft lack inherent pendulum stability. The aerodynamic center of lift

is nearly always longitudinally and laterally coincident with the aircraft’s
center of gravity. Any vertical displacement is at best small. Because most
aircraft have their wings mounted below their center of gravity, they actu-
ally have weak pendulum instability.
As aircraft lack an inherent tendency to flight right-side up, they typi-
cally fly bank to turn flight profiles. Pilots command heading changes by
rolling the aircraft to the left or right in order to tilt the direction of the lift
vector. To finish the turn, the pilot rolls back to the wings-level position. If
the aircraft is to turn without a loss of altitude, the vertical component of the
lift force must continue to equal the weight. Thus, the pilot must pull back
on the stick to increase lift to an amount greater than the weight of the air-
craft. The horizontal component is unbalanced; this force (balanced by cen-
trifugal force) causes the aircraft to accelerate inward and execute the turn.
The load factor, Nz, represents the magnitude by which lift exceeds
weight:
L = Nz ⋅W (2.23)
Thus, geometry implies a correlation between Nz and bank angle, Φ, for

flight without loss of altitude (Figure 2.16):
N z = 1 / cos(F ) (2.24)
Turning radius in feet may be inferred from load factor, Nz, and flight
speed in KTAS, where g = 32.2 ft/sec2 (Figure 2.17):
2
 6076 
 VKTAS ⋅ 
(V )2 3600 
Turn Radius = = (2.25)
g N z2 − 1 32.2 ⋅ N z2 − 1
As the turn radius increases as a function of the true airspeed squared,

the reader may examine the trade between maneuverability and agility. A
supersonic fighter aircraft with a 5 gee load factor at 1,000 KTAS true
Figure 2.16. Bank angle/load factor relationship.

Figure 2.17. Turn radius as a function of load factor and flight speed.
airspeed, will bank over 78o to make a ~3 nM radius turn. A subsonic

transport can fly the same course and make the same 3 nM radius turn at
250 KTAS with only a 17o bank angle and a barely perceptible load factor
of 1.045! Referring to Figure 2.18, the reader can see that an aircraft with
a design maximum load factor, Nz = 2.5, will attain that sort of load factor
at a 66o bank angle provided it has the power to maintain this bank without
loss of speed or altitude. If that transport utilizes its meager 2.5 gee cer-
tification load factor, it can make a turn of 0.4 nM radius at 250 KTAS!
In order to provide a pilot with situational awareness, aircraft are fit-

ted with a gyroscopic artificial horizon (see Figure 2.18) as well as a sim-
ple inclinometer (see Figure 2.19). The artificial horizon provides pilots a
visual clue as to the actual commanded bank angle relative to the earth’s
reference frame. The turn coordinator (a ball in a curved track) provides
a secondary form of feedback, helping the pilot keep the aerodynamic
forces developed by the airframe orthogonal to the angle of attack. If the
Figure 2.18. Aircraft artificial horizon.

Figure 2.19. Aircraft turn coordinator (inclinometer).

aircraft skids (flies yawed into the wind), it will attain an additional bank
angle related to the side force it generates from any vertical tail surfaces.
So long as the pilot “keeps the ball centered,” the artificial horizon will
give a good indication as to the true bank angle of flight.
ENDNOTES
1. U.S. Standard Atmosphere, 1962, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington,

D.C., 1962.
D.C., 1966.
D.C., 1976.
4. Sobester, A., Stratospheric Flight, Springer/Praxis Publishing, Chichester,
UK, 2011, ISBN: 1441994572.
5. Glossary of Definitions, Ground Rules and Mission Profiles to Define Air
Vehicle Performance Capability, MIL-STD 3013, U.S. Government Printing
Office, Washington, D.C., 2013.
6. Herrington, R.M., Shoemacher, P.E., Bartelett, E.P., and Dunlap, E.W., “Flight
Test Engineering Handbook,” AF Tech. Report. 6273, 1966.
7. Breguet, L., “Aerodynamical Efficiency and the Reduction of Air Transport
Costs,” Flight, Volume XIV, No. 15, 1922, pp. 218–220.
8. Rutowski, E.S., “Energy Approach to the General Aircraft Performance Prob-
lem,” Journal of Aeronautical Sciences, Volume XXI, No. 3, 1954, pp. 187–195.
9. Merritt, S.R., Cliff, E.M., and Kelley, H.J., “Energy-modelled Climb and
Climb-Dash–The Kaiser Technique,” Automatica, Volume XXI, No. 3,
1985, pp. 319–321.
10. Coram, R., Boyd: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed the Art of War, Back Bay
Books/Little Brown, New York, 2002, pp. 135–153.

11. Boyd, J.R., Christie, T.P., and Gibson, J.E., “Energy Maneuverability,”
Air Proving Ground Center Technical Report, Eglin, AFB, Florida AP-
GD-TDR-64–28, Volume I, 1966.
12. Takahashi, T.T. and Gedeon, C., “The Effect of Propulsion System Scale and
Bypass Ratio upon Optimum Climb Speed,” AIAA Conference Paper 2015–
1677, 2015.
13. Gedeon, C. and Takahashi, T.T., “A Multi-Disciplinary Survey of Energy
Maneuverability for Subsonic Endurance Based Aircraft,” AIAA Conference
Paper 2014–3156, 2014.
14. Gedeon, C. and Takahashi, T.T., “Multi-Disciplinary Survey of Engine Param-
eters and the Resulting Impact on Energy Maneuverability,” AIAA Confer-
ence Paper 2014–2032, 2014.

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Flight Mechanics Basics • 69

Figure 2.13. Unit Reynolds number as a function of Mach number and

2.4 HOW PILOTS ACTUALLY FLY AIRPLANES

Figure 2.14. Dynamic pressure as a function of Mach number and pressure

The Rutowski tradition (see Chapter 5) built upon work pioneered in

kinetic energy could be conserved. This led to the development of the

2.4.1 BASIC SPEED AND ALTITUDE—FLIGHT AT CONSTANT

Indicated, calibrated and equivalent airspeed, for all practical purposes,

2.4.2 COMPASS HEADINGS

netic compass headings. Thus, the standard airport runway nomenclature

Figure 2.15. Aircraft instruments: (a) Compass (b) Heading indicator.

(using magnetic headings) is consistent with all other aircraft navigation

2.4.3 HEADING CHANGES

Aircraft lack inherent pendulum stability. The aerodynamic center of lift

Thus, geometry implies a correlation between Nz and bank angle, Φ, for

flight without loss of altitude (Figure 2.16):

As the turn radius increases as a function of the true airspeed squared,

Figure 2.16. Bank angle/load factor relationship.

airspeed, will bank over 78o to make a ~3 nM radius turn. A subsonic

In order to provide a pilot with situational awareness, aircraft are fit-

Figure 2.18. Aircraft artificial horizon.

Figure 2.19. Aircraft turn coordinator (inclinometer).

1. U.S. Standard Atmosphere, 1962, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington,

Books/Little Brown, New York, 2002, pp. 135–153.

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