CONTENTS

 PERFORMANCE FACTORS.
 EFFECT OF WEIGHT ON LEVEL FLIGHT.
 POWER REQUIRED AND POWER AVAILABLE CURVES.
1. Maximum level speed.
2. Minimum level speed.
 RANGE SPEED.
 ENDURANCE SPEED.
 STABILITY AND SPEED.
AIRCRAFT PERFORMANCE

AIRCRAFT PERFORMANCE IS THE CAPABILTY OF

AIRCRAFT AT VARIOUS STAGES OF ITS FLIGHT.
THE CAPABILITY MAY BE IN TERMS OF;
ALTITUDE
SPEED
DISTANCE
PERFORMANCE FACTORS

AIRCRAFT DESIGN HAS A LARGE PART TO PLAY IN

AIRCRAFT PERFORMANCE.
WING DESIGN
ENGINE SIZE AND POWER
WEIGHT OF AIRCRAFT
SHAPE OF THE AIRCRAFT
PERFORMANCE FACTORS

 WHEN FLYING A PARTICULAR AIRCRAFT THOSE FACTORS

DO NOT CHANGE.

 THE AIR YOU FLY IN,HOWEVER,DOES CHANGE.

 THOSE CHANGES AFFECT THE AIR’S DENSITY.

PERFORMANCE FACTORS

 AIR DENSITY IS WHAT TO BE DISCUSSED FOR WHEN

DETERMINING PERFORMANCE

 DENSITY OF AIR CAN BE AFFECTED BY MANY THINGS

 PRESSURE
 TEMPERATURE
 HUMIDITY
PERFORMANCE FACTORS

 AS AIR DENSITY DECREASES,PERFORMANCE

DECREASES.WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?
• ENGINE PERFORMANCE DROPS DUE TO LESS AIR IN THE
INTAKE.
• THURST PERFORMANCE DROPS SINCE THERE IS LESS
EFFICIENCY IN ‘THIN’ AIR.
• LIFT PERFORMANCE DROPS BECAUSE THE AIR EXERTS LESS
FORCE ON THE AEROFOILS.
PERFORMANCE FACTORS

 TO HELP WITH DETERMINING THE PERFORMANCE OF

AIRCRAFT,A SET OF STANDARDS WAS CREATED FOR ALL
THE FACTORS THAT AFFECT DENSITY.
 THESE STANDARDS ARE ADOPTED BY INTERNATIONAL
CIVIL AVIATION ORGANISATION (ICAO).
 2 DEGREE CELCIUS PER 1000 FEET.
 1 Hecta pascal PER 30 FEET.
PERFORMANCE FACTORS

 AIR PRESSURE IS DUE TO THE FACT THAT AIR IS AFFECTED BY GRAVITY

AND THEREFORE HAS WEIGHT.
 AIR IS A FLUID AND SO THE WEIGHT IS EXERTED IN ALL DIRECTIONS.
 WHEN PRESSURE DEACRESES THE AIR CAN SPREAD OUT LEAVING LESS
VOLUME.
 THIS WILL DECRESE THE DENSITY OF THE AIR.
 DENSITY OF THE AIR IS DIRECTLY PROPORTIONAL TO THE PRESSURE OF
THE AIR.
PERFORMANCE FACTORS

TEMPERATURE IS INVERSELY
PROPORTIONAL TO THE DENSITY.
AS TEMPERATURE DECREASES DENSITY
INCREASES.
AS TEMPERATURE INCREASES DENSITY
INCREASES.
PERFORMANCE FACTORS

SO WHAT HAPPENS AS WE CLIMB.

• PRESSURE AND TEMPERATURE DECREASES.
IT LOOKS AS THOUGH PRESSURE’S AFFECT ON
DENSITY SHOULD BE CANCELLED BY
TEMPERATURE.
THE AFFECTS OF PRESSURE IS GREATER.
PERFORMANCE FACTORS

HUMIDITY HAS ALSO AN EFFECT ON AIRCRAFT

PERFORMANCE.
REMEMBER HUMIDITY IS A MEASUREMENT OF
HOW SATURATED THE AIR IS.
WATER VAPOUR IS LIGHTER THAN AIR.
THE MORE WATER VAPOUR, THE LESS DENSE AIR
IS.
PERFORMANCE FACTORS

 SO IT SUMS UP…
 PRESSURE DECREASES,PERFORMANCE DECREASES.
 TEMPERATURE DECREASES,PERFOMANCE INCREAES.
 ALTITUDE INCREASES, PERFORMANCE DECREASES.
 HUMIDITY INCREASES,PERFORMANCE DECREASES.
PERFORMANCE FACTORS

 WEIGHT WILL ALSO AFFECT PERFORMANCE,SPECIFICALLY

CLIMB PERFORMANCE.

 MORE WEIGHT MEANS MORE ANGLE OF ATTACK WHICH

MEANS MORE DRAG.

 MORE THRUST IS REQUIRED TO COUNTER DRAG AND LESS

IS AVAILABLE FOR CLIMB.
EFFECT OF WEIGHT ON LEVEL FLIGHT
EFFECT OF WEIGHT ON LEVEL FLIGHT
 IN LEVEL FLIGHT,LIFT EQUALS WEIGHT AND THRUST EQUALS DRAG WHEN
PLANE FLIES AT CONSTANT VELOCITY.
 MAINTAINING A STEADY FLIGHT REQUIRES BALANCE OF ALL FORCES.
 ASSUMING A STRAIGHT AND LEVEL FLIGHT,
 LIFT MUST BE EQUAL TO WEIGHT
 DRAG MUST BE EQUAL TO THRUST
 AS EXCESS WEIGHT REQUIRES MORE LIFT AND THEREFORE MORE THRUST.
 IF LIFT BECOMES GREATER THAN WEIGHT,PLANE ACCELRATES UPWARD
 IF WEIGHT IS GREATER THAN LIFT,PLANE ACCELRATES DOWNWARD.
 SO IN LEVEL FLIGHT ALL LIFT IS EQUAL TO WEIGHT AS A RESULT OF WHICH THE
AIRCRAFT IS STRAIGHT AND LEVEL.
POWER REQUIRED AND POWER
AVAILABLE CURVES
 MAXIMUM LEVEL SPEED
 MINIMUM LEVEL SPEED
RANGE SPEED

 THE SPEED WHICH GIVES THE MAXIMUM RANGE FOR A GIVEN

AIRCRAFT WEIGHT AND ALTITUDE IS CALLED BEST RANGE SPEED.
 FLYING AT HIGHER SPEEDS THAN THE RANGE SPEED INCREASES DRAG
AND FUEL FLOW.
 THUS REDUCES RANGE
 LOWER SPEED THAN THE BEST RANGE SPEED REDUCE DRAG AND FUEL
FLOW.
 THUS REDUCES DISTANCE TRAVELLED PER TIME
 THUS REDUCES RANGE.
ENDURANCE SPEED

 THE SPEED WHICH GIVES MINIMUM DRAG FOR A GIVEN AIRCRAFT WEIGHT
AND ALTITUDE IS CALLED ENDURANCE SPEED.
 FLYING AT HIGHER SPEED THAN BEST ENDURANCE SPEED INCREASES DRAG
AND FUEL FLOW.
 THUS REDUCES ENDURANCE.
 FLYING AT LOWER SPEED THAN BEST ENDURANCE SPEED DECREASES DRAG
AND FUEL FLOW.
 THUS INCREASES ENDURANCE.
STABILITY AND SPEED

Stability is the ability of an aircraft to

correct for conditions that act on it, like
turbulence or flight control inputs.
or aircraft, there are two general types of
stability
static and dynamic.
STATIC STABILITY

 Static stability is the initial tendency of an aircraft to

return to its original position when it's disturbed.

 There are three kinds of static stability

 Positive
 Negative
 neutral
POSITIVE STATIC STABILITY

 An aircraft that has positive static

stability tends to return to its
original attitude when it's
disturbed.
 Example you hit some turbulence,
and the nose pitches up.
 After this happen
 The nose lowers and returns to its
original attitude
Neutral static stability

 An aircraft that has neutral static

stability tends to stay in its new
attitude when it's disturbed.
 For Example
 You hit turbulence and your nose
pitches up 5 degrees
 Immediately after that it stays at
5 degrees nose up
 Your airplane has neutral static
stability.
NEGATIVE STABILITY

 Finally, an aircraft that has

negative static stability tends to
continue moving away from its
original attitude when it's
disturbed.
 For Example
 You hit turbulence and your nose
pitches up
 Then immediately continues
pitching up
 Your airplane has negative static
stability
DYNAMIC STABILITY

 Dynamic stability is how an airplane responds over time to a

disturbance.

 There are also three kinds of dynamic stability

 Positive
 Negative
 Neutral
POSITIVE DYNAMIC STABILITY

Aircraft with positive dynamic stability

have oscillations that dampen out
over time.
 For Example
 The Cessna 172
 172 is trimmed for level flight, you
pull back on the yoke and then
let go, the nose will immediately
start pitching down and up.
 Over time, it will stop, and your
172 will be back to its original
attitude.
NEGATIVE DYNAMIC STABILITY

 Aircraft with negative dynamic

stability have oscillations that get
worse over time.
 The diagram shows that over
time, the pitch oscillations get
more and more amplified.
NEUTRAL DYNAMIC STABILITY

 Aircraft with neutral dynamic

stability have oscillations that
never dampen out.
 As shown in the diagram, if you
pitch up a trimmed, neutrally
dynamic stable aircraft
 It will pitch nose low, then nose
high again
 And the oscillations will continue,
in theory, forever.
SPEED

 Speed is the distance travelled per unit time.

 In aviation, speed is often expressed in knots.

 In aircrafts speed is measured with a pitot tube.

SUMS UP

PERFORMANCE FACTOR
POWER REQUIRED AND POWER AVAILABLE
CURVES
RANGE SPEED
ENDURANCE SPEED
STABILITY AND SPEED