General Aviation Aircraft Design: Applied Methods and Procedures

· Butterworth-Heinemann
4.4
18 reviews
Ebook
1048
Pages
Eligible

About this ebook

Find the right answer the first time with this useful handbook of preliminary aircraft design. Written by an engineer with close to 20 years of design experience, General Aviation Aircraft Design: Applied Methods and Procedures provides the practicing engineer with a versatile handbook that serves as the first source for finding answers to realistic aircraft design questions. The book is structured in an "equation/derivation/solved example" format for easy access to content. Readers will find it a valuable guide to topics such as sizing of horizontal and vertical tails to minimize drag, sizing of lifting surfaces to ensure proper dynamic stability, numerical performance methods, and common faults and fixes in aircraft design. In most cases, numerical examples involve actual aircraft specs. Concepts are visually depicted by a number of useful black-and-white figures, photos, and graphs (with full-color images included in the eBook only). Broad and deep in coverage, it is intended for practicing engineers, aerospace engineering students, mathematically astute amateur aircraft designers, and anyone interested in aircraft design.
  • Organized by articles and structured in an "equation/derivation/solved example" format for easy access to the content you need
  • Numerical examples involve actual aircraft specs
  • Contains high-interest topics not found in other texts, including sizing of horizontal and vertical tails to minimize drag, sizing of lifting surfaces to ensure proper dynamic stability, numerical performance methods, and common faults and fixes in aircraft design
  • Provides a unique safety-oriented design checklist based on industry experience
  • Discusses advantages and disadvantages of using computational tools during the design process
  • Features detailed summaries of design options detailing the pros and cons of each aerodynamic solution
  • Includes three case studies showing applications to business jets, general aviation aircraft, and UAVs
  • Numerous high-quality graphics clearly illustrate the book's concepts (note: images are full-color in eBook only)

Ratings and reviews

4.4
18 reviews
Anthony Herrera
April 7, 2016
Hands down, one of the best textbooks I've ever read - and that's after reading through nearly 80% of it. The text is simple enough that a high school student could understand the basic concepts, but the equations supplementing the material easily bringing this book into the range of upper level engineering. As an engineer and pilot this book has advice and information that can be used in both settings. That's not to say this is book is for pilots, simply that the knowledge is practical enough to go out to an airport and see why aircraft were designed the way they are. Digging into the equation side of this book a little more, these equations are explained very well. All the variables are spelled out and the derivations done in painstaking steps to ensure comprehension of ideas. Furthermore, the equations are where this book really outpaces other textbooks. After equations are presented there is an example of how to implement it not far away. This is great when working through the book and trying to make sure your calculations are correct. The writing and explanations are on a level usually found only in old engineering textbooks (1970's era). It seems rare to find a modern engineering book that is good enough to read in your free time, but this book easily makes it into that category.
5 people found this review helpful
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John Prophet
October 30, 2014
As a professional aircraft performance analyst, I love this book. It contains everything needed to design GA aircraft. In fact, I don't use any other texts anymore. Practically everything needed is in there. In some ways this book is like an encyclopedia for the aircraft designer. Love it!
3 people found this review helpful
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Anil Das
March 14, 2023
AAA BOSS NETWORK
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About the author

Dr. Snorri Gudmundsson served from 1995-2009 at Cirrus Aircraft. He served in various engineering roles in the development of several aircraft, including the Cirrus SR20 and SR22 aircraft. From 2005-2009, he served as the Chief Aerodynamicist, where he was responsible for the aerodynamics of the SF50 Vision jet (recipient of the 2017 Collier Trophy). He had two appointments a Designated Engineering Representative (DER) for the FAA, as a Structural and Flight Analyst. He has contributed to the certification of several aircraft. This includes development and certification flight and structural testing. He has conducted load analysis, stability and control evaluation, and performance analysis on a variety of single and multi-engine aircraft. In 2010, Dr. Gudmundsson joined the faculty at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, where he is currently an Associate Professor of Aerospace Engineering, teaching aircraft design and aerodynamics. Dr. Snorri has a Youtube channel on Aircraft Design: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCS0O5jdhFrdYBFC5YJP6axg/

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