1 Introduction 1
1.1 Why another aircraft design book？ 1
1.2 Topics 2
1.3 The design process 2
2 Why should we design a new aircraft？ 7
2.1 Market surveys 7
2.2 Operator-derived specifications 11
2.3 Specification for a close air support aircraft 12
2.4 Airline specification for a 150-seat airliner 13
3 Why is it that shape？- Civil aircraft 19
3.1 Background 19
3.2 Civil aircraft types 24
4 Why is it that shape？-Other types 37
4.1 Military aircraft types 37
4.2 Rotorcraft and V/STOL aircraft 50
5 What’s under the skin？- Structure and propulsion 55
5.1 General 55
5.2 The structure 55
5.3 Propulsion - the primary power system 63
6 What’s under the skin？- Airframe systems 73
6.1 Secondary power systems 73
6.2 The fuel system 80
6.3 Furnishings 82
6.4 Safety installations 83
6.5 Landing gear installations 84
7 What’s under the skin？- Avionics，flight control and weapon systems 89
7.1 Avionic systems 89
7.2 Flight control systems 96
7.3 Weapon systems 100
8 Why do aircraft cost so much？ 109
8.1 General 109
8.2 Acquisition costs （the costs of buying or acquiring the aircraft） 109
8.3 Civil aircraft operating costs 115
8.4 Military aircraft life-cycle costs 116
8.5 The costs of reliability and maintainability 118
9 What help can I get？- Bibliography and computer-aided design 129
9.1 Aircraft design bibliography 129
9.2 Relevant data sheets 131
9.3 Computer design tools 135
9.4 The integration of computer tools as part of concurrent engineering 140
9.5 Classic computer-aided design systems 141
10 The shape of things to come - Should the project continue？ 149
10.1 Introduction 149
10.2 Conceptual design definition 149
10.3 Comparison and choice 150
10.4 Simple decision-making techniques 151
10.5 Example of a conceptual aircraft design definition description - The Cranfield A-90 153
10.6 Progress of the A-90 project beyond the conceptual design stage 161
11 What can go wrong？- Some lessons from past aircraft projects，and a glimpse into the future 163
11.1 Introduction 163
11.2 Aircraft that suffered from requirements that were too restrictive，too ambitious or were changed during development 163
11.3 Projects that were overtaken by events 167
11.4 A step too far or too soon？ 171
11.5 Some challenging future projects 174
11.6 Conclusions 177
Appendix A - Useful aircraft design data 179
A1 Introduction 179
A2 US/UK nomenclature 179
A3 UK and US/SI conversion tables and airspeed charts 180
A4 Aircraft leading data tables 183
A5 Power plant data 196
A6 Aerodynamic data 213
A7 Structures and materials data 220
A8 Landing gear data 222
A9 Aircraft interior data 223
A10 Aircraft weapons 238
Appendix B - A-90 parametric study&Example - the A-90 500-seat airliner 243
B1 Introduction 243
B2 Landing field distance 243
B3 Take-off field length 245
B4 Second segment climb 246
B5 Missed approach 247
B6 Cruise performance 248
B7 Ceiling with one engine inoperative 252
B8 Arrival at the match point 253
Appendix C - The prediction of aircraft reliability and maintainability targets 255
C1 Introduction 255
C2 Commercial aircraft dispatch reliability prediction 255
References 259
Index 261