A variable-structure control system designed to enable a fuselage-heavy airplane to recover from spin has been demonstrated in a hand-launched, instrumented model glider airplane (see figure). It has long been known that the most effective spin recovery technique for fuselage-heavy aircraft involves the use of ailerons to roll the airplane into the spin. This technique might be considered count...

The paper deals with the development of simple electromagnetic models of small airplanes, which can contain composite materials in their construction. Electromagnetic waves can penetrate through the surface of the aircraft due to the specific electromagnetic properties of the composite materials, which can increase the intensity of fields inside the airplane and can negatively influence the fun...

The Autonomous Formation Flight (AFF) project at the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center (Edwards, California) investigated performance benefits resulting from formation flight, such as reduced aerodynamic drag and fuel consumption. To obtain data on performance benefits, a trailing F/A-18 airplane flew within the wingtip-shed vortex of a leading F/A-18 airplane. The pilot of the trail airplane ...

Common uses of fuzzy logic control today are found in relatively simple applications in products. These applications only scratch the surface of the potential of fuzzy logic control in complex mechatronic systems. In order to demonstrate the utility of fuzzy logic in complex device control, a fuzzy logic fly-by-wire system has been developed for a model airplane. The model airplane is a complex...

the study of flight vehicle structures reveals the importance of obtaining the most suitable accuracy compatible with construction. for this purpose, several experiments were conducted at the agard institute. in this paper the results of one such experiment performed on a sample airplane wing are presented. aircraft structural engineers use several methods to model these structures. specifing h...

The purpose of this paper is to estimate the fatigue life of an airplane wing with laminated composite skin, subjected to variable mechanical and thermal loads. To achieve this aim,at first, the three-dimensional model of airplane wing was drawn in CATIA software. Then, by transferring the model to the ABAQUS software, the finite element model of the wing wascreated. H...

This paper describes a modelling approach to the dynamics of the airplane flight aimed at designing and realizing a simple but realistic ‘‘flight simulator,’’ able to mimic the longitudinal behaviour of a real airplane. The model is implemented by using the Interactive Physics simulation environment. The simulator is used to reproduce all the phases of a complete flight of a light commercial ai...

We model and analyze the process of passengers boarding an airplane. We show how the model yields closed-form estimates for the expected boarding time in many cases of interest. Comparison of our computations with previous work, based on discrete event simulations, shows a high degree of agreement. Analysis of the model reveals a clear link between the efficiency of various airline boarding pol...

This paper studies the scaling of airplane dynamic response to stochastic wind gusts, with focus on the relationship between airplane size and airspeed variations. The results have applications in the design and control of small-scale aircraft for robustness with respect to turbulence. Using linearized equations of motion and the Dryden model of gusts, the paper presents analytical and numerica...