General Aviation Aircraft Design

Chapter 21

Performance – Descent

Abstract

The chapter is split into two parts. The first one develops fundamental relationships required to evaluate the characteristics of gliding flight. The second one develops an assortment of methods to predict a number of descent characteristics of an airplane.

Keywords

Equations of motion; free-body; descent; glide; planar; angle-of-descent; rate-of-descent; equilibrium glide speed; sink rate; minimum sink rate; minimum angle-of-descent; best glide; glide distance

Outline

21.1 Introduction

21.1.1 The Content of this Chapter

21.2 Fundamental Relations for the Descent Maneuver

21.2.1 General Two-dimensional Free-body Diagram for an Aircraft

21.2.2 Planar Equations of Motion (Assumes No Rotation about Y-axis)

21.3 General ...