Aircraft Stability

and control (FD-II)

P S Premkumar
Department of Aerospace Engineering
School of Mechanical Engineering
SRM University, Chennai, India.
Email: cadesprem@gmail.com,
premkumar@ktr.srmuniv.ac.in
Syllabus for Flight Dynamics II
UNIT-III
Syllabus for Flight Dynamics II
UNIT-III
TOPICS UNIT-III
Static Stability and Control in accelerated
flight
Static Stability and Control in accelerated flight UNIT-III
Static Stability and Control in accelerated flight UNIT-III

An accelerated flights occur when an airplane

(a) has acceleration or deceleration along a straight line
(accelerated level flight or climb) or
(b) performs maneuvers like loop and turn.
In the case of accelerated flight along a straight line, the
stability and control equations are the same as those for the
unaccelerated flight except that T is not equal to D; ie.,
T > D for an accelerated flight and
T < D for a decelerated flight .
Consequently Cm0 and Cmα change slightly due to changes in
contribution of power .
 TOPICS
Static Stability and Control in accelerated flight UNIT-III
Significant changes in stability and control take place when an
airplane goes through a maneuver. Let us consider an airplane
at the bottom of a loop as shown in Fig.3.1

Fig 3.1 Aircraft in a Loop

 TOPICS
Static Stability and Control in accelerated flight UNIT-III
Let the flight velocity, load factor and the radius of the loop be
V, n and r respectively.
Now, L = nW.
Further let ∆L be the excess of lift over that in level flight.
Then ∆L = (n-1)W.
The equations of motion in the plain of symmetry are:

3.1
3.2

Equation (3.2) gives ω= (n - 1)g/V 3.3

 TOPICS
Static Stability and Control in accelerated flight UNIT-III
i) As the airplane goes round the loop once, it also goes once
around its c.g. To explain this, Fig.3.2 shows the airplane at
different points during the loop. It is evident that while
completing the loop the airplane has gone around itself once.
Thus q , the angular velocity about y-axis, is equal to ω i.e.
q= ω = (n-1)g/V 3.4
ii) As the airplane rotates with angular velocity q, the tail
which is located at a distance of lt from c.g., is subjected to a
downward velocity ∆vw = qlt (Fig.3.3). Thus the tail is
subjected to a relative wind in the upward direction of
magnitude qlt . This causes a change in the angle of attack of
the tail (Fig.3.3) by ∆αt given by:
∆αt = qlt/V = 57.3 qlt / V in deg/sec. 3.5
 TOPICS
Static Stability and Control in accelerated flight UNIT-III

Fig 3.2 Airplane attitude at different points in a loop

 TOPICS
Static Stability and Control in accelerated flight UNIT-III

Fig 3.3 changes in αt in pull-up

 TOPICS
Static Stability and Control in accelerated flight UNIT-III
This change in ∆αt results in lift ∆Lt on tail and negative ∆Cmcgt
about the c.g. To balance this ∆Cmcgt, an additional elevator
deflection is needed. Since , the effect of going through a loop
is to cause a resisting moment, this effect is called damping in
loop. Let ∆δe be the additional elevator deflection needed to
balance ∆αt. Then
3.6

The other components of the airplane also experience

changes in angle of attack due to the angular velocity in loop.
The net effect is approximately accounted for by multiplying
Eq.(3.6) by 1.1 i.e.

3.7
 TOPICS
Static Stability and Control in accelerated flight UNIT-III
The pull-up flight can be considered as a part of a loop.
Hence, δe in a pull up is given by:

3.8

In a pull-up with load factor of n, L= n W. Hence

3.9
 TOPICS
Static Stability and Control in accelerated flight UNIT-III
The derivative of (δe)pull-up with ‘n’ is called elevator angle per g
and from Eq.(3.9) it is given by:

3.10
 TOPICS
Static Stability and Control in accelerated flight UNIT-III
In level flight, (dδe/dCL) is zero when (dCm/dCL) stick fix is
zero. From Eq.(3.10) it is seen that (dδe/dn) is not zero when
(dCm/dCL) stick fix is zero. This is because the damping produced
in pull-out makes the airplane apparently more stable. From
Eq.(3.10) (dδe/dn) is zero when (dCm/dCL) stick fix has the
following value:

3.11
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Static Stability and Control in accelerated flight UNIT-III
Stick fixed maneuver point (Xmp)fix :

The c.g. location for which (dδe/dn) pull up is zero is called

stick fixed maneuver point and denoted by (Xmp)fix From
Eq.(3.11) and noting that (dCm/dCL) stick fix is zero when c.g. is
at xNP, we obtain

3.12
Stick force gradient in pull-
pull-up UNIT-III

3.13

3.14
 TOPICS
Stick force gradient in pull-
pull-up UNIT-III
The quantity dF/dn is called the stick force gradient per g.
The c.g. location for which (dF/dn) equals zero is called
maneuver point stick free. Denoting it by X’mp, and recalling
that the stick free neutral point is denoted by x’NP we get:

3.15
 TOPICS
Static Stability and Control in accelerated flight UNIT-III
Limits on c.g. travel
Taking into account the various considerations discussed
in this chapter, the limits on c.g. travel are shown in the
Fig.3.4.It is to be noted that generally, c.g. travel should be
limited to about 8% of m.a.c. for a general aviation airplane
and about 15% of m.a.c. for a passenger airplane. The
stringent nature of limitations on c.g. travel can be gauged
from the following example.
For an airplane of length =10 m, b = 10 m and aspect
ratio = 10, the value of c would be around one metre. Thus,
permitted c.g. travel is just 8 cm for a fuselage of 10 m length.
 TOPICS
Static Stability and Control in accelerated flight UNIT-III

Fig 3.4 Summary of limits on c.g. travel due to various

considerations (Schematic)
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Static Stability and Control in accelerated flight UNIT-III
 UNIT-III

Continues . . . . . . . . . .