Course Description

In this course, we use free-body diagrams to balance the forces and moments on an aircraft. We also look at how these forces and moments must change with any change in aerodynamic angles to ensure the aircraft is stable. You’ll learn to solve for the trim settings given aerodynamic information about an aircraft, and you’ll learn how to estimate the effects of lifting surfaces, propellers, and the fuselage on the overall trim and stability of the aircraft.

Key Concepts Include:

• Longitudinal and Lateral Force and Moment Balancing
• Requirements for an aircraft to be longitudinally and laterally stable
• The aerodynamic center and static margin
• Effects of lifting surfaces
• Influence of Propellers
• Influence of Fuselage, Nacelles, and other stores
• Steady-Heading Sideslip
• Minimum Control Airspeed

We take our time going through the mathematics, and you can speed up or slow down the videos depending on your own learning speed. It is recommended that you first complete the Airfoil Analysis and Wing Analysis courses. It’s also helpful to have taken the Aircraft Performance course.

This Course Includes:

• 34 Lessons with detailed explanations
• Over 7 hours of video instruction

At the completion of this course, you’ll be a master of aircraft trim and stability. You’ll understand the physics of why stability is important, and how to predict the stability of an aircraft from its aerodynamic parameters. It’s a very fascinating topic, so let’s get started.