Presents examples of lessons learned in airplane design since 1945. The lessons are largely drawn from the aircraft design and accident/incident literature. The author hopes that this book will contribute to the safety of flight. A brief summary is presented of safety statistics, certification and operational standards, safety standards and their relationship to design in general. Accident/incident discussions are presented in the following areas: operational experience; structural design; flight control system design; powerplant installation design; systems design; manufacturing and maintenance; aerodynamic design; configuration design and aircraft sizing. In each case the discussion starts with the recounting of a problem which arose. Then the probable cause of the problem is identified, one or more solutions are indicated and finally a lesson learned is formulated. Since many designers will eventually become program managers, it is instructive to recount some trials and tribulations associated with marketing, pricing and program decision making. As is shown by many examples in this book, safety of airplanes often starts in the design phase. However, sometimes the certification process itself, for whatever reason, fails. This book will be useful to practicing design engineers, test pilots and program managers. It can be used in the classroom to help in the education of future aircraft designers and engineering/maintenance personnel. (Publisher's blurb)

Features a lifetime of practical insight into the aspects of aircraft design that cannot be solved via technical means. The lessons learned have nothing to do with the mechanics of doing conceptual design, rather they address and influence the design team's state of mind and the human principles to be used when dealing with the customer.

The aircraft is only a transport mechanism for the payload, and all design decisions must consider payload first. Simply stated, the aircraft is a dust cover. "Fundamentals of Aircraft and Airship Design, Volume 1: Aircraft Design" emphasizes that the science and art of the aircraft design process is a compromise and that there is no right answer; however, there is always a best answer based on existing requirements and available technologies.

The purpose of this book is to share collective experience on human spaceflight operations. For the many authors, this is nothing less than a work of passion. They are sharing their life's work with the goal of passing on their experience to the next generation of space engineers, designers, operators, and crew.

Small Unmanned Fixed-wing Aircraft Design is the essential guide to designing, building and testing fixed wing UAVs (or drones). It deals with aircraft from two to 150 kg in weight and is based on the first-hand experiences of the world renowned UAV team at the UK’s University of Southampton. The book covers both the practical aspects of designing, manufacturing and flight testing and outlines and the essential calculations needed to underpin successful designs. It describes the entire process of UAV design from requirements definition to configuration layout and sizing, through preliminary design and analysis using simple panel codes and spreadsheets to full CFD and FEA models and on to detailed design with parametric CAD tools. Its focus is on modest cost approaches that draw heavily on the latest digital design and manufacturing methods, including a strong emphasis on utilizing off-the-shelf components, low cost analysis, automated geometry modelling and 3D printing. It deliberately avoids a deep theoretical coverage of aerodynamics or structural mechanics; rather it provides a design team with sufficient insights and guidance to get the essentials undertaken more pragmatically. The book contains many all-colour illustrations of the dozens of aircraft built by the authors and their students over the last ten years giving much detailed information on what works best. It is predominantly aimed at under-graduate and MSc level student design and build projects, but will be of interest to anyone engaged in the practical problems of getting quite complex unmanned aircraft flying. It should also appeal to the more sophisticated aero-modeller and those engaged on research based around fixed wing UAVs.