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In this work, sailplane symmetrical motion equations including pitch motion controlled by elevator angle are presented. The following effects are especially taken into consideration: i) tail damping due to pitch motion; ii) air density variation according to altitude; iii) presence of vertical and horizontal atmospheric air motions, and iv) non-linearity of CL ′ a curve near stall angle. The mathematical modeling includes the construction of an objective function for competition flight optimization. Making use of the concept of state variables, the minimum time trajectory problem is formulated as an optimal control problem with state constraints. Using simplified control laws and a mathematical programming algorithm, suboptimal trajectories are obtained for the sailplane PIK-20B.

Advances in aircraft crashworthiness can be achieved by the development of crashworthy composite fuselage concepts. To attend the design requirements that will be established by the next generation of general aviation aircraft, the present work presents an innovative composite fuselage section concept that besides its added crashworthiness features represents a great potential for weight and manufacturing costs reduction.

This paper present the instrumentation procedure used in order to determine the performance, stability and control characteristics of the light aircraft CEA-205 CB-9 Curumim. The instrumentation used is: i) autonomous acquisition system using micro controllers; ii) solid state inertial platform; iii) pitot probe; iv) attack and sideslip angle indicators; v) potentiometer on control system; vi) load cell on control system; vii) propeller tachometer; viii) barometer; ix) thermometer and x) GPS. Assembly and calibration detail procedures are presented with some results obtained on typical maneuvers. This work, in development on the Center for Aeronautical Studies of Federal University of Minas Gerais (CEA/UFMG) and on the Department of Aeronautical Engineering of Naples University (DPA), intend to assembly a system in order to perform low cost flight tests on light aircrafts.

This paper presents the computer implementation process of the Panel Method for aerodynamic analysis of three dimensional bodies with or without lift. The computer implementation consists in the creation of pre and post processing environments and a solver for the solution of the problem in external flow potential over three dimensional bodies with and without lift. For cases in which there’s no lift, a constant distribution of sources over the body (fusaleges, farings, etc.) is used, their intensities calculated in order to guarantee impermeability of the body. For cases in which there is lift, a constant distribution of sources and doublets are used on the body (wings, tails, etc.). The intensity of the sources is solved in the same manner as cases with no lift. Intensity of doublets is solved in order to satisfy the equality condition regarding pressure on the under and upper side of the trailing edge (Kutta Condition) of the body without lift.

This paper describes the design of an International Formula One (IF1) racing airplane wing. The first step consists in the simulation of the airplane flying on the race track to obtain details about the condition in which the wing needs to be designed and optimized. The paper describes the details and formulation used to perform this simulation using parametric flight paths and a point model dynamic model. A scheme analytically obtains the control laws for the simulation with Frenet-Serret frames over the parametric flight path. Two different airplanes, with different power levels, are simulated on a typical IF1 race track to determine the range of lift coefficient in which the wing must be designed. Based on this lift coefficient range, a set of four new airfoils are designed based on the NLF0414-F airfoil. Their usage over the wing span is determined, using nonlinear lifting line method to assure that during races the wing operates inside the laminar drag bucket.