Modeling and Approximation of STOL Aircraft Longitudinal Aerodynamic Characteristics

Flight dynamics deals principally with the natural response of the aircraft to longitudinal perturbations that typically consist of two underdamped oscillatory modes having rather different time scales. One of the modes has a relatively short period and is usually quite heavily damped. This is called the short period mode. The other mode has a much longer period and is rather lightly damped. This is called the phugoid mode. The required degree of dynamic stability is specified by the time it takes the motion to damp to half of its initial amplitude. The dynamic characteristics of an airplane is important in assessing its handling or flying qualities and for designing autopilots. This paper investigates the dynamic characteristics of short take off and landing (STOL) airplanes employing root locus technique and state space approach. The nonlinear differential equation of motion of an airplane developed from Newton’s second law of motion was linearized using the small disturbance theory. Different phugoid approximations for longitudinal modes were developed and compared with the exact solution formulated using statistical software. Further research work about active control technology to improve aerodynamic efficiency which results in potential fuel savings should be carried out.