Flight Mechanics

8 Hours Standard atmosphere; types of altitude including geopotential, geometric, pressure, temperature, and density altitude; forces and moments acting on a flight vehicle; equations of motion of a rigid flight vehicle; types of drag and drag polar; types of airspeeds and instruments including airspeed indicator, altimeter, rate-of-climb indicator, and Mach meter; variation of thrust and power with velocity and altitude for air-breathing engines.

8 Hours Performance of an airplane in level flight; power available and power required curves; maximum speed in level flight; conditions for minimum drag and minimum power required; range and endurance of aircraft; climbing and gliding flight including maximum rate of climb and steepest angle of climb, minimum rate of sink and shallowest angle of glide; turning rate and turn radius, bank rate and bank angle; load factor and its limitations on turns; V-n diagram and gust envelope; take-off and landing performance.

8 Hours Static stability fundamentals; purpose of controls in airplanes; static longitudinal stability including stick-fixed and stick-free concepts, basic equilibrium equation, stability criterion, effects of fuselage and tail, influence of center of gravity (CG) location, power effects, neutral points, and stick force gradients.

8 Hours Dihedral effect; lateral control; coupling between rolling and yawing moments; roll stability and control including adverse yaw effects and aileron reversal; static directional stability and control including weathercock effect, rudder requirements, rudder lock, aerodynamic balancing; pedal-fixed and pedal-free stability; roll control reversal.

8 Hours Degrees of freedom of rigid bodies in space; dynamic longitudinal and lateral-directional stability; Euler angles; velocities in three directions; decoupling of longitudinal and lateral-directional dynamics; dynamic stability modes including phugoid, short-period, spiral divergence, Dutch roll, autorotation, and spin; effects of freeing the stick; approximation of modes and factors affecting time period and damping.