A hundred and eighty people sit in a tube of aluminium weighing seventy tonnes, and two wings hold it up for six hours on the force of air that nobody can see. The lift comes from turning that air; the price is drag, paid in fuel; and every aircraft that has ever flown is a different settlement of the same bargain between lift, drag, weight, thrust, stability, strength and cost. Run on the page: the air and how a wing lifts; aerofoils, wings, boundary layers, flaps and the speed of sound; cruise, climb, turns, take-off and the mission; trim, the dynamic modes and the controls; propellers, piston engines, jets and electric flight; loads, structure, materials and weight; and the design of an airliner from a blank requirement. Shape the wing, load the cabin, fly the trainer and size the airliner — every pressure, force and number computed by the page.
Every pressure, force, speed and number on these pages is computed by the page or cited with its source; your progress stays in this browser. Nothing here teaches how to fly: that is the work of a qualified instructor, and the flight stage is a demonstration of physics. Nothing here is a design or certification document: real aircraft are designed and certified with their manufacturers’ data. The course ranks no manufacturer, airline or aircraft and designs no weapon. Not affiliated with or endorsed by any organisation, manufacturer, airline, aviation authority, standards body, publisher or author mentioned here.