Advances in Aircraft and Spacecraft Science
Volume 3, Number 4, 2016, pages 399-425
DOI: 10.12989/aas.2016.3.4.399
Airplanes at constant speeds on inclined circular trajectories
Gilles Labonte
Abstract
The dynamical requirements are obtained for airplanes to travel on inclined circular trajectories. Formulas are provided for determining the load factor, the bank angle, the lift coefficient and the thrust or power required for the motion. The dynamical properties of the airplane are taken into account, for both, airplanes with internal combustion engines and propellers, and airplanes with jet engines. A procedure is presented for the construction of tables from which the flyability of trajectories at a given angle of inclination can be read, together with the corresponding minimum and maximum radii allowed. Sample calculations are shown for the Cessna 182, a Silver Fox like unmanned aerial vehicle, and a F-16 jet airplane.
Key Words
airplane circular trajectory; inclined circular trajectories, airplane equation of motion; circular arc connection; automatic trajectory planning
Address
Gilles Labonte: Department of Mathematics and Computer Science and Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Engineering, Royal Military College of Canada, Kingston, Ontario, Canada