Barnaby Wainfan
Barnaby is a Technical Fellow for Northrop Grumman’s Advanced Design organization. A private pilot with single-engine and glider ratings, Barnaby has been involved in the design of unconventional airplanes including canards, joined wings, flying wings and some too strange to fall into any known category.
Wind Tunnel
This month well look at another complex interaction between aerodynamics and aircraft structures that can cause structures to fail: fabric flutter.
Wind Tunnel
Stall flutter is the result of the elastic axis of a wings surface being aft of the aerodynamic center, resulting in instability. A vicious cycle of lift, twist, stall and lift may ensue.
Wind Tunnel
Barnaby Wainfan offers an explanation of how tail surfaces can be subject to flutter and how to avoid the potentially disastrous result.
Wind Tunnel
Aerodynamic flutter has been a recent concern in the homebuilt world. What exactly is flutter? What causes it? Barnaby Wainfan clarifies an often misunderstood and potentially dangerous phenomenon.
Wind Tunnel
Airplanes are surprisingly flexible, and changes in their shape can affect aerodynamic characteristics. Barnaby Wainfan explains how the two are coupled.
Combating Carb Ice
Barnaby Wainfan examines a sneaky and sometimes little understood cause of in-flight scares and engine failures: carb ice.
Wind Tunnel
Barnaby Wainfan brings aerodynamics to life with an illustrated field guide to the various devices seen at AirVenture.
The Case for Strakes
These small additions to your aircraft can make a significant improvement in its pitch response and authority at high angles of attack. Barnaby Wainfan gives you the strake story.
Wind Tunnel
Got separation anxiety? Vortex generators can keep the airflow attached where it belongs.
Wind Tunnel
Fixed gear or retractable gear? Barnaby Wainfan examines the physics behind this longstanding design question.
In Case You Missed It
Build It Better: Building a Team
Sometimes working alone in your hangar is exactly what you want. But other times a helping hand is called for, and then it helps to know you’re part of a worldwide homebuilding community.
