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
Barnaby Wainfan explores the optimum size of a wing and the best ways to balance performance and efficiency.
Wind Tunnel
Tail stalls have been in the news lately-Barnaby Wainfan dissects this phenomenon, and clarifies what to do and what not to do.
Wind Tunnel
Accelerate, pull and fly-thats not all there is to the takeoff. Barnaby Wainfan takes a second-by-second look at the aerodynamics of the takeoff: when it works, and when it doesn't.
Wind Tunnel
Recently, there has been increasing interest in the efficiency of all vehicles, including airplanes. Designers are seeking to make airplanes that perform better and burn less fuel. Barnaby Wainfan takes a close look at the aerodynamics and mathematics behind this deceptively complex process.
Wind Tunnel
Aerodynamics Engineer Barnaby Wainfan dissects one of the most common and possibly least understood flight maneuvers: turns.
Flying Qualities and the Horizontal Tail
An airplane's horizontal tail is critical to stabilizing the airplane in pitch, trimming out pitching moments caused by the wing and providing control power for maneuverability.
Wind Tunnel
Multiple engines complicate design, because not only must the airplane be able to maintain flight on one engine, but also the pilot must be able to control it. Lateral/directional stability issues are key;
Wind Tunnel
In order to bank the airplane and execute a turn properly, adverse yaw must be countered or eliminate altogether. The discussion of how to do this includes rudder control, aileron-rudder interconnects, directional stability, differential ailerons, aileron drag and the use of spoilers;
Wind Tunnel
The aerodynamics of an airplane sometimes don't cooperate with the pilots desire to roll, and instead produce both yaw and roll. Contributing factors are aileron parasite drag, induced drag between the wings and changes in the roll rate itself;
Wind Tunnel
Yaw rarely occurs without rolling, and roll rarely occurs without yawing. This month Barnaby Wainfan discusses coupled motion, including adverse yaw, the spiral mode and Dutch roll.
In Case You Missed It
An Icon Passes
Chris Heintz left behind a legacy of innovative, functional design and successful kit-company strategies that relied on keeping the designs simple and costs low.
ViperJet Redux
Before you think to yourself, "I couldn't afford that, let alone fly it" relax a little and let your imagination run wild. The ViperJet offers glove leather interior, rosewood inlay, and performance to spare. Doug Rozendaal completes the picture.
Builder Liability and You
There are ways to protect yourself from lawsuits when you sell a homebuilt aircraft. These include accurate and complete documentation of the building process, adherence to manufacturers instructions during the build, a good record of safe flight over a period of time, third party liability insurance protection and a signed liability waiver.
Remembering Reno
Aviation just wouldn’t be the same without the races…no matter where they are held.