Designer's Notebook

Buckling of Panels.

Local crippling.

When is an airplane in trim? At least to the pilot, the airplane is trimmed when no stick force is required to maintain equilibrium. So how do we achieve this? Barnaby Wainfan explains any number of ways to go about it, including the use of trimtabs, spring systems, sparrow strainers and variable incidence tails.

Z-Brackets and the free-body diagram.

Last month we took a look at the trade-offs the designer should consider when defining the flap system for the airplane. The choice comes...

Barnaby Wainfan explains the challenges designers face in creating viable STOL aircraft.

Design process: balance, part 3.

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.

Torque tubes and the shear modulus.

Barnaby Wainfan looks at unconventional flight-control configurations in the cockpit and why they can throw even a seasoned pilot.