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Welcome Lo Lhls course, lnLroducLlon Lo AeronauLlcal Lnglneerlng", Lhe course ln whlch you wlll
undersLand Lhe baslc prlnclples of how we can fly.
?ou mlghL wander 'why do we need Lo know Lhese baslc prlnclples?' because Lhe alrcrafL ls already
lnvenLed, lsn'L lL?
8uL Lo make sure LhaL we can conLlnue flylng we need a loL of people who undersLand how you can
fly, because lL ls noL a glven LhaL we can keep on flylng, as you wlll see aL Lhe end of Lhe flrsL module.
And flylng ls lmporLanL, avlaLlon plays an ever lncreaslng role ln our socleLy.
l've goL a few flgures of Lhe year 2007 from Cxford economlcs whlch show Lhe lmporLance of avlaLlon
for socleLy.
lor lnsLance Lhere are 7 bllllon people on Lhe LarLh. Pow many do you Lhlnk would fly annually? And
lf you fly Lwlce, we counL you Lwlce.
So Lhe quesLlon ls baslcally how many passengers do fly annually?
Well l Lhlnk Lhe number ls qulLe asLonlshlng, compared wlLh 7 bllllon people on Lhe LarLh, 2.3 bllllon
fly annually, and 30 mllllon Lonnes of frelghL ls also LransporLed Lhrough Lhe alr annually, ofLen ln Lhe
same alrcrafL by Lhe way.
1hls also creaLes a loL of [obs, lL ls lmporLanL for also Lhe employmenL. lor lnsLance lf you look aL Lhe
avlaLlon secLor alone you have 13 mllllon [obs, and Lhen l do noL counL assoclaLed secLors whlch
would no doubL be smaller, llke Lourlsm, where Lhere are 16 mllllon [obs alone.
Also Lhe LoLal Lurnover of Lhe avlaLlon secLor, so all Lhe lndusLry LhaL ls lnvolved ln flylng, ls an
asLonlshlng 1 Lrllllon uS dollars.
And lf lL ls noL enough, lf laLer you ever need Lo [usLlfy Lhe lnvesLmenL ln lnnovaLlon ln aerospace, [usL
show Lhe growLh, because lL ls sLlll ongolng and lf you look from 2007 Lo whaL we expecL ln 2026
(lncludlng Lhe occaslonal crlsls) we expecL ln Lhose years a growLh of 143.
And we see LhaL Lhlngs llke Lhe SA8S crlsls, or Lhe 9-11, or Lhe currenL economlc crlsls Lhey happen
only Lo delay Lhe growLh for one or Lwo years, buL Lhen lL really plcks up agaln, and especlally ln Asla
and Afrlca a loL of growLh ls expecLed ln avlaLlon.
So lL plays an lmporLanL role for Lhe movlng of passengers, l also menLloned Lhe frelghL, 30 mllllon
Lonnes of frelghL, l dld noL relaLe Lhls Lo any numbers.
lf you look aL Lhe acLual welghL, obvlously Lhrough Lhe alr you LransporL llghL cargo.
8uL lL Lurns ouL Lo be also hlgh value cargo, lf you look aL Lhe fracLlon of Lhe value of goods whlch are
LransporLed over Lhe LarLh, Lhen over one Lhlrd ls LransporLed Lhrough Lhe alr.
So avlaLlon ls lmporLanL, buL Lo undersLand Lhe dlsclpllne you also wander 'so whaL ls lL really, whaL ls
Lhe dlsclpllne of aeronauLlcal englneerlng?'
Well lL Lurns ouL lL ls noL [usL one dlsclpllne, lL ls acLually a whole group of dlsclpllnes.
lf we would look aL an alrcrafL only from one dlsclpllne, lL would look very dlfferenL.
?ou see here an example, for lnsLance on Lhe rlghL slde Lhere ls Lhe alrcrafL deslgn opLlmlsed from
Lhe perspecLlve of Lhe propulslon group.
underneaLh we see Lhe sLress group, who would llke beams, clear and easy Lo calculaLe.
1he welghL group would llke Lo see oLher maLerlals, Lhe wlng group would focus malnly on Lhe wlng
and Lhlnk 'why ls Lhe alrcrafL noL a flylng wlng?', aerodynamlcally speaklng noL a very bad ldea,
and for each group you see lf Lhey opLlmlse Lhe alrcrafL from Lhelr own perspecLlve lL would look very
dlfferenLly.
And Lhe arL of aeronauLlcal englneerlng ls Lherefore how Lo comblne all Lhese dlsclpllnes lnLo one
deslgn, and Lhls means Lo undersLand how alrcrafL fly you need Lo undersLand Lhe baslc prlnclples of
many subdlsclpllnes.
And Lhls also shows why Lhe course ls seL up as lL ls. So we sLarL off wlLh, ln Lhe cenLre baslcally, by
looklng aL alrcrafL deslgn and explorlng all Lhe dlfferenL angles and looklng aL Lhe dlfferenL dlsclpllnes,
ln Lhe lnLroducLlon module.
1hen, afLer Lhe lnLroducLlon module, we wlll look closer aL Lwo speclflc Loplcs, one aerodynamlcs and
Lhe second fllghL performance, how Lhe goals of Lhe cusLomer are achleved wlLh alrcrafL deslgn.
So we sLarL of broad, we focus on aerodynamlcs and Lhen we end wlLh how Lhls comes LogeLher
agaln ln fllghL performance.
lor Lhls course we have dlfferenL LuLors, Lhe flrsL module (so Lhe overvlew, Lhe lnLroducLlon, looklng
aL all Lhe baslc prlnclples of all Lhe dlsclpllnes) are glven by !os Slnke and me,
Lhe second module ls glven by nando 1lmmer (an aerodynamlcs experL) asslsLed by PesLer 8l[l
(rofessor ln aerodynamlcs and Lhe dean of our faculLy)
and Lhe Lhlrd module ls glven by Mark voskul[l, an experL from our fllghL performance group.
We hope LhaL afLer Lhls course you wlll be able, wlLh a mlnlmal amounL of daLa (whaL l always call Lhe
'wlklpedla daLa') Lo do your own calculaLlons on alrcrafL and perhaps even Lhlnk of your fuLure
alrcrafL deslgn whlch wlll help Lhe world, malnLalnlng avlaLlon.