Appendix - B

PERFORMANCE ESTIMATION OF A
TYPICAL SUBSONIC JET TRANSPORT
AIRPLANE
[Link]
[Link]
REPORT NO: AE TR 2007-2
FEBRUARY 2007
Performance estimation of a typical subsonic
jet transport airplane
[Link]

[Link]

February 2007
Abstract
This report contains details of the performance estimation of a
medium range jet airplane similar to B737. The following aspects are
considered.
Drag Polar Estimation
Engine Characteristics
Level Flight Performance - Stalling speed, Maximum and Mini-
mum speeds
Steady Climb Performance - Service and Absolute Ceiling
Range and Endurance
Steady Level Co-ordinated Turn - Minimum Radius of turn,
Maximum rate of turn
Take O and Landing distance
The report is intended to serve as an example of performance cal-
culation of a typical airplane.

AICTE Emeritus Fellow, Department of Aerospace Engineering, IIT Madras

Dual Degree Student, Department of Aerospace Engineering, IIT Madras

1
Contents
1 Airplane Details 3
1.1 Overall Dimensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.2 Engine details . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.3 Weights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.4 Wing Geometry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.5 Fuselage Geometry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.6 Nacelle Geometry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.7 Horizontal Tail Geometry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.8 Vertical Tail Geometry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.9 Other details . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.10 Flight Condition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2 Estimation of Drag Polar 7
2.1 Estimation of (C
Do
)
WB
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.2 Estimation of (C
Do
)
V
and (C
Do
)
H
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.3 Estmation of Misc Drag - Nacelle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2.4 C
Do
of the airplane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2.5 Induced Drag . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2.6 Final Drag Polar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.6.1 Remark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
3 Engine Characteristics 12
4 Level Flight Performance 15
4.1 Stalling speed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
4.2 Variation of V
min
and V
max
with Altitude . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
5 Steady Climb 24
6 Range and Endurance 29
7 Turning Performance 31
8 Take-o distance 37
9 Landing distance 37
10 Concluding remarks 38
11 Acknowledgements 40
2
1 Airplane Details
1.1 Overall Dimensions
Length : 34.32
Wing Span : 32.22 m
Height above ground : 11.17
Wheel base : 13.2 m
Wheel track : 5.8 m
1.2 Engine details
Similar to CFM 56 - 2B
Seal Level Static Thrust : 97.9 kN
By pass ratio : 6.5 (For which the Engine characteristics are given in [?] )
SFC : @M = 0.8, h = 10972 m SFC = 0.6hr
1
1.3 Weights
Gross Weight : 59175 kgf
Empty Weight : 29706 kgf
Fuel Weight : 12131 kgf
Payload : 17338 kgf
Maximum Landing Weight : 50296 kgf
1.4 Wing Geometry
Planform Shape : Cranked wing
Span : 32.22 m
Area : 111.63 m
2
Airfoil : NASA - SC(2) series, t/c = 14%, C
lopt
= 0.5
Root Chord : 5.59 m (Equivalent Trapezoidal wing)
Tip Chord : 1.34 m (Equivalent Trapezoidal wing)
Root Chord of Cranked Wing : .... m
Portion of wing with straight trailing edge : 11.28 m
Mean Aerodynamic Chord : 3.9 m
Quarter chord Sweep : 27.69
o
Dihedral : 5
o
3
Twist : 3
o
Incidence : 1.4
o
Taper Ratio : 0.24 (Equivalent Trapezoidal wing)
Aspect Ratio : 9.3
1.5 Fuselage Geometry
Length : 33 m
Maximum Diameter : 3.59 m
1.6 Nacelle Geometry
No. of nacelles : 2
Nacelle Diameter : 1.62 m
Cross sectional Area : 2.06 m
2
Length of Nacelle : 3.3 m (based on B737 Nacelle)
1.7 Horizontal Tail Geometry
Span : 11.98 m
Area : 28.71 m
2
Mean Aerodynamic Chord : 2.67 m
Quarter Chord Sweep : 32
o
Root Chord : 3.80 m
Tip chord : 0.99 m
Taper Ratio : 0.26
Aspect Ratio : 5
1.8 Vertical Tail Geometry
Span : 6.58 m
Area : 25.43 m
2
Root Chord : 5.90 m
Tip chord : 1.83 m
Mean Aerodynamic Chord : 4.22 m
Quarter Chord Sweep : 37
o
Taper Ratio : 0.31
4
Aspect Ratio : 1.70
1.9 Other details
C
Lmax
without ap : 1.4
C
Lmax
with landing aps : 2.7
Maximum Load Factor n
max
: 3.5
C
Lmax
with T.O aps : 2.16
1.10 Flight Condition
Altitude : 10972 m = 36000 ft
Mach number : 0.8
Kinematic Viscosity : 3.90536 10
5
m
2
/s
Density : 0.3639 kg/m
3
Speed of Sound : 295.07 m/s
Flight Speed : 236.056 m/s
Weight of the Airplane : 59175 kgf
5
Figure 1: Three view drawing of the airplane
6
2 Estimation of Drag Polar
The drag polar is assumed to be of the form
C
D
= C
Do
+
C
2
L
Ae
The quantity C
D
O
is assumed to be given by
C
D
O
= (C
D
O
)
WB
+ (C
D
O
)
V
+ (C
D
O
)
H
+ (C
D
O
)
Misc
(1)
where suces WB, V, H, Misc denote wing-body combination, vertical tail,
horizontal tail, and miscellaneous contributions respectively.
2.1 Estimation of (C
D
o
)
WB
Initially, the drag polar is obtained at a Mach number of 0.6 as suggested by
[?]. (C
Do
)
WB
is then given as :
(C
Do
)
WB
= (C
Do
)
W
+ (C
Do
)
B
S
B
S
ref
The sux B denotes fuselage and S
B
is the maximum frontal area of fuselage.
(C
D
O
)
W
is given as :
(C
Do
)
W
= C
fw
_
1 +L
_
t
c
__
_
S
wet
S
ref
_
wing
Here, the Reynolds number used to determine the turbulent at plate
skin friction coecient is based on the mean aerodynamic chord c
e
of the
exposed wing. (S
wet
)
e
is the wetted area of the exposed wing.
Now c
r
= 5.59m, c
t
= 1.34m, b/2 = 16.11m and d
fus
= 3.59m. Hence
c
re
= 5.59
5.59 1.34
16.11

3.59
2
= 5.116m

e
=
1.34
5.116
= 0.262
c
e
=
2
3
_
5.116
_
1 + 0.262 + 0.262
2
1 + 0.262
__
= 3.596m
(b/2)
e
= 16.11 1.795 = 14.315m
M = 0.6, a = 295.07m/s V = 177.12m/s. Also = 3.90536 10
5
.
Hence,
7
Re =
177.12 3.596
3.90536 10
5
= 16.31 10
6
k = 1.015 10
5
m corresponds to standard camouage paint, average
application (from [?]). Hence
l
k
=
3.596
1.015 10
5
= 3.543 10
5
The Re
cutoff
corresponding to the above l/k is 30 10
6
. The C
fw
is then
measured from the graph in [?] as
C
fw
= 0.00265
(t/c)
avg
= 14% and (t/c)
max
at x/c > 0.3 L = 1.2.
S
exposedplanform
= 14.314
_
5.116 + 1.341
2
_
2 = 92.41m
2
S
wetw
= 2 92.41(1 + 1.2 0.14) = 215.8m
2
Hence,
(C
D
f
)
w
= 0.00265 (1 + 1.2 0.14)
215.8
111.63
= 0.00598
(C
Do
)
B
is given as:
(C
D
O
)
B
= (C
D
f
)
B
+ (C
Dp
)
B
+C
D
b
(C
D
O
)
B
= C
f
B
_
1 +
60
(l
b
/d)
3
+ 0.0025
_
l
b
d
__
_
S
wet
S
B
_
fus
+C
D
b
S
base
S
ref
l
f
= 33.0m and d
max
= 3.59m
Re
b
=
177.12 33
3.905 10
5
= 149.6 10
6
k = 1.015 10
5
m corresponds to standard camouage paint, average
application. Hence
l
k
=
33
1.015 10
5
= 32.51 10
5
8
The Re
cutoff
corresponding to the above l/k is 2.610
8
. The C
fw
is then
measured from the graph in [?] as
C
fw
= 0.0019
(S
wet
)
fus
= 0.75 3.59 33 = 279m
2
S
B
=

4
3.59
2
= 10.12m
2
Hence.
(C
D
f
)
B
= 0.0019
279
10.12
= 0.0524
(C
Dp
)
B
= 0.0019
_
60
(33/3.59)
3
+ 0.0025 (33/3.59)
_
279
10.12
= 0.00524
C
D
b
is assumed to be zero, since base area is almost zero. Hence
(C
D
O
)
B
= 0.0524 + 0.00524 + 0 = 0.0576
(C
D
)
canopy
is taken as 0.002. Hence (C
D
O
)
B
= 0.0596
Finally we have:
(C
Do
)
WB
= 0.00598 + 0.0596
10.12
111.63
= 0.01138
2.2 Estimation of (C
D
o
)
V
and (C
D
o
)
H
The estimation of (C
Do
)
H
and (C
Do
)
V
can be done in a manner similar to that
for the wing. However the details regarding the exposed tail area etc. would
be needed. In the absence of the detailed data on the shape of fuselage at
rear etc., a simplied approach given in [?] is adopted, wherein C
D
f
= 0.0025
for both horizontal and vertical tails.
S
W
= 2(S
h
+S
v
)
Hence,
(C
Do
)
hv
= 0.0025(28.71 + 25.43)
1
111.63
= 0.0024 (2)
9
2.3 Estmation of Misc Drag - Nacelle
For calculating drag due to the nacelles we use the short cut method for
which we have:
(C
Do
)
nacelle
= 0.006
S
wet
S
ref
where, S
wet
is the wetted area of nacelle. Here S
wet
= 16.79m
2
. Since we
have two nacelles the total drag will be twice of this. Finally we get:
(C
Do
)
nacelle
= 0.006
16.79
111.63
2 = 0.0018
2.4 C
D
o
of the airplane
Taking 2% for the interference drag (from [?]), we get the C
Do
of the airplane
as
C
Do
= 1.02 [0.01138 + 0.0024 + 0.0018] = 0.0159 (3)
2.5 Induced Drag
The induced drag component has the Oswalds eciency factor e which is
estimated by adding the eect of all the aircraft components on induced drag.
The rough estimate of e can be obtained from:
1
e
=
1
e
wing
+
1
e
fuselage
+
1
e
other
From [?]
e
wing
= (e
w
)
=0
cos( 5)
where is the wing sweep. (e
wing
)
=0
= 0.97 for AR = 9.3, = 0.24
from [?].
Hence e
wing
= 0.97 cos (27.69 5) = 0.8948. Also
1/e
fus
(S
f
/S)
= 0.8 for a round
fuselage. Hence
1
e
fus
= 0.8
10.122
111.63
= 0.0725
1
e
other
= 0.05
Finally we have:
e =
1
0.8948
1
+ 0.0725 + 0.05
= 0.8064
10
Hence
K =
1
Ae
=
1
9.3 0.8064
= 0.04244
2.6 Final Drag Polar
C
D
= 0.0159 + 0.04244 C
2
L
(4)
Figure 2: Subsonic Drag Polar
2.6.1 Remark
The polar given by 4 is valid at subcritical Mach numbers. The increase
in C
Do
and K at higher Mach numbers is discussed in section 4.2.
11
The maximum lift to drag ratio ((L/D)
max
) is given by
(L/D)
max
=
1
2

C
Do
K
Using equation 4, (L/D)
max
is 19.25, which is typical of modern jet
transport airplanes.
It may be noted that the parabolic polar is an approximation and is not
valid beyond C
Lmax
. It is not accurate close to C
L
= 0 and C
L
= C
Lmax
3 Engine Characteristics
To calculate the performance, the variations of thrust and SFC with speed
and altitude are needed. Chapter 9 of [?] contains these variations for turbo-
fan engines with various bypass ratios. The Thrust variations versus Mach
number with altitude as parameters are given in non-dimensional form for
take-o, cruise and climb ratings. The values were read from the curves and
later smoothed. The values multiplied by 97.9 kN, the sea level static thrust
rating for the chosen engine, are shown in Figures 3 and 4. Figure 3 also con-
tains (a) the variation of thrust with Mach number at sea level with take-o
rating. (b) variations of climb thrust with Mach number at
h = 38000 and 39000 ft; these are obtained by interpolating values at 36000
and 40000 ft and are used for computation of performance at these altitudes.
The SFC variation is also given in [?], but is taken as 0.6hr
1
under cruise
conditions based on the value recommended by [?].
12
Figure 3: Take O for sea level and Climb Thrust per engine for various altitudes
1
3
Figure 4: Cruise Thrust per engine for various altitudes
1
4
4 Level Flight Performance
In steady Level ight, the equations of motion, in standard notation are
T D = 0 (5)
L W = 0 (6)
L =
1
2
V
2
SC
L
=W =
1
2
V
2
SC
L
(7)
D =
1
2
V
2
SC
D
= T (8)
4.1 Stalling speed
In level ight,
V =

_
_
2W
SC
L
_
(9)
Since C
L
cannot exceed C
Lmax
, there is a ight speed below which level
ight is not possible. The ight speed at C
L
= C
Lmax
is called the stalling
speed and is denoted by V
s
V
s
=

_
_
2W
SC
Lmax
_
(10)
Since decreases with altitude, V
s
increases with height. We note that
W/S = 5195N/m
2
, C
Lmax
= 2.7 with landing aps and C
Lmax
= 1.4 without
aps. The values of stalling speed at dierent altitudes and ap settings are
tabulated in Table 1 and shown in Figure 5.
15
h V
s
(C
Lmax
= 1.4) V
s
(C
Lmax
= 2.7)
(m) (kg/m
3
) (m/s) (m/s)
0 1.225 77.83 56.04
2000 1.006 85.86 61.83
4000 0.819 95.18 68.54
6000 0.659 106.06 76.37
8000 0.525 118.87 85.59
10000 0.412 134.09 96.56
11000 0.363 142.80 102.83
12000 0.310 154.52 111.27
Table 1: Variation of stalling speed with altitude
Figure 5: Stalling speed Vs Altitude
4.2 Variation of V
min
and V
max
with Altitude
To determine the V
min
and V
max
at each altitude, the following procedure is
adopted.
16
The engine thrust as a function of velocity at each altitude is obtained
from the smoothed data.
The drag at each altitude is found as a function of velocity using the
drag polar and the level ight formulae given below.
C
L
=
2 (W/S)
V
2
(11)
C
D
= C
Do
+KC
2
L
(12)
Drag =
1
2
V
2
SC
D
(13)
T
avail
= f(M) (14)
Where C
Do
= 0.0159 and K = 0.04244.
However, the cruise Mach number (M
cruise
) for this airplane is 0.8.
Hence C
Do
and K are expected to become functions of Mach number
above M
cruise
. To get some guidelines about variations of C
Do
and K,
we consider the drag polars of B-727 given in Volume 6, Chapter 5 of
[?]. These drag polars are shown in the Figure 6 as discrete points.
Figure 6: Drag polars at dierent Mach numbers for B727-100; Symbols are
data from [?] and Solid lines are the parabolic ts
17
These polars were approximated by the parabolic polar expression
namely C
D
= C
Do
+K C
2
L
. The values of C
Do
and K for the various
Mach numbers are given in the Table 2. The parabolic t is also shown
in Figure 6.
M C
Do
K
0.7 0.01631 0.04969
0.76 0.01634 0.05257
0.82 0.01668 0.06101
0.84 0.01695 0.06807
0.86 0.01733 0.08183
0.88 0.01792 0.103
Table 2: Variation of C
Do
and K with Mach number (Parabolic t)
Figure 7: Variation of C
Do
with Mach number
The variations in C
Do
and K with Mach number are plotted in the
Figures 7 and 8. It is seen that there is no signicant increase in C
Do
18
Figure 8: Variation of K with Mach number
and K upto M = 0.76. This is expected to be the cruise Mach number
for the airplane (B727-100). Following analytical expressions have been
found to closely represent the changes in C
Do
and K from M = 0.76
to M = 0.86.
C
Do
= 0.01634 0.001 (M 0.76) + 0.11 (M 0.76)
2
(15)
K = 0.05257 + (M 0.76)
2
+ 20.0 (M 0.76)
3
(16)
In the case of the present airplane, the cruise Mach number is 0.8. The
variations of C
Do
and K above M
cruise
and upto M = 0.9, based on
B727-100 data is taken as follows.
C
Do
= 0.0159 0.001 (M 0.8) + 0.11 (M 0.8)
2
(17)
K = 0.0455 + (M 0.8)
2
+ 20.0 (M 0.8)
3
(18)
The thrust available and thrust required curves are plotted at each
altitude as a function of velocity. The points of intersection give the
V
min
and V
max
at each altitude. To arrive at V
min
, the stalling speed
also needs to be taken in to account. Hence in the Figures. 9 to 14,
19
the portion of the V
min
curve below V
s
is shown as dotted lines, as the
drag polar is not valid there. V
s
is taken for C
Lmax
without aps.
The calculations are carried out for h = 0, 10000, 15000, 25000, 30000
and 36000 ft, i.e S.L, 3048, 4572, 7620, 9144 and 10972.8 m using T
avail
as climb thrust and cruise thrust. Results are presented only for climb
thrust case.
h h V
s
V
min
(m/s) V
min
(m/s) V
max
(m/s) V
max
(m/s)
(in ft) (in m) T
cr
T
climb
T
cr
T
climb
S.L 0 77.833 < V
s
< V
s
258.711 269.370
10000 3048 90.579 < V
s
< V
s
272.060 280.595
15000 4572 98.131 < V
s
< V
s
275.613 283.300
25000 7620 116.292 < V
s
< V
s
272.929 279.291
30000 9144 127.278 < V
s
< V
s
267.854 271.755
36000 10972 142.594 176.054 169.071 253.671 258.154
38000 11582 149.557 217.386 200.896 243.676 248.630
38995 11884 153.159 235.471 229.865 235.483 238.649
Table 3: Variation of V
min
and V
max
20
Figure 9: Available and Required Thrust at S.L
Figure 10: Available and Required Thrust at h = 3048.0m
21
Figure 11: Available and Required Thrust at h = 4572.0m
Figure 12: Available and Required Thrust at h = 7620.0m
22
Figure 13: Available and Required Thrust at h = 9144.0m
Figure 14: Available and Required Thrust at h = 10972.8m
23
Figure 15: Variation of V
min
and V
max
with altitude
5 Steady Climb
In this ight, the C.G of the airplane moves along a straight line inclined
to the horizontal at an angle . The velocity of ight is assumed to be
constant during the climb. Since the ight is steady, aceleration is zero and
the equations of motion can be written as:
T D W sin = 0 (19)
L W cos = 0 (20)
To calculate the variation of rate of climb with ight velocity at dierent
altitudes, we adopt the following procedure.
Choose an altitude.
Choose a ight speed.
Noting that C
L
= 2W cos /SV
2
, we get
C
D
= C
Do
+K
_
2W cos
SV
2
_
24
Also
V
c
= V sin
cos =

1
V
2
c
V
2
Using the above equations,
A
_
V
c
V
_
2
+B
_
V
c
V
_
+C = 0 (21)
A =
kW
2
1
2
V
2
S
; B = W; C = T
avail

1
2
V
2
SC
Do

2kW
2
V
2
S
(22)
Since altitude and ight velocity have been chosen, the thrust available
is read from the climb thrust curves in 3. Further the variation of C
Do
and K with Mach number is taken as in Equations 17 and 18.
Equation 21 gives 2 values of V
c
/V . We choose the value which is less
that 1.0 as sin cannot be greater than unity. Hence
= sin
1
(V
c
/V ) (23)
V
c
= V sin (24)
This procedure is repeated for various speeds between V
min
and V
max
.
The entire procedure is then repeated for various altitudes.
The variations of (R/C) and with velocity and with altitude as pa-
rameters are shown in Figure 16 and 18. The variations of (R/C)
max
and
max
with altitude are shown in Figure 17 and 19. The variations
of V
(R/C)max
and V
max
with altitude are shown in Figure 20 and 21. A
summary of results is presented in table 4.
25
h h (R/C)
max
V
(R/C)max

max
V
max
(in ft) (in m) (in m/min) (in m/s) (in degrees) (in m/s)
0 0.0 1086.63 149.7 8.7 88.5
10000 3048.0 867.34 167.5 6.0 111.6
15000 4572.0 738.16 174.0 4.7 125.7
25000 7620.0 487.41 198.2 2.6 164.1
30000 9144.0 313.43 212.2 1.5 188.0
36000 10972.8 115.57 236.1 0.5 230.2
38000 11582.4 41.58 236.9 0.2 234.0
38995 11885.7 1.88 235.8 0.0 235.8
Table 4: Climb Performance
Figure 16: Rate of Climb Vs Velocity for various altitudes
26
Figure 17: Maximum Rate of Climb Vs Altitude
Figure 18: Angle of Climb Vs Velocity for various altitudes
27
Figure 19: Maximum angle of Climb Vs Altitude
Figure 20: Velocity at Maximum Rate of Climb Vs Altitude
28
Figure 21: Velocity at Maximum angle of Climb Vs Altitude
Remarks
1. The discontinuties in slope in Figures 20 and 21 at high velocities are
due to the change in drag polar as the Mach number exceeds 0.8.
2. From Figure 17, the absolute cieling (at which (R/C)
max
is zero) is
11.88 km. The service cieling at which (R/C)
max
= 50m/min is 11.55
km
6 Range and Endurance
In this section, the range of the aircraft in a constant altitude and constant
velocity cruise is studied. Range is given by the formula
R =
3.6V
TSFC

KC
do
_
tan
1
2W
1
V
2
S

K
C
do
tan
1
2W
2
V
2
S

K
C
do
_
(25)
where W
1
is the weight of the aircraft at the start of the cruise and W
2
is the weight of the aircraft at the end of the cruise.
The cruising altitude taken is h = 10972m. TSFC is taken to be con-
stant as 0.6hr
1
. The variation of drag polar above M = 0.8 is given by
Equation.17 and 18.
29
W
1
= W
o
= 59175 9.81N
W
f
= 0.205 W
1
Allowing 6% fuel as trapped fuel, W
2
becomes
W
2
= W
1
0.94 W
f
The values of endurance (in hours) are obtained by dividing the expres-
sion for range by 3.6V where V is in m/s. The values of Range(R) and
Endurance(E) in ight at dierent velocities are presented in Table 5 and
are plotted in Figures 22 and 23.
Figure 22: Constant Velocity Range at h = 10972 m
30
Figure 23: Endurance at h = 10972 m
Remarks
1. It is observed that the maximum range of 5600 km is obtained at a
velocity of 239m/s (860 kmph). Corresponding Mach number is 0.81
which is slightly higher than the Mach number beyond which C
Do
and
K increase. This can be explained based on two factors namely (i)
the range increases as the ight speed increases (ii) after M
cruise
is
exceeded, C
Do
and K increase thus reducing (L/D)
max
.
2. The range calculated above is the gross still air range. The safe range
would be about two-thirds of this. In the present case, the safe range
would be 3733km.
3. The maximum endurance of 6.85 hours occurs in a ight at V =
206m/s. (742 kmph). It can noted that the endurance is roughly
constant over a speed range of 190 m/s to 230 m/s.
7 Turning Performance
In this section, the performance of the airplane in a steady, co-ordinated,
level turn is studied. The equations of motion in this case are:
31
M V C
L
C
D
L/D R E
(in m/s) (in km) (in hours)
0.50 147.531 1.312 0.089 14.75 2979.0 5.61
0.55 162.285 1.085 0.066 16.48 3608.0 6.18
0.60 177.038 0.911 0.051 17.82 4189.6 6.57
0.65 191.791 0.777 0.041 18.72 4691.7 6.80
0.70 206.544 0.670 0.035 19.17 5095.6 6.85
0.75 221.297 0.583 0.030 19.23 5396.5 6.77
0.80 236.050 0.513 0.027 18.95 5599.8 6.59
0.81 239.001 0.500 0.027 18.78 5602.3 6.51
0.82 241.952 0.488 0.027 18.36 5527.0 6.35
0.83 244.902 0.476 0.027 17.65 5352.2 6.07
0.84 247.853 0.465 0.028 16.62 5070.1 5.68
0.85 250.803 0.454 0.030 15.29 4691.2 5.20
0.86 253.754 0.444 0.032 13.76 4242.3 4.64
0.87 256.705 0.433 0.036 12.13 3758.8 4.07
0.88 259.655 0.424 0.040 10.52 3275.3 3.50
Table 5: Range and Endurance in Constant Velocity ight at h = 10972m
(36000ft)
T D = 0
W Lcos = 0
Lsin =
W
g
where is the angle of bank.
These equations give:
r =
V
2
g tan

=
V
r
=
g tan
V
Load Factor n =
L
W
=
1
cos
where n = L/W ,

is the rate of turn and r is the radius of turn.
The following procedure is used to obtain r
min
and

max
32
1. A ight speed and altitude are chosen and the level ight lift coecient
C
LL
is obtained as :
C
LL
=
2(W/S)
V
2
2. If C
Lmax
/C
LL
< n
max
, where n
max
is the maximum load factor for
which the aircraft is designed, then the turn is limited by C
Lmax
and
C
LT
1
= C
Lmax
. However if C
Lmax
/C
LL
> n
max
, then the turn is limited
by n
max
, and C
LT
1
= n
max
C
LL
.
3. From the drag polar, C
DT
1
is obtained corresponding to C
LT
1
. Then
D
T1
=
1
2
V
2
SC
DT
1
If D
T1
> T
a
, where T
a
is the available thrust at that speed and alti-
tude, then the turn is limited by the engine output. In this case, the
maximum permissible value of C
D
in turning ight is found from
C
DT
=
T
a
1
2
V
2
S
From the above relation, the value of C
LT
is calculated as
C
LT
=

C
DT
C
Do
K
However if D
T1
< T
a
, then the turn is not limited by the engine output
and the value of C
LT
calculated in step (ii) is retained.
4. Once C
LT
is known, the load factor during the turn is determined as
n =
C
LT
C
LL
Once n is known, the values of , r and

can be calulated using the
equations given above.
The above steps are then repeated for various speeds and altitudes. A
typical turning ight performance estimation is presented in Table 6. In
these calculations, C
Lmax
= 1.4 and n
max
= 3.5 are assumed. The variation
of turning ight performance with altitude is shown in Table. 7. Figures
24, 25, 26, 27 respectively present (a) radius of turn with velocity and with
altitude as parameter, (b) minimum radius of turn with altitude, (c) rate of
turn with velocity and with altitude as parameter and (d) maximum rate of
turn with altitude.
33
v n C
lt
(in degrees) r (in m)

78.83 1.026 1.4000 12.892 2767.70 0.0285

98.83 1.612 1.4000 51.670 787.21 0.1255
118.83 2.331 1.4000 64.596 683.63 0.1738
138.83 2.813 1.2376 69.173 747.41 0.1858
158.83 2.993 1.0062 70.482 911.60 0.1742
178.83 3.089 0.8192 71.112 1115.38 0.1603
198.83 3.080 0.6607 71.053 1383.50 0.1437
218.83 2.930 0.5189 70.045 1772.43 0.1235
238.83 2.573 0.3826 67.132 2452.36 0.0974
241.83 2.494 0.3617 66.363 2609.20 0.0927
Table 6: A typical turning ight performance at Sea level
Figure 24: Radius of Turn Vs Velocity at various altitudes
34
Figure 25: Velocity at R
min
Vs Altitude
Figure 26:

Vs Speed at various altitudes
35
Figure 27: Velocity at

max
Vs Altitude
h r
min
V
r
min

max
V

max
(in m) (in m) (in m/s) (in m/s)
0.0 666 126.8 0.1910 127.8
3048.0 945 132.6 0.1410 133.6
4572.0 1155 135.1 0.1170 136.1
7620.0 1971 138.3 0.0731 165.3
9144.0 3247 151.3 0.0513 187.3
10972.8 8582 211.0 0.0256 231.0
Table 7: Turning ight performance
Remarks
1. The maximum value of

is 0.191 and occurs at a speed of 127.8m/s
at sea level.
2. The minimum radius of turn is 666 m and occurs at a speed of 126.8m/s
at sea level.
3. The various graphs show a discontinuity in slope when the criterion
36
which limits the turn changes from n
max
to thrust available.
8 Take-o distance
In this section, the take o performance of the airplane is evaluated. The
take-o distance consists of take-o run, transition and climb to screen
height. Rough estimates of the distance covered in these phases can be
obtained by writing down the appropriate equations of motion. However the
estimates are approximate and [?] recommends the following formulae for
take-o distance and balance eld length based on the take-o parameter.
This parameter is dened as:
Take O Parameter =
W/S
C
L
TO
(T/W)
(26)
where W/S is wing loading in lb/ft
2
, C
L
TO
is 0.8 C
Lland
= 0.8 2.7 =
2.16 and is the density ratio at take-o altitude.
In the present case:
W
S
= 5195N/m
2
= 108.2lb/ft
2
; C
L
TO
= 0.82.7 = 2.16; = 1.0(sea level)
and
T
W
=
2 97.9kN
59175 9.81
= 0.3373
Hence
Take O Parameter =
108.2
1.0 2.16 0.3373
= 148.86 (27)
From [?], the take o distance, over 50, is 2823

or 861m. The balance

eld length for the present case of two engined airplane is 6000

or 1829m.
Remark
It may be noted that the balance eld length is more than twice the take o
distance itself.
9 Landing distance
In this section the landing distance of the airplane is calculated. From [?]
the landing distance for commericial airliners is given by the formula
37
S
land
= 80
_
W
S
_
1
C
Lmax
+ 1000ft (28)
where W/S is in lbs/ft
2
. In the present case:
(W/S)
land
= 0.85 (W/S)
takeoff
= 0.85 108.5 = 92.225lb/ft
2
C
Lmax
= 2.7
= 1.0
Hence
S
land
= 80 92.225
1
1.0 2.7
+ 1000 = 3732ft = 1138m (29)
10 Concluding remarks
1. Performance of a typical commercial airliner has been estimated for
stalling speed, maximum speed, minimum speed, steady climb, range,
endurance, turning, take-o and landing.
2. The performance approximately corresponds to that of B737-200.
3. Figure 28 presents the variation with altitude of the characteristic ve-
locities corresponding to
stalling speed, V
s
maximum speed, V
max
minimum speed as dictated by thrust, V
min
thrust
maximum rate of climb, V
(R/C)max
maximum angle of climb, V
max
maximum rate of turn, V

max
minimum radius of turn, V
r
min
38
Figure 28: Flight Envelope
3
9
11 Acknowledgements
Thr rst author (EGT) thanks AICTE for the fellowship which enabled him
to carry out the work at IIT Madras.
40