Flight Test Results for an Advanced Technology Light Airplane

Abstract

A single-engine light airplane was modified by the installation of a wing with reduced area, Fowler flaps, Kruger flaps, and spoilers. Flight test results show that zero-lift drag was reduced 13.8% and a trimmed maximum lift coefficient of 2.73 was achieved. Gust response was significantly reduced and excellent roll control w a s achieved with spoilers. Several design features employed i n t h e n e w wings have excellent potential f o r i ncorporation i n future light airplanes.

Drag Reduction Through Distributed Electric Propulsion

“…This smaller wing can result in a large reduction in cruise drag as well as substantially improved ride quality due to decreased gust sensitivity. 1 While there are many other active flow control technologies that could similarly be applied to achieve improved takeoff and landing high lift performance without structural complexity, these technologies offer only a single integration benefit at the cost of significant integration penalties. However, DEP offers the potential of additional integration benefits across other disciplines, resulting in greater integration benefits than penalties.…”

Conceptual Design of the Joby S2 Electric VTOL PAV

“…An additional benefit of this configuration is the increased dynamic pressure over the wing during transition due to the velocity induced by the propellers, providing an effective high-lift device; as a result, the wing area can be reduced for a given stall speed constraint, and the increased wing loading provides cruise drag and ride quality benefits. 4 The propellers are spatially distributed around the aircraft by positioning them along the leading edges of the wing and tail, with eight mounted on the wing and four on the tail. This longitudinal and lateral distribution facilitates control and stability during takeoff and landing and helps to reduce the power and torque demands on the motors in the event of the loss of a single motor.…”

Range extension control system for electric airplane with multiple motors by optimization of thrust distribution considering propellers efficiency

“…In this section, calculation of optimal thrust distribution is conducted based on the values of Table III and Table IV referring to [13]. Fig.…”

“…Plane characteristics[13].is defined as Eq. (20), and K ej is the induced voltage constant which is defined as Eq.…”