Science  People  Locations  Timeline
Index: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Home > Flight dynamics


 

Aerospace engineering

Flight dynamics is the study of orientation of air and space vehicles and how to control the critical flight parameters, typically named pitch, roll and yaw.

Pitch is rotation around the lateral axis. This axis is parallel to the wings, thus the nose and tail both pitch up or down.

Roll is rotation around the longitudinal axis - an axis drawn through the body of the vehicle from tail to nose.

Yaw is rotation about the normal axis - an axis orthogonal to the pitch and roll axes. If an airplane model placed on a flat surface is spun or pivoted around the center of mass (coordinate origin) it would be described as yawing.

Aerospace engineers develop control laws and control systems to allow pilots to control their aircraft in the three dimensions described above.

See also



Read more »

Non User