Customer Reviews

Airfoil Selection:Understanding and Choosing Airfoils for Light Aircraft

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I was surprised to find a $20 book written by Barnaby Wainfan. Secondly, I was surprised there is no biography in this book. For $20, this book is a steal as it's probably worth at least 10x more if I dare put a price on it. Barnaby Wainfan is one of the top if not the top aerodynamics engineer for Northrop Grumman and the lead aero guy for the X47B.

If you have ever cracked open Mises and despaired, this is the book for you. No math to speak of, and very clear explanations of pitching moments, high lift, low drag, etc., etc. Very illuminating to read this along with Riblett on GA airfoils.

The book itself contains no page with any biography of the author. (Heaven forbid! A modest author?) Perhaps it is because the book is a reprint of a series of articles originally published in Kitplanes Magazine: regular readers of Kitplanes Magazine would already know the author, since the fraternity of general aviation designers is quite small and his name is a rather distinctive pair of words. Happily, the author recently joined the distinguished faculty in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and his concise bio is on their webstie. Impressively, we learn your author was the Chief of Aerodynamics for the car that won Progressive Insurance's Automotive X Prize. Since the engineering math used in aerodynamics is beyond the ken of most mortals, real world success in one's profession is always more comforting than the best explanations of all the equations that allegedly prove it will actually work. If you haven't seen the car, it looks like the front half of a four-place airplane fuselage that has been equipped with "open wheels," except the tires and wheels are clothed in what pilots know are "wheel pants." And if you didn't know about why some airplanes might need wheel pants and why Mr. Wainfan used them on Edison2, maybe you should read buy and read his refreshingly thin book. Price-wise, it's a bargain.