Customer Reviews

Introduction to Aircraft Design (Cambridge Aerospace Series)

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4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Many aircraft design books detail the 'how' of aircraft design. For example, determining the stall characteristics of a conceptual aircraft design. John Flemings' book introduces the 'why' of the aircraft design process. This book is a perfect companion to other aircraft design texts, like 'Aircraft Design-a conceptual approach' by Daniel Raymer

I consider this book to be a rough draft for a much larger book to come (I hope). The author just skims lightly through vast numbers of subjects, so that anyone who knows anything about airplanes will learn nothing new. Yet it isn't written on a basic enough level to have much to offer someone who knows nothing.

Disappointing.

This book is a very general view from a very British perspective. I don't think it belongs in Embry-Riddle's graduate programs because it does not meet the needs of experienced professionals. As an undergraduate overview of the systems design process, it is good. However, the author does not even touch helicopters, seaplanes, or lighter-than-air-technology. So, the book would be more aptly named "Introduction to Airplane Design."

Some of his information on armament systems is grossly inaccurate. Furthermore, the systems design process section does not reflect the current state of the art in the discipline of Systems Engineering. I expect improvement in the next edition and hope the author makes more of an effort to talk to engineers on the other side of the pond.

"Introduction to Aircraft Design" is a very brief introduction to a very large subject. The book is quite Cranfield-centric, and provides a distinctly British viewpoint. That's not a criticism, it's an observation: most of the examples cited in the book revolve around British aircraft, including some extremely rare models (BAe Tornado, BAe Hawk, BAe Nimrod, Saunders-Roe Princess, etc.) I found that somewhat interesting, though the disadvantage for readers new to the field is that the example aircraft will not be well known to them.

The book is relatively easy to read and does contain good information; the problem is that it is frequently unfocused. Exclusive of the extensive appendices the text is only 178 pages long, which is quite brief for a book on such an all-encompassing subject. Diversions into esoteric areas such as missile guidance, V/STOL, and the Hermes Spaceplane seem misguided given the limited length of this book; frequently a new subject is introduced, but after getting the reader interested the author simply moves onto something else, making for a frustrating and distracting reading experience.

My favorite chapters from the book are chapter six "What's Under the Skin? - Airframe systems," which provides a good basic introduction to aircraft systems architecture, and chapter eleven, "What Can Go Wrong? - Some lessons from past aircraft projects, and a glimpse into the future," which describes the pitfalls of aircraft design illustrated with extremely relevant examples. The appendices themselves are very good, and contain more concise data-driven (and mathematical) information than most of the text. This book is suitable for use in accompaniment with other texts for an introductory undergraduate course on aircraft development, but is too basic for engineering or graduate study. It is also suitable for reading outside an academic environment if the goal is a basic understanding of the aircraft design process.

Its use in an MAS course is too basic. I would recommend the book for undergrad courses only. This has been mentioned previously and continues to be of concern for students seeking greater detail. It leaves me wanting more detail, you will be hard pressed using this as a major source for writing detailed papers. OVERALL.... the book should cost about $40 bucks tops and should remain out of MAS courses. It carry's a value but basic to advanced learning.

I bought this book for a master's class. It takes a general overview of the process to design a new aircraft and the different systems that make up an airplane. The author also has several real world examples of aircraft during their development. It's a good read with lots of graphs and design pictures for a clearer explanation.

This book is for the reader that wants to really know
the detail on how aircraft are build and the
consideration required the specification
dealing with aircraft design, great book

Aircraft design from a Cranfield University perspective ONLY. Siginificant aircraft and designs are not discussed. Don't waste your money.

Better books: Fundamentals of Aircraft Design by Leland Nicolai, Aircraft Design: A Conceptual Approach by Daniel P. Raymer or, for a multi-volume approach, try Aircraft Design by Jan Roskam.

I agree with one of the other reviewers, that this book is rather brief in its content, but if one takes it for he introduction book that it is, then one understands why there is little detailed info.

The appendices are pretty robust though, and have some good tables with lots of hard-to-find info. There are appendices with formulas, scientific data, formula, conversionss, and there are tables with aircraft parameters and statisitics.

The author is obviously a Brit and uses examples from Cranfield's past research as many examples used in the book.

This book was required for Embry-Riddle's ASCI-603 Aircraft & Spacecraft Development.

If you are serious about a book on aircraft design, and you really want to know what you'll need to know, or are serious about the field, save your money and get Dan Raymer's Aircraft Development: A Conceptual Approach (4th ed.). It's more expensive, but fatter than a Bible and practically a Bible in itself for the field of aircraft design.

This book was very loosely written. It touches on the subjects and leaves you hanging. If you ever wanted to cite anything from this book, you'd be hard pressed to find anything useful. Unfortunately, it was a part of my curriculum to use this book for my Masters.