Flight Stability and Automatic Control (Hardcover)

by Robert Nelson (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
This edition of this this flight stability and controls guide features an unintimidating math level, full coverage of terminology, and expanded discussions of classical to modern control theory and autopilot designs. Extensive examples, problems, and historical notes, make this concise book a vital addition to the engineer's library.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 456 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Science/Engineering/Math; 2 edition (October 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0070462739
• ISBN-13: 978-0070462731
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #592,598 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A lot of info on aircraft control in a small textbook., April 12, 1999

By	[e-mail] (St. Louis, MO) - See all my reviews

I found this textbook to include a large amount of concisely presented material on all aspects of aircraft stability and control and feedback control system design. It covers everything from the atmosphere, to development of forces and moments and equations of motion, to estimation of stability derivatives, analysis of dynamics and modes of motion, and handy reduced degrees of freedom. It also includes many examples of designing autopilots and stability augmentation systems. I really liked the examples which included both classical and state variable methods. Each chapter also has several interesting example problems. I would recommend this text for anyone in the field of aircraft or missile flight controls. The only dissappointing aspect of the text is what I consider an excessive number of typographical errors. I would caution anyone not to use the equations or formulas without first checking the derivation. The derivations are clear and concise enough that the reader should be able to find these errors.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent introductory book. Highly readable., August 26, 2000

By	Keiichi Ito (Japan) - See all my reviews

The best aspect of this book is the simplicity in the exposition of ideas and concepts while giving more than enough information for an introductory book. Fully worked out examples are frequent throughout the chapters and helps even further in getting good grasp of new materials. If the reader has taken introductory courses in Vibration and/or Feedback Control, the book should be an easy read. The book is roughly divided into two parts: The flight dynamics part and control part. In the flight dynamics part, the explanation smoothly leads the reader from equation of motion to the concept of stability derivatives and how they relate to dynamic stability. The derivatives are very well explained and then summarized in tables for a quick reference. In the control part, the author starts from the classic linear feed back control and proceeds to the modern state space method and introduces optimal control design using linear quadratic regulator. The control part is an amazing time saver. I have never seen a more efficient introduction to optimal control as applied to aircraft dynamics. If the reader wants a full fledged treatment of optimal control of aircraft, the materials presented here are far from enough, but as an introductory book, this is an excellent exposition that lets the reader get to pace quickly and have straight forward perspective on the subject. Although there were some blatant typos, it is an excellent work and I highly recommend the book.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good Fundamentals Book by a Talented Writer, October 5, 2000

By	DCop (Houston, Texas United States) - See all my reviews

This is an excellent book for the modern fundamentals of aircraft control design. Most subjects are clearly treated with just the right amount of illustrations and examples. The author makes good effort of explaining procedures without resorting to function calls from some software package. The last of the book devotes relatively little space to modern control theory. I would hope this talented writer would create something more advanced in the future that would expand on his treatment of the state observer and the use of the cost function.