AE 451 Aeronautical Engineering Design I

Requirements and Competitor Study

Prof. Dr. Serkan Özgen

Dept. Aerospace Engineering
October 2017
Requirements

• Aircraft design requirements come from several sources and

flavors.
– Definition of the purpose and operation of the aircraft,
– Assumptions about the customer and operator,
– Time frame of development,
– Technological risk.
• Actual mission and performance capabilities needed by
potential customers
— Range, payload, speed, low observability, fit into an existing shelter,
cost.

2
Requirements
• For civilian aircraft, there are airworthiness requirements.
– FAR: Federal Aviation Requirements (FAA-US)
– CS: Certification Specifications (EASA-EU)
– FAR-23 or CS-23: Airworthiness Standards for Normal, Utility,
Acrobatic & Commuter Category Airplanes,
– CS-VLA: Certification Specifications for Very Light Aeroplanes,
– CS-LSA: Certification Specifications for Light Sport Aeroplanes,
– FAR-25 or CS-25: Airworthiness Standards for Transport Category
Airplanes.

3
Requirements
• For military aircraft, there are Mil-Specs and Mil-Standards.
– MIL-C-8785: aerodynamics, stability and control.
– MIL-F-87858: flying qualities.
– MIL-A-8860: loads for structural analysis.
• MIL-STD-3013: definitions, ground rules, and mission profiles
to define air vehicle performance capability.

4
Requirements document
• A sample requirements document for a very light airplane:
requirements.pdf

5
Competitor study
• A competitor study allows the designer have a first «vision» of
the required design.
• If the competitors are carefully chosen, their geometric and
aerodynamic characteristics will be very similar to the
required design.
• This is especially true for well-established types: general
aviation airplanes, transport airplanes.
• Less so for airplanes like fighters, even less so for UAVs mostly
due to lack of sufficient statistical data and custom-designed
platforms.
• One risk: may prevent creativity.