Introduction to the Elements of Airplane Stability and Control

The subject of airplane stability and control has advanced much since the elements were first learned just over one hundred years ago. Those who discovered them built gliders and piloted them. College texts must teach far beyond the lessons of those early years, so only a few pages can be allocated, in college texts, to the basics upon which today's technology is based. This book presents only the basic elements of the subject and does not include the more advanced material needed for graduation from college. Rather it is intended as a primer that can be used to teach at the senior high school or college freshman level or as a college senior-level supplemental text. It seeks to preserve the early lessons and to explain clearly the fundamental physical phenomenon of inherently stable and controllable airplane flight. Only a minimum level of mathematics is used so that these lessons may be easily understood by more junior students, laymen, private pilots, and aero modelers who may wish to comfortably read through the material presented.