Longitudinal Flight Simulation

 

Figure 1 – Cessna 182 Skylane.

 

Problem

Simulate the longitudinal climb and descent phases of a Cessna 182 Skylane’s flight including the aircraft’s change in altitude, speed, fuel consumption, thrust, and lift coefficient.

 

Process

  1. Develop a JavaScript/HTML flight simulation.
  2. Define the aircraft’s initial flight parameters based on manufacturer specifications and the definition of the International Standard Atmosphere.
  3. Dynamically calculate the aircraft’s thrust, available fuel, lift coefficient, flight path angle, groundspeed, and altitude until available fuel is exhausted.
  4. Dynamically calculate the aircraft’s flight parameters through the descent portion of flight until the aircraft’s altitude reaches zero.
  5. Plot all of the parameters on a normalized axis over traversed ground distance.

 

Product

 

Figure 2 – Longitudinal Flight Simulation Results.