Bi-annual Newsletter of the

AIAA Aircraft Design

Technical Committee

AeroDesign News

The Aircraft Design Technical Committee

The mission of the Aircraft Design Technical

committee is to promote the discipline of

aircraft design to ensure this unique and

valuable capability remains a viable and

relevant element of the aerospace field.

The committee is composed of aircraft de-

sign experts from academia, industry and

government who share a vision of communi-

cating the excitement inherent to aircraft

design to new generations of students,

leaders, and stakeholders while maintaining

a point of connection between the diverse

elements of the aircraft design community.

The technical activities of the committee are

to provide a platform where new aircraft

concepts, innovative aircraft technologies,

and unconventional design methods can be

brought to the fore. Technical development

functions include a strong presence in the

AVIATION and SCITECH forums with multi-

ple technical paper sessions and technical

exchange events such as meetings of the

Conceptual Aircraft Design Working Group

21 (CADWG21).

The committee also supports AIAA publica-

tions with an aircraft design article for Aero-

space America’s year-in-review issue, and

supporting the Journal of Aircraft with an

associate editor, reviewers, and numerous

authors. The committee recognizes individu-

als or aircraft programs with the prestigious

AIAA Aircraft Design Award for valuable

contributions to the field. In addition, the

best aircraft design paper award is awarded

on an annual basis to the best paper on the

subject presented at an AIAA conference.

The committee’s is actively engaged in the

development of future aircraft designers and

directly supports the Design-Build-Fly com-

petition, the AIAA Aircraft Design competi-

tions, and engagement with young profes-

sionals and K-12 students.

Message from the Chair

Welcome to this issue of AeroDesign News, the bi-

annual newsletter of the AIAA Aircraft Design Tech-

nical Committee. We are off to a very good start in

2016 with an unprecedented number of aircraft design

papers in SCITECH’s technical program. There are

almost 70 papers distributed across 12 technical ses-

sions, two cross-listed with GNC, as well as the Con-

ceptual Aircraft Design Working Group panel session.

We had an equally impressive presence at AVIATION

2015 where papers addressed our field’s newest ideas

and most pressing challenges. Efforts for AVIATION

2016 are well underway and will further underscore the

highly integrative nature underlying aircraft design and

many adjacent domains in aeronautics.

Some of our more recent initiatives will continue in

earnest in 2016, including this newsletter and the

recognition of the best aircraft design conference pa-

per, while we continue to support and improve legacy

functions such as the student aircraft design competi-

tions, the aircraft design award, and the Aerospace

America year-in-review article.

There will also be a few changes and exciting

opportunities in 2016. Dr. Willem Anemaat, President

of Design, Analysis and Research Corporation will take

over as chair of the committee in May (see his profile

on page 3). The recent formation of the institute’s

Diversity Working Group and the new AIAA Foundation

K–12 STEM Committee brings to the fore the changing

currents shaping our workforce, and offer valuable

opportunities for engagement to this committee and all

others.

As I conclude my last “Message from the Chair”

and reflect on the last few years I am overwhelmed

with a sense of gratitude to all my aircraft design tech-

nical committee colleagues. I sincerely appreciate the

opportunity that I have been given to lead such a dedi-

cated and enthusiastic group of aircraft design profes-

sionals. Although serving as chairperson is a reward in

its own right, I am also privileged to have gained much

personal growth, a heightened commitment to service,

and friendships that will surely last for years to come.

Hernando Jimenez, chair ADTC

this issue

Message from the Chair P.1

ADTC Presence on Conferences P.2

Interview with an Aircraft Designer P.3

Trending in Aircraft Design P.4

J a n 2 0 1 6 V o l . 2 I S S U E 1

AeroDesign News Vol. 2 Issue 1 Jan-

Although most new UAV designs are centered on

various incarnations of configurations and subsystems

found in “Tinkertoy” multicopters, the greatest perfor-

mance increments are seen in nontraditional designs.

Clearly, the majority of the innovations in UAVs and

associated systems do not appear to be made by

trained aerospace design engineers as little attention

is often paid to aerodynamics or principles of good

balanced aircraft design. However, some new configu-

rations are being pioneered by aerospace design

engineers.

Three years ago, a unique convertible aircraft design

was laid out as an entry in DARPA’s XVTOL competi-

tion. Although it was deemed it to be “too risky for

DARPA,” the team pushed the design of the XQ-139

to the limit as the UAV showed 15% greater OGE

hover efficiency than a helicopter due to fuselage

streamlining and a dash speed increase over a simi-

larly powered airplane of more than 23% due to a

Trending in Aircraft Design: Wild West Period of UAVs

With a current market size greater than $300m, ex-

pected by many to break $1B/yr in the next five

years, commercial UAVs or “Drones” are evolving at

a very rapid pace.

According to IFI Claims Patent Services more UAV

patents have been published since 2012 than all of

the years prior to that time. With more than 2,000

UAV-related patents filed each year, this corner of

the aerospace industry is very much in a “Wild West”

period of innovation as nontrivial numbers of aircraft

configurations that are currently unknown to the

technical community come alive in CAD models,

prototypes and products.

Although major corporations like Boeing have come

up with some truly fascinating designs like the sub-

marine/UAV, modelers are actually building and

flying them. Indeed, the web is alive with videos of

quadcopters being launched from the bottom of

sinks, tubs and pools.

MRJ90 First Flight, see Page 4.

P.4

Contributors: H. Jimenez, R. Barrett,

W. Anemaat, D. Wells, and R. Vos

https://info.aiaa.org/tac/AASG/ACDTC

Email: r.vos@tudelft.nl

AIAA ADTC Airc raf t Des ign Technical Com-

mi t tee

First Flight: Mitsubishi MRJ90

Economic range 900 nmi

Passengers 92

MTOW 87,300 lb

Max cruise Mach 0.82

Powerplants Pratt & Whitney PW1217G

First flight 01/11/2015

Specifications MRJ90 STD* Japan’s first passenger transport aircraft since the 1960s has

made its maiden flight in November of 2015. Built by a consorti-

um of renown manufacturers (including Toyota, Mitsubishi HI,

and Fuji HI) this aircraft is a fierce competitor in the regional jet

market. The MRJ boasts high reliability and low maintenance

cost due to its high manufacturing tolerances. There are 223 firm

orders and another 184 options. The MRJ 90 comes in three

variations, the standard, extended-range (1290 nmi), and long-

range (1780 nmi) variation. A smaller version of the aircraft, the

MRJ 70 with 78 passengers, is still on the drawing board.

*source: flythemrj.org

First Flight Every edition of Aero-

News puts the spotlight

on an aircraft that has

(almost) completed its

design cycle. The fea-

tured aircraft has made

its first flight somewhere

in the past six months

and thereby marks the

current industry state of

the art in aircraft design.

Source: www.flythemrj.com

wing wetted area reduction of more than 83%.The XQ-

139 was designed to serve a wide range of missions

from counter-piracy to bovine agriculture. Currently, the

aircraft family is being expanded and undergoing flight

testing.

The performance range of UAVs were recently

stretched when a new hybrid aircraft class was pio-

neered: a quadcopter+ a rocket = QuadRocket. The

figure below shows the QuadRocket setting what may

be a class speed record at more than 130 kts and

11,000 fpm climb rate. The coming months and years

is sure to see high-

er speeds, grater

ranges, unique

configurations and

new, unheard-of

capabilities from

UAV designers,

around the world.

XQ-139 Convertible UAV

CADWG21

Conceptual Aircraft Design

Working Group 21 (CADWG21)

is an integral component of the

aircraft design technical commit-

tee whose purpose is to provide

a forum for the exchange of

aircraft conceptual design infor-

mation with the intent of identify-

ing needs and common areas of

interest of the community, and

facilitating collaborative efforts to

advance the state of the art.

The CADWG workshop at

SciTech 2016 will have the fol-

lowing topic: Aircraft Design

Education: how much automation

and software should be used for

class projects? Should students

write their own code, spread-

sheets or do only hand calcula-

tions? Should we have Individu-

al or team assignments in the

class room? With respect to

AIAA design competitions – what

are the main reasons why you

participate or do not participate?

A panel of professors and indus-

trial professionals will discuss the

merits and drawbacks of automa-

tion in a class room environment.

This panel shall include the fol-

lowing members: Dr. Roelof Vos

(TUDelft), Dr. Ron Barrett (KU),

Dr. Cees Bil (RMIT), Dr. Daniel

Raymer (Conceptual Research

Corp) and Mr. Clifton Davies

(Lockheed Martin).

Interview with an Aircraft Designer Aircraft Design Com-

petition Winners

The aircraft design TC is actively

involved in the Aircraft Design Compe-

titions that are organized annually by

AIAA and sponsored by the AIAA

foundation. In 2014/2015, prizes were

awarded in three categories.

In the undergraduate individual cate-

gory, students were asked to design a

supersonic, stealthy UAV being able

to carry a 4,100lb warload over a

mission range of 2000nm. This cate-

gory was won by Arthur Brown from

the University of Toronto, Canada.

In the undergraduate team category,

the contest required teams to submit a

design for a next-generation, strategic

airlift military transport aircraft. First

prize went to a team from California

State Polytechnic University, Pomona

and second prize to the team from

Delft University of Technology. There

was a tie for the third prize between

the team from Georgia Institute of

Technology and the team from Cali-

fornia Polytechnic State University –

San Luis Obispo.

In the graduate team category, the

competition challenged teams to de-

sign an air transport operating system

for use in a metropolitan area . First

prize went to the team from Polytech-

nic University of Milan, second prize to

Delft University of Technology, and

third prize to Georgia Institute of tech-

nology.

Danielle Soban, lecturer in aeronauti-

cal engineering at Queen’s University,

ADTC member, and ADTC coordina-

tor for design competition evaluations

summarized the quality of the entries

as follows: “The entries we received

were, for the most part, truly excellent,

and many contained a high level of

innovation. We were also quite

pleased with the increasing interna-

tional dimension of the competition,

with entries from universities around

the world.”

Who: Willem A.J. Anemaat, Aero-

space Engineer

Hometown: Lawrence, KS

Degrees: B.S., M.S., and Ph.D., Aero-

space Engineering

Schools Attended: Delft University of

Technology (B.S. and M.S.) and The

University of Kansas (Ph.D.)

Current Job: President and co-founder

of Design, Analysis and Research

Corporation (DARcorporation), an

aeronautical engineering and proto-

type development company in Law-

rence, Kansas

No. Years Working: 25 years

Special Challenge: As an engineer

also becoming a business man: ac-

counting, legal, human resources, etc.

Not something you easily learn in

school

How did you enter into the field?

I was always interested in airplanes.

My father was a mechanical engineer

and he travelled a lot. He always

brought me back postcards of the

airplanes he flew in. I was always

interested in technical matters and

science. One day I saw a show on TV

similar to the US Flugtag competition

where people jump off of a ramp with

their own designed and built aircraft (if

you may call it that). The person who

won that competition (it was in 1978)

was an aerospace engineering stu-

dent, so I was sold and wanted to

study aerospace engineering. I at-

tended the University of Technology in

Delft, The Netherlands, the only Aero-

space Engineering program in the

country. I chose airplane design un-

der Professor Egbert Torenbeek after

3 years because they were one of the

first groups developing computer

software for design and I was always

interested in programming. This way I

got involved with one of the first auto-

mated design systems using Medusa

(commercial CAD) and ADAS

(Developed at the TU Delft). I devel-

oped a module for ADAS to do tail

sizing and canard sizing, so quite a bit

of stability and control and aerodynam-

ics which is important when you are a

configuration designer too. You need

to know all topic areas. After getting

my MSAE I stayed on for one year at

the TU Delft working on my PhD, but

then I got this opportunity in 1989 to

come to the USA and work on airplane

design system development at the

University of Kansas under Dr. Jan

Roskam. In 1991 Dr. Roskam and I

formed Design, Analysis and Re-

search Corporation (DARcorporation)

to commercialize the developed tools

named Advanced Aircraft Analysis

(AAA). We slowly expanded into engi-

neering consulting performing airplane

design, modifications, wind tunnel

testing and prototype construction.

What areas of aircraft design are you,

or have you worked in?

Conceptual design and preliminary

design primarily. I also oversee engi-

neers who perform the detailed design

(structures and systems).

What was your most interesting or

challenging aircraft design project(s)

that helped you grow as a designer?

The VisionAire Vantage VA-10 (1998)

was a very cool project I worked on. It

was kind of a backwards program. It

was originally designed by another

company by a world-famous aircraft

designer and then built and flight tested.

We got involved, because it had major

problems. We managed a wind tunnel

program (yes, the full size proof-of-

concept airplane was already flying) to

figure out the aerodynamic issues and

stability and control issues close to stall.

It was a tremendous learning experi-

ence, because it was a forward swept

wing airplane and we dealt with multiple

companies and consultants trying to fix

all the problems. VisionAire ran into

financial problems, which got me in-

volved with the legal side of the industry

and VisionAire eventually filed for bank-

ruptcy.

The highlight of my career was actually

having the Sheriff seize the proof-of-

concept aircraft after we successfully

fought in court to get paid.

What do you think makes for an

‘exceptional’ airplane designer?

Know all facets of design, so be a gener-

alist. You need to be good in aerody-

namics, understand wind tunnel testing,

good in systems, structures, stability and

control and have a good grasp of cost.

And very important is to know airplane

history. Learn from mistakes made and

know what others did.

Are there any particular skills or training

that was particularly helpful to you?

Work with other designers. Learn from

the seasoned and older engineers.

They have a wealth of knowledge. My

philosophy is the older the better.

Winners of 2014 Winners of 2014 DesignDesign--BuildBuild--Fly Fly

The aircraft design technical committee is participating in the

SCITECH 2016 forum carrying out 12 technical paper sessions

and a CADWG21 Panel:

ACD-01. Aircraft Design Issues I

Tue Jan. 5 9:00 AM—12:30 PM, Cortez Hill A

ACD-02. Aircraft Design Issues II

Tue Jan. 5 2:00 PM—5:30 PM, Cortez Hill A

ACD-03. Aircraft Wing Design

Tue Jan. 5 2:00 PM—5:30 PM, Bankers Hill

ACD-04. Electric Aircraft Design

Wed Jan. 6 9:00 AM—12:30 PM, Bankers Hill

ACD-05. Transport Aircraft Design I

Wed Jan. 6 9:00 AM—12:30 PM, Cortez Hill A

ACD-06. Aircraft Design Tools

Wed Jan. 6 2:00 PM—5:30 PM, Bankers Hill

ACD-07. Transport Aircraft Design II

Wed Jan. 6 2:00 PM—5:30 PM, Cortez Hill A

ACD-08. Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Design

Thu Jan. 7 9:00 AM—12:30 PM, Cortez Hill A

ACD-09. Conceptual Aircraft Design Working Group 21, CADWG

Thu Jan. 7 9:00 AM—12:30 PM, Hillcrest D

ACD-10/GNC-30. Aircraft GNC I

Thu Jan. 7 9:00 AM—12:30 PM, Hillcrest C

ACD-11. Micro Air Vehicle Design

Thu Jan. 7 2:00 PM—5:30 PM, Cortez Hill A

ACD-12/GNC-34. Aircraft GNC II

Thu Jan. 7 2:00 PM—5:30 PM, Hillcrest C

ACD-13. Aircraft Design Optimization

Fri Jan. 8 9:00 AM—12:30 PM, Bankers Hill

Aircraft Design technical sessions at AVIATION 2016 will be

in the Aircraft Design and Integration track, alongside Gen-

eral Aviation, Design Engineering, and Lighter Than Air Sys-

tems. We have received over 60 extended abstracts covering

a variety of topics and applications including:

Aircraft design tools and methods

Design of unconventional aircraft configurations

Aircraft subsystems, integration and architectures includ-

ing hybrid-electric aircraft

Disciplinary considerations in aircraft design

(aerodynamics, structures, stability and control, propulsion,

affordability, operation, manufacturing, safety, etc.)

Aircraft design for reduced environmental impact

Decision reviews are underway and acceptance letters will

be sent on mid-February. We anticipate having some seven

aircraft design sessions including design methods and tools,

unconventional configurations, unmanned aircraft, aeronautic

disciplines in design, and the Conceptual Aircraft Design

Working Group panel session.

CADWG21 meeting at AVIATION 2015. Photo courtesy of AIAA.

P.2 P.3

4-8 January 2016 San Diego, California

13-17 June Washington, D.C.

VisionAire Vantage VA-10 (photo: Vi-

sionAire)