Airplane Design: Past, Present and Future

Airplane Design: Past, Present, and Future

INTRODUCTION

The modern history of aviation is complex. Aircraft designers strive to continually improve the capabilities and features of the aircraft, such as the range, speed, payload, manoeuvrability, and safety, among other details. Previously were made of wood, today the vast majority of used aircraft aluminium and carbon fibre as the main raw materials in their production (William, 2010).

The Italian artist and inventor Leonardo da Vinci was the first person who seriously devoted to designing a machine capable of flying. Da Vinci designed glider and ornithopter, which used the same mechanisms that are used by birds to fly. However, these machines were not developed, but their designs were preserved, and later, as in the nineteenth and twentieth century, one of the gliders designed by Leonardo da Vinci, these gliders were considered worthy of attention. In a recent study, a prototype was created based on the design of that glider, and in fact, the device was able to fly (Lim, 2009). Just like other inventions of present and past, one of the most useful and complex invention that exists is the Airplane. This paper will discuss the design of airplane in past, present and future and will link to its development and modifications.

DISCUSSION

In scientific terms, an airplane is a general name given to a powered fixed-wing aircraft which attains the forward plunge with the help of an engine and is traditionally known as an airplane, aero plane, or, in simple words, a plane. Aero planes normally include powered hang gliders, powered par gliders, and some ground effect vehicles. The unpowered fixed-wing aircraft, such as various types of free-flying gliders and tethered kites, may utilize moving air to gain height. The pilot on broad fly majority of the fixed-wing aircraft; however, some of them are developed to be computer-controlled or remotely flown (Jenkinson, et al., 1999).

Gliders

Firstly, gliders were designed. These machines were capable of sustaining controlled flight for some time. In 1799, George Cayley designed a relatively modern glider, which had a tail to control it, and a place where the pilot could be placed below the centre of gravity of the apparatus, giving stability to the aircraft. Cayley built a prototype, which made its first unmanned flight in 1804 (Rhodes, 1999).

1900 - 1914

During this period, the first flight of glider was taken off which was heavier than air. During the 1890s, the Wright Brothers were interested in the world of aviation, especially with the idea to make and fly a heavier than air, it could take off by own means. Following the advice of Lilienthal, in 1899 began to manufacture gliders. At the end of the century, began to make its first flight successfully with their prototypes, in Kitty Hawk (NC)

On November 7, 1910, the first commercial flight of the world was taken off. This flight, made between Dayton and Columbus (Ohio), lasted one hour and two minutes, covering 100 kilometres and breaking a new speed record, reaching 97 km / ...