RETAIN ALL WORK UNTIL AFTER PUBLICATION OF FINAL RESULTS

DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL AND AEROSPACE ENGINEERING

ASSESSMENT COVER SHEET

Family Name: First Name:

Student ID:
Unit Code & Name: MAE 2405 Aircraft Performance
Name of assessment task: MT Model Aircraft Test
Name of Lecturer: Name of Tutor:
Prof H M Blackburn
Tutorial Day & Time:
Due Date: Date submitted:

All work must be submitted by the due date. If an extension of work is granted this must be specified
with the signature of the lecturer/tutor.
Extension granted until (date) ................ Signature of lecturer/tutor...

Please note that it is your responsibility to retain copies of your assignments before
submitting.
Plagiarism and Collusion are methods of cheating for the purposes of Monash Statute 4.2 -
Discipline
Plagiarism
Plagiarism is the presentation of work which has been copied in whole or in part from another
persons work, or from any other source such as the Internet, published books or periodicals without
due acknowledgment given in the text.
Collusion
Collusion is the presentation of work which is the result in whole or in part of unauthorised
collaboration with another person or persons.

Where there are reasonable grounds for believing that cheating has occurred, the only action that
may be taken when plagiarism or collusion is detected is for the staff member not to mark the item of
work and to report or refer the matter to the Dean. This may result in work being disallowed and given
a fail grade or if the circumstances warrant, the matter may be referred to a Committee of Inquiry for
investigation. Such investigation may result in the matter being referred to the University Discipline
Committee which has the power to exclude a student.
Students statement:
I certify that I have not plagiarised the work of others or participated in unauthorised collusion when
preparing this assignment.

Signature: ......................................................................
INSTRUCTIONS
Use the template provided below for the MT laboratory writeup. Do not manipulate paragraph
properties, font size etc (marks will be deducted). This is a standard template and is appropriate
for many laboratory reports; however in your professional career you may find cases where a
different report structure is preferred.
Think about why you write a report. As an engineer you may write a report to communicate the
results of experiments to management or clients. A laboratory report may also be written to
archive the work to provide the bases of further work or prevent duplication.
The reports must be no longer than 5 pages in length, 6 pages including cover sheet. Staple the
report to keep pages together.
Any text outside the page limits will not necessarily be marked but you should include in
Appendices raw data, calculations and any other data that may be useful to store including
photography of the experiment. Concise, well-constructed sentences will help you to fit the report
within the page limit.
The following marking scheme gives an APPROXIMATE guideline as to expected allocations
Section % Allocated
Abstract 7.5%
Introduction 7.5 %
Procedure 10 %
Results quality of data and figures 10 %
Results quality of analysis (including any analysis in the
15 %
appendix)
Discussion (incl. specific questions requested in the handout) 20 %
Conclusion 10 %
General presentation & compliance with template 10 %
Readability grammar and structure 10 %

The percentage allocated for the different sections reflects the effort that you should put into each
section. The conclusions and in this case also the introduction should be shorter than other
sections but they are harder to write. The abstract should be only a few sentences but is often the
most difficult section to write.
In most scientific reports and papers the figures (or graphs) play a critical role in transmitting
information to the reader. Each figure should have a caption that clearly describes the data
plotted or the information shown in a drawing. In the caption you many also note (extremely
briefly) any important features. Make sure that the axes labels and legends are appropriately
sized and readable. Figures should be integrated into the text and should appear in the order in
which they are referred to. Look at your text books or journal papers for examples of how figures
are used.
The following references were used to develop the template document:
Michael Alley, Penn State, Writing Guidelines for Engineering and Science Students Retrieved 11
July, 2007, Web site: http://www.writing.eng.vt.edu/workbooks/laboratory.html
University of Arizona, Dept. of Geography and Regional Development, Retrieved 11 July, 2007, Web
site: http://geog.arizona.edu/~comrie/geog230/report.htm
 RIGHT FLYER MODEL TEST
Georgia Houghton (27836789), Wan Yi Xiao (27811123)
Monday 3pm
MAE 2405, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, 3800 AUSTRALIA

ABSTRACT
In this report, the flight characteristics of plane were calculated and analysed through the testing of a
model plane. A procedure of how the build of the model plane was completed and how testing was
conducted to record data is initially outlined. Furthermore, calculations and analysis are given;
determining a sink speed of 0.779m/s and glide speed of 1.945m/s. The lift, drag and zero lift drag
coefficients were found to be 1.194, 0.522 and 0.261 respectively; producing a K value of 0.183. It
was found that trimming the plane played a crucial role in maximising both endurance and glide ability
by ensuring stall did not occur.

INTRODUCTION
This report will look at the characteristics of flight of a model Right Flyer aeroplane. The balsa wood
model was constructed using wood glue and paper, and the glide ratio determined as well as the
longest flight time found. This allows for calculation of drag polar parameters C D,0 and K as well as
flight speeds. It is important to understand the flight patterns in small scale aeroplanes so that it can
be applied to larger aircraft and used to predict real world performance.

PROCEDURE
The first thing to do when completing this experiment is to construct the aeroplane. A kit is used and
the parts must be cut to size and glued together to form the tail and wings, then all the pieces are
attached to the fuselage. A detailed guide to the assembly is available in the Right Flyer Manual:
<http://moodle.vle.monash.edu/pluginfile.php/5794465/mod_resource/content/1/RightFlyerManual.pdf
>.

When the glue is dry and all the elements are working as required, trimming can begin. Trimming the
aircraft is a process that involves moving the wings along the fuselage so that when flying it neither
dives nor stalls. To do this, launch the plane gently into the air with a smooth horizontal release and
observe the motion. If the flyer immediately climbs and stops, then falls forward or backwards that is
stall and the wings must be moved backwards to adjust. If the flyer suddenly dives for the ground, the
wings must be adjusted forward.

Once the aeroplane is trimmed adequately, the glide test can be performed. To do this, the aeroplane
is to be released from a known height with a smooth and gentle push with no additional power (ie.
The rubber motor is left unwound). Ensure that the plane is released horizontally and measure the
horizontal distance travelled. Ideally this should be completed numerous times and an average
distance taken to improve accuracy, however this report uses the largest flight distance from 2 trials.

When the glide test is completed the endurance test can begin. The plane may need to be trimmed
again, so the elastic motor should be wound and the plane released gently similarly to the glide test.
Ensure to wind the motor in the correct direction so as to not give the plane backwards thrust. Around
50-100 winds can be used in the trimming process, however when testing endurance, it is optimal to
wind the propeller 200-300 times. The elastic motor can withstand upwards of 700 turns without
becoming compromised. Ensure the elastic doesnt tangle at any point or it could cause issues with
the smooth operation of the propeller. When released, a powered Right Flyer should fly in a climbing
turn, with a wide left arc. Adjustments may be required to achieve this flight pattern such as attaching
a rudder tab or adding a small weight (a piece of tape is enough) to the right wing.
To test for endurance, like the glide test, the motor must be sufficiently wound and the plane released
in the same manner, a smooth horizontal release. Time the planes flight from release until it touches
the ground and record the data. For improved accuracy, numerous runs should be done and the
average taken, but again this report uses the longest time from 2 trials.
RESULTS
The sink speed, glide speed, coefficients of lift/drag/zero-lift drag were found, and a drag polar
constructed for the Right Flyer in gliding flight. Maximum time for powered flight was also recorded.
The Right Flyers measurements are summarised in Tables #, #, and # below:
Table #: Right Flyer Measurements
mass (kg) weight (N) wing width (m) wing span (m) wing area (m2)
0.0135 0.132 0.086 0.510 0.0439

Table #: Glide Test Data

Range (m) Time (s) Height (m)
10.3 5.78 4.5

Table #: Glide Calculated Data

Glide
Sink
speed
Glide speed Wing
angle (Vs and (V and Aspect loading
(deg) m/s) m/s) ratio (A) (N/m2) CL CD CD,0 K
23.600 0.779 1.945 5.930 3.018 1.194 0.522 0.261 0.183

Glide Angle
Glide angle is the angle at which the aircraft descends, and can be calculated via trigonometry, where
h = 4.5m and R = 10.3m.

Figure 1: Force and measurement diagram for a glider (Eberhardt, S. 2017)

The calculated glide angle in degrees was 23.6o.

Sink Speed
The sink speed is the vertical descent speed of the aircraft, and can be calculated by dividing the
height of launch by the time spent in the air. Thus, sink speed Vs for the trial was equal to 0.779m/s.

Glide Speed
First, the total glide distance was calculated using Pythagorean geometry to be 11.24m. To find the
total glide speed, divide the glide distance by the time spent in the air. Thus, our overall glide speed
V was 1.945m/s.

Aspect Ratio
The aspect ratio of an aircrafts wings is important in determining performance. High aspect ratio
wings tend to have less induced drag, however they are less practical. The aspect ratio can be
calculated by the following formula:
2
= (#)

Where b is the wing span, and S is the reference wing area. As b = 0.510m, S = 0.0439m 2, the aspect
ratio is then 5.93 for the Right Flyer.
CL, CD, and CD,0
The coefficient of lift, drag, and zero-lift drag are significant measurements for an aircraft. For a glider,
they can be calculated respectively by equations #, #, and # below assuming that measurements
were taken with the Right Flyer completely trimmed, and thus at the best L*/D* ratio:
2 cos()
= (#)
2
2
= (#)
3

,0 = (#)
2
K Value
Assuming previously calculated values of CL, CD, and CD,0 are all the optimum values at the greatest
L*/D* ratio, the K value can be calculated from the following equation:
,0
= 2 (#)

Drag Polar
After calculating values for CD, CL and CD,0, a drag polar was constructed.

Drag Polar for Right Flyer

4
3.5
3
2.5
CD

2
1.5
1
0.5
0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5
CL

Figure 2: Constructed drag polar for the Right Flyer

Powered Flight Results

The maximum time spent in the air was 14.7 seconds.

DISCUSSION
Aerodynamics
During glide and powered flight tests for the Right Flyer, the aircraft was trimmed to ensure maximum
L/D ratio. If the aircraft immediately stalled, the wing set was moved towards the aft; if the aircraft
nose-dived, the wing set was moved forwards. This was to ensure a zero CM, aircraft pitching
moment. Thus, measurements for lift, drag and zero-lift drag coefficients were assumed to be at the
optimum L/D ratio.

Aircraft performance

Errors
Through the use of a model plane, poor flight performance could be attributed to many variables.
However, the most influential aspect of the flight were human errors in both data collection and plane
performance itself.

As the body of the plane was built with balsa wood, its vulnerability to breakage was high. Throughout
the build and transportation across the university campus, breaks on the wing and tail occurred. This
required the usage of tape as a fast solution, thus compromising the balance of the plane.
Techniques in launching the plane were crucial in obtaining good flight data. Having too high or low of
an angle of attack resulted in the plane to nosedive or stall early on. The initial recorded glide test
resulted in 3.3m as a low release height of the plane had not been practiced early on and caused the
flyer to nosedive off the balcony. The second attempt was much improved, however was still not
optimal as all previous practice attempts were conducted at shoulder height to ensure a horizontal
release. Unfamiliarity at launching the flyer at hip height resulted in a negative angle of attack,
reducing distance travelled in the glide test.

Recording of data would be inaccurate due to human response times. Short flight times increase error
margins as one second of delay would cause a significant difference in calculations. Thus,
calculations of flight characteristics would be largely impacted by these errors.

CONCLUSION
The build and testing of a small model aircraft allowed for a greater understanding of the crucial
aspects of a plane that affect flight performance and characteristics. A maximum air time of 14.7
seconds through the endurance test. It was found that, ignoring human recording and performance
errors, the calculated drag and lift coefficients of 0.522 and 1.194 respectively, and K value of 0.183
align with theoretical expectations.

REFERENCE
(1) 2017, Model Test Laboratory Instructions, powerpoint slides, MAE2405, Monash University, viewed 6 Sep. 17,
<http://moodle.vle.monash.edu/pluginfile.php/5794467/mod_resource/content/1/MT-Lab-Instructions.pdf>
(2) 2017, Right Flyer Manual, pdf instruction book, MAE2405, Monash University, viewed 6 Sep. 17,
<http://moodle.vle.monash.edu/pluginfile.php/5794465/mod_resource/content/1/RightFlyerManual.pdf>
(3) 2017, Model Test Laboratory Template, report template, MAE2405, Monash University, viewed 6 Sep. 17
APPENDIX
Include sample calculations in the appendix.
The appendix is not included in the page limit however only a small percentage of marks are
allocated to the appendix