A project report on,

Design and fabrication of a fixed-wing UAV

Submitted to
Charotar University of Science & Technology (CHARUSAT).

Submitted by
Arth Patel (15ME070)

Under the Guidance of

Dr. Dattatraya Subhedar
Assistant Professor
C. M. Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Chandubhai S Patel Institute of Technology,
Faculty of Technology & Engineering
Charotar University of Science and Technology, Changa.

April-May 2019
 Certificate

This is to certify that the project on “Design and fabrication of a fixed-

wing UAV” submitted by ARTH PATEL (15ME070) towards the partial
fulfillment of the requirement for the final year subject ME 411.01 Major
Project - II at Charotar University of Science and Technology
(CHARUSAT) is a record of the bona-fide work carried out by him/her
under my guidance and supervision. The work submitted, in my opinion,
has reached to a level required for being accepted for the examination.

Guide:
Dr. Dattatraya Subhedar
Assistant Professor,
C. M. Dept. of Mechanical Engineering,
Faculty of Technology & Engineering,
Charotar University of Science & Technology,
Changa.

HOD:
Dr. Vijay Chaudhary
Associate Prof. & Head,
C. M. Dept. of Mechanical Engineering
Faculty of Technology & Engineering,
Charotar University of Science & Technology,
Changa.
 Project Approval Sheet
The Project on
“DESIGN AND FABRICATION OF A FIXED-WING UAV”

Submitted By:
Arth Patel (15ME070)

As a partial fulfillment of the subject

ME 411.01 Major Project - II

8th Semester
B. Tech (Mechanical Engineering)

Internal Examiner External Examiner

Date: Place:
 Acknowledgement

I express my deep sense of obligation to my guide Dr. Dattatraya

Subhedar, for his genuine guidance and constant encouragement
throughout this project work. I am grateful for his valuable time, guidance
and, the expertise and knowledge that he shared with me.

I am thankful to the HOD, Department of Mechanical Engineering and

Dean, Faculty of Technology & Engineering, CHARUSAT for providing
me with such an opportunity to do my project work.

I also wish to express my heartfelt appreciation to my friends, colleagues

and many who have rendered their support for the successful completion
of the project, both explicitly and implicitly.

i
 ABSTRACT

UAVs or Unmanned Aerial Vehicles are relatively small aircrafts

that so far, have been used for surveillance, meteorology, photography,
and other such aerial applications that would otherwise demand
expensive equipment and technology.
The design procedure for any aircraft, manned or unmanned is a
gargantuan task which involves the use of multidisciplinary, analytical
and experimental techniques. The most prominent design problems are
the selection of a basic wing profile and its dimensions, the stability of
the aircraft against external perturbations, the operating conditions, a
source of mechanical power (a motor or an engine) that provides the
required power to fight the drag and climb at a specified speed, and the
configuration of the control surfaces.
The most important parameter while designing aerial vehicles is
the weight to be lifted. Each unit of weight being added increases the
cost of operation and manufacturing. Keeping this in mind, most modern
UAVs operate on electrical rather than heat driven systems. Electrical
systems, although less energy dense, provide significantly lighter
construction on a smaller scale. The number of moving parts and
working stresses on these parts is also dramatically lower for electrical
systems as opposed to heat driven engines. Considering these factors, the
UAV design will be based on an electrical power supply.
This report describes elementary methods and analyses taken into
consideration while designing a light UAV such as Lift & Drag analyses
on the aerofoil to determine the lift and drag coefficients, determination
of a steady operating point for the chosen specifications, determination
of the static longitudinal and lateral stability of the entire aircraft and
thus determining a suitable position for the Centre of Gravity.

ii
 INDEX

LIST OF FIGURES
LIST OF SYMBOLS
1. Introduction
1.1 Control Surfaces
1.2 Lift and Drag
1.3 Types of Aerofoils
1.4 Electronics
1.5 Stability
2. Aerofoil and Wing-form Selection
2.1 Aerofoil Selection
2.2 Wing-form Selection
3. Design procedure
3.1 Wind tunnel test
3.2 Design specifications
3.3 Thrust and Power requirements
3.4 Stability and Trim analysis
4. Prototype
4.1 Elementary Dimensions
4.2 Selection of electronics
4.3 Model Stability
REFERENCES

iii
 LIST OF FIGURES

Fig (1) Axes of rotation of an aircraft

Fig (2) Elevons on a flying wing
Fig (3) Lift and drag on an aerofoil
Fig (4) Types of aerofoils
Fig (5) Static stability of an aircraft
Fig (6) Lateral stability of an aircraft
Fig (7) Effect of position of CG on longitudinal stability
Fig (8) USA-35B aerofoil cross section
Fig (9) Wind tunnel test results
Fig (10.a) CG and CP location
Fig (10.b) CG and CP location
Fig (11) Wing dimensions
Fig (12) Wing parameters

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 LIST OF SYMBOLS

CL - Coefficient of lift
CD - Coefficient of drag
α - Angle of attack
V - Local flow velocity
ρ - Density of the fluid (air)
Cr - Root chord
Ct - Tip chord
b - Span of the wing
Ċ - Mean Aerodynamic chord
λ - Taper ratio of the wing
Yc - Lateral position of Ċ
AC - Aerodynamic Center
XAC - Longitudinal poisiton of Aerodynamic Centre
S - Wing bottom Sweep

v
INTRODUCTION
An aircraft is a machine that flies by pushing down on the air beneath it
causing a net upward force according to Newton’s second law of motion.
It counters the force of gravity by using this upward force known as lift.

1. 1 Control Surfaces
An aircraft has three independent degrees of freedom that are about
three orthogonal axes as shown.

Fig (1) Axes of rotation of an aircraft

Control surfaces are external movable surfaces on an aircraft that when

adjusted, provide the required movement to the aircraft about any of
these axes. These work by deflecting air (and thus momentum) away
from the aircraft, at specific angles in order to achieve the required
motion. Most modern aircrafts use a combination of the following
control surfaces.

1
 1) Ailerons: Ailerons are control surfaces located on the lifting wing
of an aircraft that control the roll of the aircraft about its longitudinal
axes. A raised aileron reduces lift on that wing and a lowered one
increases lift, this lift difference causes the aircraft to roll towards the
wing with the raised aileron.
2) Elevator: Elevators are control surfaces that are located at or near
the tail of the aircraft and that control the pitching of the aircraft
using the same principle of deflection of air.

3) Rudder: A Rudder is usually a single or a pair of two vertical control

surfaces that control the yaw of the aircraft.

Different aircrafts and manufacturers may use other secondary control

surfaces such as flaps, slats, canards, v-tails, air brakes, etc. depending
upon the requirements.

A simple UAV can be built using just two, elevons (control surfaces that
work as both elevators and ailerons), as has been done for this project.

Fig (2) Elevons on a flying wing

2
1.2 Lift & Drag
As air flows past an aerofoil (wing), it imparts aerodynamic forces on the
wing due to the change in its momentum. The resultant of all of these
forces produces two net effects on the entire wing, a force that tends to
drag the wing into the direction of the flow, and a force that tends to
displace the wing perpendicular to the flow.
The component of the force perpendicular to the flow is known as Lift.
And the component parallel to the flow is known as Drag.

Fig (3) Lift and drag on an aerofoil

For the design of UAVs and aircrafts, these two forces are of utmost
importance to quantify the design parameters. In most cases, drag is
undesirable and must be reduced to a minimum as it does nothing but
burn off energy and slow the aircraft down. Lift on the other hand is the
useful force that holds the aircraft in flight and must be maximized.
Lift and drag forces for aerofoils are dependent on a host of factors
including but not limited to the flow velocity, the local flow density,

3
incidence area, angle of incidence, fluid viscosity, aerofoil geometry and
orientation, etc.
It is not practically possible to take into account all of these factors and
thus lift and drag are characterized by two non-dimensional parameters
viz. Coefficient of lift (CL) and Coefficient of drag (CD), defined as follows:

𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑙𝑖𝑓𝑡 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑐𝑒

CL = 1
𝜌𝐴𝑉 2
2

𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑑𝑟𝑎𝑔 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑐𝑒

CD = 1
𝜌𝐴𝑉 2
2

Where,
ρ = fluid density
A = reference area (usually taken as the planform of the aerofoil)
V = local flow velocity
CL & CD help characterize the lifting abilities of different aerofoils and
compare the lifting characteristics of the same aerofoil under different
operating conditions. CL and CD are usually related to each other using a
parabolic equation called the drag polar. The drag polar is very important
relationship that describes optimum operating conditions such as
minimum power or thrust and maximum range or endurance. Further
sections of this report include a detailed analysis of the selected aerofoil
and the characterization of the drag polar.

4
1.3 Types of Aerofoils

Fig (4) Types of aerofoils

Different aerofoil sections have been optimized for different

applications. For high speed applications, usually, sleek aerofoils are
used so as to reduce form drag. For low speed applications, high lift and
cambered aerofoils are used in order to minimize the stall speed.
For the purpose of this project, low-speed ULM aerofoil section has been
used. The ULM aerofoil, specifically designed for Ultra-light aircrafts that
have a relatively low wing loading, has been optimized for low speed
flights. This means that it has extremely low stall speeds and easy stall
characteristics. Adding to this, the ULM aerofoil is unsymmetrical and flat
at the bottom, making it easy to fabricate.

5
1.4 Electronics
Modern UAVs, are electronically propelled owing to the compactness
and low weight of electronic systems. These systems use a host of
components in order to achieve the desired functionality. Some of the
common components are listed as follows.
1) Motor: The motor serves as the medium of conversion of electrical
energy into momentum energy of air, to provide thrust for
propulsion. Brushless motors are preferred over other types of
motors due to very accurate speed control and lightning fast reaction
times.

Brushless motors are selected based upon their “Kv” rating. This
rating dictates the RPM of a motor across a specified battery
potential at zero load. For instance a 1000 kV motor will provide,
1000 RPM per unit potential difference applied across the motor.

2) Speed controllers: Brushless motors use AC power source to

regulate their speed by reacting to the number of AC pulses provided
per second. The signal thus needs to be fed externally to these
motors and speed controllers do just that.

Speed controllers are rated based on the maximum current drawn by

the motor. Electronic speed controllers or ESCs nowadays come
equipped with a battery eliminator circuit which can be used to
power the Tx and Rx as well, eliminating the need for additional 5V
power sources.

6
 3) Transmitter (Tx) and Receiver (Rx): These serve as a
communication bridge between the aircraft and the ground crew,
exchanging the necessary data such as inputs to flight or telemetry.
Tx and Rx come as pairs but can be independently bound if needed.
These are rated based on the number of control channels,
transmission bandwidth, operating range, etc.

4) Battery: The powerhouse of the UAV, Li-Ion or Lithium-polymer

batteries are highly preferred for small scale applications as a result
of their high energy density at moderate cost. Batteries come in a
variety of ranges depending upon the specifications required.

Batteries are rated based on their charge capacity or “mAh”, their

allowable continuous current draw or “C” rating, the number of cells
per unit, and the potential across each cell.

5) Servo motors: Servos are the most common type of angular

actuators that provide very accurate control of the linkage
mechanisms that control the control surfaces. These also work by
regulating the AC pulses passed onto them. The number of pulses
decides the degree of actuation. They are usually classified based on
their weight and angles of rotation.

The electronics used for this project are as follows

• A1400 kV brushless DC motor (fed by a DC supply)
• A 35A electronic speed controller with a BEC
• A 3500 mAh, 25C, 3 cell, 12.7V Li-Po battery
• Fs-iA6 Receiver and Fs-i6 Transmitter, both having 6 control
channels.
• 2x 9 gram servos with 179 degrees of angular actuation

7
1.5 Stability
Stability of an aircraft is its tendency to equilibrate to its original
position after being given an external stimulus or perturbation.
Aircrafts are designed taking into consideration the following three
stabilities:
• Longitudinal stability:
Longitudinal stability is the ability of an aircraft to regain its original
angle of attack, once it has been given a perturbation on the pitch
axis. Longitudinal stability of an aircraft is maintained and
improved by adjusting the position of the pressure centers of the
control surfaces and stabilizing surfaces relative to the center of
mass of the aircraft. This is by far the most important factor in
determining whether an aircraft will fly safely.

Fig (5) Static stability of an aircraft

• Lateral stability:
The ability of an aircraft to level itself, upon being given an external
stimulus about the roll axis. This is usually taken care of by
providing dihedrals to lifting surfaces and anhedrals (negative
dihedrals) to drogue surfaces. This is why most aircrafts have their

8
 wings upturned at an angle rather than being completely
horizontal.

Fig (6) Lateral stability of an aircraft

• Directional Stability:
This is the easiest parameter to control. It is a measure of the ability
of an aircraft to self-correct a yaw perturbation. Correct design of
the vertical stabilizer and the rudder will take care of directional
stability.
It is evident from the aforementioned information, that utmost care
must be taken while determining the locations of the wings and other
control surfaces so as to achieve the maximum possible longitudinal
stability. The other two forms of instabilities can be mitigated using
relatively simpler arrangements.
To obtain stable operating conditions, it is important that all the positive
lift generating surfaces are kept aft of the COG, and all the negative lift
generating surfaces are kept in front of the COG of the aircraft. Consider
a general case of an aircraft in level flight as shown.

9
 Fig (7) Effect of position of CG on longitudinal stability
If there is no lift contribution from the tail, any upward change in the
angle of attack shall further increase the angle of attack until the aircraft
stalls, this is because Lw and W set up a clockwise moment. Hence the
tail surface (the horizontal stabilizer) helps in maintaining the stability of
the aircraft by providing a counter moment, that tends to correct the α
of the aircraft. Thus, all lift generating surfaces aft of the COG provide a
stabilizing effect.
During cruise flight, the stabilizers are trimmed at specific angles to
maintain level flight. This is known as trimming and is done using either
trim tabs or by directly shifting the stabilizing surfaces.

10
AEROFOIL AND WING-FORM SELECTION

2.1 Aerofoil Selection

The selection of a proper aerofoil section is critical to any UAV design,
since it is a deciding factor for the aerofoil characteristics viz. the lift and
drag forces. The aerofoil section selected for this project is a modification
of the USA-35B aerofoil due to its ease of fabrication and low speed stall
characteristics. It is an unsymmetrical aerofoil that has negative lift at
zero value of α.

Fig (8) USA-35B aerofoil cross section

2.2 Wing-form Selection

The wing form for this project was selected as a tapered flying wing
configuration because of the simplicity of analysis and design of such a
configuration. A flying wing has moment contribution only from its wing
and control surfaces, as opposed to conventional aircraft which have a
tail contribution as well. This makes it easy to trim the aircraft at desired
angles because only two major moment contributions are to be
considered during analysis. This configuration also eliminates the
problems of wing downwash hitting tail that may cause the tail to stall at
low speeds while maintaining the added benefit of a swept wing which
considerably reduces the drag co-efficient by skewing the entire aerofoil
profile.

11
DESIGN PROCEDURE

3.1 Wind tunnel tests

Preliminary wind tunnel tests were done on an arbitrary scale model of
the wing-form to gauge the general performance of the wing-form in
terms of Cl vs Cd and Cl vs Alpha graphs. The results are graphed as
follows.

Fig (9) Wind tunnel test results

From the Cl vs Alpha plot (which is observably linear for small positive
angles of attack), the following linear relation between Cl and Alpha can
be obtained:
𝐶𝑙 = 0.133𝛼 + 0.533
This relation may later on be used to calculate the approximate angle of
attack required for the aircraft to cruise at the specified speed.
From the plot of Cl vs Cd, the approximate drag polar can be estimated
which follows a parabolic profile of the form Cd = Cdo + kCl2. The data
obtained from the tests provide, Cdo = 0.0226 and k = 0.0474. As can be
observed from the Cl vs Cd graph, the Cl values from 0.5 to approximately

12
1.3, lie well within the drag bucket or the minimum drag range which can
be safely chosen as the operating range. For electric motors, the
minimum power condition as suggested by John Anderson is when Cl =
3Cdo
√ , which implies that Cl = 1.19 ≈ 1.2. Also at this Cl, the value of 𝛼
𝑘
is found to be approximately 5 degrees, which is a reasonable value and
can be achieved. Using this first estimate the design process was
commenced.
3.2 Design Specifications
The primary design specifications were chosen based on standard
specifications that are practically used in most modern UAVs. The
prototype was designed for a steady flight velocity of 15 m/s and a total
weight of 2.0 kg (The weight of the unloaded UAV is approximately 1.0
kg, the rest of it is reserved for batteries and payloads such as sensors
and cameras). Selecting the velocity and weight fixes the wing area and
the wing loading according to the lift equation under the assumption of
steady and level flight conditions where Lift = Weight and Thrust = Drag.
1
𝑊 = 𝐿 = 𝐶𝑙 𝜌𝐴𝑉 2
2
Feeding, W=2*9.81 N, V=15 m/s, 𝜌=1.22 kg/𝑚3 , and Cl = 1.2,
𝐴 = 0.1215 𝑚2
Using this estimate of area, the test velocity that conforms to Reynold’s
model to obtain an exact value of Cl using this wing area can be obtained
as follows:
(𝑉 ∗ 𝐶)𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑦𝑝𝑒 = (𝑉 ∗ 𝐶)𝑚𝑜𝑑𝑒𝑙
A scale ratio of 2.11 is chosen due to convenience of fabrication. This
gives a model velocity of 31.65 m/s. The wind tunnel tests performed at
35 m/s give a reasonable approximation to this velocity as the variation
13
of Cl vs Cd graph within the three test ranges is sufficiently small to be
ignored. Thus, the final required area to meet the design specifications
was obtained as 0.1215 𝑚2 . As a measure of safety, the prototype was
designed with nearly double the area (0.2294 𝑚2 ) to account for any
errors during the tests/calculations the details of which are discussed in
the later sections.
3.3 Thrust and Power requirement
With the knowledge of the Cl value at the normal operating conditions,
the drag co-efficient (Cd) can be evaluated from the drag polar directly.
As mentioned in sec. 3.1, the drag polar is given by the following
equation,
𝐶𝑑 = 0.0226 + 0.0474𝐶𝑙 2
Substituting Cl = 1.2 in this equation yields Cd ≈ 0.09. This value of Cd is
relatively low and is acceptable. The drag force on the aircraft is a form
of friction (skin friction) that is dissipative in nature. The power
dissipated by this drag force can be given as:
𝑃 =𝑇∗𝑉
Where T is the thrust required to be provided by the motor and is given
1
as, 𝑇 = 𝐶𝑑 𝜌𝐴𝑉 2 . Knowing all the parameters, T = 2.75 N. Also, the
2
maximum power dissipation can be obtained using,
1
𝑃 = 𝐶𝑑 𝜌𝐴𝑉 3
2
This gives a value of P = 41.8 W. The power source can be chosen
according to this basic requirement keeping a safety margin of about
50%, to compensate for any errors during calculations and to provide
some rate of climb. (Conversely if a specific rate of climb is desired,

14
excess power enough to match the ROC should be provided in addition
to the drag power)
3.4 Stability and Trim Analysis
The stability of any aircraft as explained previously is directly related to
the positioning of the centre of gravity of the entire aircraft. This is
because the C.G is the pivot point of the entire body about which the
aircraft will want to rotate when given an external moments such as the
moment due to lift and drag on the wing/tail. For the current project,
since the design is a flying wing configuration, the only external moments
will be due to the lift force of the wing, and the force due to the
deflection of the control surfaces (elevons).
Looking at the Cl vs 𝛼 graph of the aeofoil, it is obvious that there will be
a non-zero Cl at 𝛼 = 0 and it will increase with increase in 𝛼. In our case,
the required Cl will be produced at 𝛼 = 5°. This value of 𝛼 must be
maintained for the aircraft to fly steadily.

Fig (10.a) CG and CP location

Initially, taking the CG to be ahead of the centre of pressure, this will

create a counter-clockwise moment as shown above and the wing will
have a tendency to reduce the angle of attack due to this unbalanced
moment meaning that the aircraft is statically stable. However, for a
steady flight, a certain constant angle of attack is always required to

15
produce lift, so there should be a way to counteract this pitch down
moment. This can be done by deflecting the elevons counter clockwise
at a specific angle known as the trim angle. For the case of this project,
these trim angles were determined experimentally as it takes a lot of
complex instrumentation to carry out theoretical stability analysis.
There is another configuration possible where the CP may be located
ahead of the CG but this contributes to instability in the design and may
cause the wing to stall inadvertently if the control surfaces are deflected
too much or too little, whereas in the former case, the wing self corrects
if a similar problem occurs.

Fig (10.b) CG and CP location

The following section discusses the fabrication of the prototype based

on the design data arrived at in this section.

16
PROTOTYPE
A prototype was constructed as a proof of concept and to get a rough
idea of the entire design process. The prototype selected is a simple UAV
with a flying wing design, which has only two primary control surfaces
known as elevons that control its motion about all the three axes.
4.1 Elementary Dimensions
The dimensions of one half of the wing section of the prototype are
shown below. The dimensions were chosen keeping in my mind the ease
of fabrication and a factor safety of approximately two, over the required
area obtained during the design.

Fig (11) Wing dimensions

The material chosen to fabricate the wing-form was Depron foam, which
is an ultra-light foam generally used for light weight UAVs.
The elevon sizes as backed by various texts and authors are sufficient if
kept nearly 3/4th of the wing length. The throws for the elevons were
chosen to be approximately 20° on either side.

17
The overall weight of the body was determined to be close to 270 grams
without the electronics and nearly 630 grams with all the electronics.
4.2 Selection of Electronics
• Motor and propeller:
The motor and propeller combination was chosen based on the
thrust obtained in the design section. A 1400 kV motor along with
a 10x4.5” propeller was tested on a load cell and the maximum
thrust was found to be 9 N. The thrust at half throttle (general
operating condition) was found to be 3.2 N which conforms well
with the required thrust value of nearly 2.75 N.
• Electronic speed controller:
The current draw at peak and operating rpm, measured using a
multi-meter were determined to be approximately 16A and 7A
respectively. Accounting for safety, an ESC rated at 30A was
selected.
• Battery:
A 3500 mAh, 25C, 3 cell, 12.7V Li-Po battery was selected to match
the load requirement of the motor. Average power draw for such a
motor would be approximately 300 watts at peak usage (starting
and low speed operation) and 150 watts at normal operating
conditions. The power required during the flight was calculated to
be approximately 42 watts which is well below the batteries supply.
The battery would also power the Rx and the servos that controlled
the elevons so a large margin of extra power was left during
selection.
• Transmitter and Receiver:
A 6 channel Tx and Rx pair (Fs-i6) was selected for the required
model.
• Servo motors:

18
 Two 9 gram servo motors were chosen as angular actuators for the
control surfaces. These servos were powered by the receiver
directly.
4.3 Model Stability
As previously discussed, the governing factor in deciding the stability of
an aircraft is the longitudinal stability. The longitudinal stability is defined
by the configuration of the aircraft’s wing and tail.
In the case at hand, the aircraft was designed with a flying wing
configuration without a tail. The large tapered and swept delta wing
design has one salient benefit, it shifts the aerodynamic center of the
wing (the point about which the pitching moment of the wing remains
fairly constant with change in the angle of attack). The aerodynamic
center of general aerofoils is assumed to be at the quarter chord point
with a fair degree of accuracy. Since in this case, the chord is variable, a
mean aerodynamic chord for the entire wing span is calculated to obtain
a quarter chord point. The procedure to calculate the AC is as follows:

Fig (12) Wing parameters

19
Here, Cr represents the root chord (325 mm),
Ct represents the tip chord (175 mm), and
b represents the span of the wing (980 mm)
For a tapered parallelogram wing, the following equation gives the
mean aerodynamic chord,
2 1+𝜆+𝜆2
Ċ = 𝐶𝑟 ( )
3 1+𝜆

Where, λ is the taper ratio given by,

𝐶𝑡
𝜆=
𝐶𝑟
From the model values, λ = 0.538
and, Ċ = 257.5 mm
The lateral location of Ċ can be given using,
𝑏 1+2𝜆
Yc = ( )
6 1+𝜆

Which comes out to be, Yc = 220.5 mm,

The Aerodynamic center (AC) is approximated at the quarter chord
point (mean chord, in the present case). Hence,
2𝑆𝑌𝑐
XAC = (Cr – Ċ) + (0.25Ċ) +
𝑏

(Where, S is the bottom sweep of the wing which is 130 mm)

Approximately, XAC = 190.375 mm.
If the C.G location of the aircraft is before the 190.375 mm mark from
the nose, the aircraft can be made stable by trimming and adjusting the
elevons. (In practice, on large aircrafts, reflex aerofoils are used.)
The battery alone weighs 170 grams, contributing most of the weight of
the aircraft. It is positioned such that its CG is approximately 180 mm
from the nose which provides a static margin of 5.5% . The mass of the
rest of the components is assumed to be uniformly distributed
20
throughout the body (longitudinally). This configuration satisfies the
condition of longitudinal stability and the model can be safely flown.

21
REFERENCES
1. https://aviation.stackexchange.com
2. https://www.researchgate.net
3. https://en.wikipedia.org
4. https://www.nasa.gov
5. https://nptel.ac.in
6. https://www.sciencedirect.com
7. Aircraft Stability and Control– John D Anderson
8. Fundamentals of Aerodynamics – John D Anderson

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