Masters Theses

Date of Award

5-1993

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science

Major

Aviation Systems

Major Professor

Ralph D. Kimberlin

Committee Members

Robert B. Richards, Charles Paludan

Abstract

The development of modern fighter tactics in the last twenty five years has changed dramatically as a result of the increase in the basic flying qualities and performance characteristics of current fighter aircraft and improvements in their associated air-to-air weapons systems. Designers have recently sought to give fighter aircraft the ability to fly at higher angles of attack and slower airspeeds than previous generations of fighter aircraft. These efforts were in response to U.S. fighter aircraft's inferiority in this region of the flight envelope as realized during aerial engagements over Vietnam in the 1960's and early 1970's. Current fighter aircraft such as the F/A-18 Hornet enjoy excellent controllability up to 30 to 40 degrees angle of attack which is the region in which maximum lift is generated by the aircraft's wing. More recently however, efforts by government and industry have focused on increasing the angle of attack flight capabilities beyond the current 30 to 40 degree region. These efforts have produced aircraft employing technologies which enable controlled flight at stabilized angles of attack up to 70 degrees. The question which arises from these efforts is whether post stall flight can be applied to current fighter tactical doctrine. This thesis will document the author's experiences in high AOA flight in the production Hornet and in the NASA Langley Research Center F-18 HARV simulation and attempt to present the advantages and disadvantges of post-stall flight within the context of current fighter tactics.

Download
Files over 3MB may be slow to open. For best results, right-click and select "save as..."

Share

COinS