Basic Flight Mechanics

What is Flight?.- Modes of Flight.- Basic Definitions.- Gravity and Space Flight.- Buoyancy and Balloon Flight.- Aerodynamic Flight.- Propulsion.- Rocket Flight.- Aerodynamics.- Generation of Lift.- Drag and its Components.- Stall.- High Speed Flight and Shock Waves.- Rarefied Flow in the Upper Atmosphere.- Re-Entry and Aerodynamic Heating.- Flight of Airplanes and Gliders.- Balancing Forces for a Steady Flight.- Gliding Flight.- Aircraft Engines and their Characteristics.- Level Flight of Airplanes.- Climbing Flight.- Horizontal Turns and Vertical Maneuvers.- Take-off and Landing.- Need for Horizontal and Vertical Tails.- Ailerons, Elevator, and Rudder.- Static and Dynamic Stability.- Flapping and Rotary Wing Flight.- Birds, Insects, and Ornithopters.- Why Can't We Fly like Birds?.- Helicopters in Hover, Descent and Ascent.- Helicopters in Forward Flight.- Need for a Tail Rotor.- Collective and Cyclic Controls.- Flight of Autogyros.- Rotor Stability and Ground Resonance.- Flight of Rockets and Spacecraft.- Rocket Ascent.- Gravity Turn Trajectory.- Rocket Stability.- Launch into a Circular Orbit.- Other Orbits.- Lunar and Interplanetary Flight.- Gravity Assist Maneuver.- Attitude Maneuvers.- Ballistic and Lifting Re-Entry.- Terminal Flight and Touchdown.- Appendix-A: Atmospheric Properties.- Appendix-B: Basic Flight Equations (for Advanced Readers).- Bibliography.