Introduction to Aircraft Design

Design an aircraft and get your questions answered during 8 live sessions

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You CAN do this.
The live-session format is insanely effective.

About the class

This is an 8-week course that covers the basics of aircraft design. We start with fundamental concepts of why aircraft fly, work through the steps of designing an aircraft and include hands-on experience with helpful aircraft design software and methods. During the course, you will design your own free-flight glider, and through the process, learn about aerodynamics, trim, stability, dynamics, and structural constraints. On the last day of the course we'll have a friendly fly-off competition in a flight simulator to test your design!

This class is ideal for

Hobbyists who have some practical skills but limited aerodynamic, theoretical, or design background
Anyone interested in aircraft design – regardless of current occupation or experience
PE's looking for educational credits
Those who want to try their hand at aircraft design using modern software and simulation
Anyone looking to branch out and learn something new and exciting!

What will you learn?

Airfoil Analysis – Learn to use XFOIL to analyze any airfoil geometry and extract the appropriate aerodynamic properties.
Wing Design and Optimization – Learn to use MachUp for wing design, and how taper and twist affect performance.
Mass Properties – Learn to estimate the mass properties of your aircraft, including the center of mass and moments of inertia.
Static Trim – Learn how to design the mounting angles of the main wing and horizontal stabilizer so the aircraft will be trimmed.
Static Stability – Learn to size and place the main wing and horizontal stabilizer to ensure static stability.
Dynamic Stability – Learn how to estimate the dynamic properties of the aircraft and how they affect performance.
Fly-Off – Enter your final design in the virtual competition and see how it stacks up against others in a realistic flight simulator.

Class Structure

The course is taught in a flipped classroom setting, which means you'll watch about 2 hours of lecture outside of class each week, and then come to class to work with us on your own designs. We'll guide you through the process in a very interactive atmosphere. In addition to learning these concepts, you'll meet incredible people who have similar interests and make life-long friendships. We'll be there every step of the way, answering questions and supporting you on this exciting journey!

Prerequisites

In order to be successful in this course, you will need the following:

Basic experience using a computer and web browser
Understanding of basic algebra (nothing too serious here)
Some experience with spreadsheets (helpful but not required)

In this course we use intuitive computing software for aerodynamic design and analysis. Nothing to be afraid of in terms of complexity or math intensity.

What Students are Saying

Gus
Sao Paulo, Brazil

I've taken two live courses, and I strongly recommend both of them. I learned way more than I thought that I would. The idea of flipped classroom is something that I really enjoyed. The content was amazing.

Marc
Burbank, California

It was better than my expectations. Even if you think you know this stuff, take it anyway.

Dan
Littleton, Colorado

It gave me good intuition into general aircraft sizing and layout and design. It really connected a lot of the dots. I thought the class was great, and I have no regrets.

Peter
Brisbane, Australia

I'm not an engineer, and I just thought - I'm way out of my field here. I kept up with the work and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Tanner
Rosmand, California

The thing I wish was [that] I had this course my freshman year in college. It showed a lot more aspects than you usually understand early in your career about different things that you can specialize in for aircraft design.

Jay
Dallas, Texas

You had the opportunity to go through the presentations at your pace, and any questions that might crop up, you could get amplified during live sessions.