The Estimation of Performance: An Account of a Practical Method by General Curves which has been Proved Accurate

PART III.—EFFECT UPON PERFORMANCE OF SMALL CHANGES IN THE FUNDAMENTAL CHARACTERISTICS WE have seen in Part II that all sections of aircraft performance (except stalling speed), are functions of the above five characteristics. It is now proposed to consider the effect of small changes in these. This is a very practical problem and one which is frequently cropping up. For instance, suppose that the rate of climb of an aircraft when loaded to a certain weight just fails to comply with some requirement it is very useful to be able to see almost at a glance by how much its total weight must be reduced, its b.h.p. increased, or any other determining characteristic changed, in order that the aircraft shall satisfy the requirement.