Theory and Practice of Aircraft Performance

CHAPTER 11Takeoff and Landing

11.1 Overview

Aircraft have to take off from an airfield to carry out the mission role, and eventually land at the destination. Takeoff and landing takes place on the airfield surface, and so are termed field performance. This chapter deals comprehensively with all aspects of the takeoff and landing performances of conventional aircraft. Second‐segment climb and missed approach climb performance are part of field performance, but more appropriately treated in Chapter 12 dealing with climb and descent [1–3].

Takeoff and landing are critical segments of any mission. To ensure safety, airworthiness authorities have stringent stipulations that must be complied with. This chapter deals with the pertinent regulations associated with takeoff and landing. Operational aspects of field performance are also part of airworthiness requirements. Performance engineers engaged in preparing user operational manuals must be familiar with the FAA defined terminologies. It is for this reason this chapter introduces the operational terms associated with field performance. However, the theoretical derivations and worked examples use the conventional terms typically used in industry.

There are three main types of takeoffs and landings as listed below:

• Conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL): dealt with in detail in this chapter.
• Short takeoff and landing STOL): not considered in this book.
• Vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL): not considered in this book.

Since this ...