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TYPES OF AIRCRAFT

Aircraft can be classified into various types


CLASSIFICATION OF based on the mode of classification.
AIRCRAFT AND
SPACECRAFT In the following slide, a general
classification of aircraft is shown.

CLASSIFICATION OF AIRCRAFT LIGHTER-THAN-AIR AIRCRAFT


Any aircraft kept aloft by gas, which is
AIRCRAFT lighter than air, contained in the craft is
LIGHTER THAN AIR
(AEROSTAT)
HEAVIER THAN AIR
(AERODYNE)
known as an aerostat.
AIRSHIP FREE BALLOON KITE BALLOON ENGINE DRIVEN WITHOUT ENGINE

AIRPLANE ROTARY WING AIRCRAFT ORNITHOPTER GLIDER AND SAILPLANE KITE Examples of aerostats are balloons and
AMPHIBIAN LAND SEA GYRO HELICOPTER
airships.
PLANE PLANE PLANE

FLOAT FLYING
PLANE BOAT
Today, lighter-than-air aircraft are used
almost only for recreational purposes.

Air Ship - Hindenburg Hydrogen is Inflammable!

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LIGHTER-THAN-AIR AIRCRAFT LIGHTER-THAN-AIR AIRCRAFT
Aerostats are further classified as follows, In the case of airships, the internal
airships, free balloons and kite balloons. pressure of the gas keeps maintains the
shape of the envelope without the need of
Airships - These are aerostats having any longitudinal members.
power plant for propulsion and means of
steering the craft. They are made buoyant Free balloons - These are balloons which
by enclosing a volume of gas which is are not anchored to the ground and are
lighter than air. free to move with the wind.

LIGHTER-THAN-AIR AIRCRAFT HEAVIER-THAN-AIR AIRCRAFT


Kite balloons - A Kite balloon is a balloon Aerodyne is the technical name for any
which is shaped and trimmed so as to type of heavier than air aircraft.
derive stability from wind.
This covers all aircraft that derive lift in
flight principally from aerodynamic forces.

Examples are conventional planes,


gliders, helicopters etc.

HEAVIER-THAN-AIR AIRCRAFT HEAVIER-THAN-AIR AIRCRAFT


Aerodynes can be with or without engines. Rotary wing aircraft - These are
aerodynes that achieve lift through the
Aerodynes with engines are classified as dynamic action of air against rotating
airplanes, rotary wing aircraft and wings.
ornithopters.
Ornithopter - This is an aircraft that flies
Airplane - This is an engine driven due to the lift generated by flapping wings.
aerodyne that achieves lift from the
dynamic action of air against fixed wings.

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Aerodynamics of Sailing Faster Sailing
Sailing with the wind (running) Sailing across the wind (reach)

Wind

Wind
Vmax < Vwind

Aerodynes - Kite
Aerodynes - Airplane

Ideally, L=W, T=D


L/D Ratio and T/W ratio

Wing Airfoil Section HEAVIER-THAN-AIR AIRCRAFT


Airplanes can be further classified as
amphibians, land and sea planes.

Amphibians - These are airplanes which


can take off and land on both land and
water.

Land planes - These can take off and land


only on a land surface.

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HEAVIER-THAN-AIR AIRCRAFT HEAVIER-THAN-AIR AIRCRAFT
Sea planes - These are aircraft that take Flying boat - This is an aircraft which has
off and land only on sea. a hull as its main body. The hull also
supports the aircraft on water.
Sea planes are classified further as float
seaplanes and flying boats.
Rotary wing aircraft are classified into two
types as gyroplanes and helicopter.
Float seaplane - This is a seaplane
supported on water by a pair of floats
instead of a hull.

HEAVIER-THAN-AIR AIRCRAFT HEAVIER-THAN-AIR AIRCRAFT


Gyroplane - This is a power driven Helicopters can be classified into various
aerodyne which derives lift mainly from a types depending on the type of rotor like,
rotor freely rotating in the horizontal plane, Single main rotor with tail rotor,
but thrust is obtained from a conventional Side-by-side non intermeshing rotors,
engine.
Torqueless single rotor,
Side-by-side intermeshing rotors,
Helicopter - This is an aerodyne which
derives both lift and thrust from rotating Tandem rotors,
rotors. Three rotors,
Coaxial rotors etc.

Tandem Rotor CH47 Chinook HEAVIER-THAN-AIR AIRCRAFT


Aerodynes without engine are classified as
gliders, sailplanes and kites.

Glider - This is an aerodyne which flies


without any applied power due to
aerodynamic lift generated by its wings
and initial thrust given by some launching
mechanism.

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HEAVIER-THAN-AIR AIRCRAFT HEAVIER-THAN-AIR AIRCRAFT
Sailplanes - These are high performance These aircraft can also be classified based
gliders that soar, maintain and direct their on the following,
flight over extended periods of time and
distance.
Mach Number
Purpose
Kites - A kite is any non-power driven
structure which is anchored to the earth, Type of Engines
and which derives lift from aerodynamic Number of Engines
forces. Number of Wings

CLASSIFICATION OF HEAVIER- CLASSIFICATION BASED ON


THAN-AIR AIRCRAFT MACH NUMBER
Range Aircraft are classified based on their
Mode of take-off and landing maximum Mach number,
Size and Payload Capacity
Source of Power Subsonic (M<1)
Special features Transonic (M~1)
Supersonic (M>1)
Hypersonic (M>>1)

CLASSIFICATION BASED ON CLASSIFICATION BASED ON


PURPOSE PURPOSE
Aircraft are mainly classified based on Military aircraft
their purpose as follows,
Fighters
Passenger Transport
Bombers
Business jets
Cargo Transport Medical / Rescue Aircraft
Experimental aircraft Spy / Reconnaissance Aircraft
Trainers

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CLASSIFICATION BASED ON CLASSIFICATION BASED ON
PURPOSE PURPOSE
Agricultural aircraft
Sports aircraft

Glider
Recreational aircraft
Man-powered aircraft
Simulation of a
hypersonic vehicle

CLASSIFICATION BASED ON CLASSIFICATION BASED ON


PURPOSE PURPOSE

A typical business jet and a Bomber aircraft (Stealth and B 52)


commercial airliner.

CLASSIFICATION BASED ON CLASSIFICATION BASED ON


PURPOSE PURPOSE

Fighter aircraft (F 16)


Sports aircraft

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CLASSIFICATION BASED ON CLASSIFICATION BASED ON
PURPOSE TYPE OF ENGINE
Aircraft with engine are classified based
on the type of engine as follows,

Propeller
Turboprop
Turbofan
Turbojet
Ramjet
Experimental Aircraft

CLASSIFICATION BASED ON CLASSIFICATION BASED ON


NUMBER OF ENGINES ENGINES
Another way of classification is the number The classification of aircraft based on the
and position of engines. number and type of engines is not an
entirely independent classification since
This varies depending on the mission the maximum or cruise Mach number
requirements of the particular aircraft. roughly fixes the type of engine and the
number of engines to be used.

CLASSIFICATION BASED ON CLASSIFICATION BASED ON


NUMBER OF WINGS RANGE
Airplanes are classified based on the Aircraft are classified based on their range
number of wings as, as follows,

Monoplanes Short range (<500 km)


Biplanes etc. Medium range (<3000km)
Long range (>3000 km)
Present day aircrafts have a Monoplane
configuration

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CLASSIFICATION BASED ON
CLASSIFICATION BASED ON
MODE OF TAKEOFF AND
SIZE AND PAYLOAD CAPACITY
LANDING
Aircraft are classified based on size as
Aircraft can also be classified based on
follows,
the mode of takeoff and landing as
follows,
Micro-airplanes
Normal Single or double seater airplanes
VTOL Medium size airplanes (~50
STOL passengers)
STOVL etc.

CLASSIFICATION BASED ON CLASSIFICATION BASED ON


SIZE AND PAYLOAD CAPACITY SOURCE OF POWER
Large Airplanes (~ 400 passengers) Aircraft are classified based on their
Cargo planes for transporting cars, source of power as,
trucks, military tanks etc.
Oil,
Solar Power,
Electric Power,
Nuclear Power ( quite rare)

SPECIAL AIRCRAFT THE STEALTH


These include

Helicopter
Ornithopter or Flapping wing aircraft
Flying Wing Aircraft
Stealth Aircraft

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CLASSIFICATION BASED ON
CLASSIFICATION OF ROCKETS
TYPE OF FUEL
Rockets are classified based on Rockets can be classified based on the
type of fuel used to propel itself. The two
Type of fuel main types of fuel used are
Type of engine / thrusters Solid Fuel
Number of stages Liquid Fuel
Purpose
The other main type of rocket is the
nuclear rocket, which uses nuclear energy.

CLASSIFICATION BASED ON CLASSIFICATION BASED ON


ENGINE/ THRUSTERS NUMBER OF STAGES
Rockets are also classified based on the Rockets are also classified based on the
nature of propulsion, as number of stages.

Electromagnetic Propulsion Rockets Staging is done to improve performance,


Ion Propulsion Rockets reduce unnecessary load and also
Plasma Thrusters because different regions of the
Ramjets atmosphere require different types of
Scramjets etc. engines for optimal performance.

CLASSIFICATION BASED ON
MISSILES
PURPOSE
If the rockets are used for carrying Missiles are basically sub-orbital rockets.
instruments for doing some experiments, it
is called a Sounding rocket. Some of the main types of missiles are as
follows,
Rockets can also be used as missiles. Ballistic Missiles
Surface-to-air missiles
Torpedoes
Rockets are also used as launch vehicles.
Heat-seeking missiles
Guided missiles

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LAUNCH VEHICLES LAUNCH VEHICLES
Launch Vehicles (LV) are used to place The reusable Launch Vehicle includes the
satellites in orbit. Space Shuttle.

The major types of launch vehicles are At present, Space Shuttle is the only one
of its kind in the whole world
Reusable
Nonreusable

LAUNCH VEHICLES LAUNCH VEHICLES


The non reusable Launch vehicles are
classified as follows,

Land based
Sea based
Submarine based Pegasus - Air
Air based based launch.

LAUNCH VEHICLES LAUNCH VEHICLES

Sea based launch.

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CLASSIFICATION OF CLASSIFICATION OF
SATELLITES SATELLITES
The different types of satellites are Satellites for monitoring Earths
classified based on their purpose, resources
Geodetic Satellites (for studying
Amateur Radio Satellites Earths geography)
Astronomical Satellites Lunar Satellites
DBS (Digital Broadcasting System) Military Communication Satellites
Domestic Communication Satellites
Navigation Satellites
Early Warning Satellites
Nuclear detection Satellites

CLASSIFICATION OF
SATELLITES
Planetary Satellites
Research Satellites
International Space stations
Surveillance Satellites
Weather Satellites

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