Disappointing.

3 of 3 found the following review helpful:


Skimming the Surface  Mar 25, 2006 By David J. Sullivan-nightengale
This book is a very general view from a very British perspective. I don't think it belongs in Embry-Riddle's graduate programs because it does not meet the needs of experienced professionals. As an undergraduate overview of the systems design process, it is good. However, the author does not even touch helicopters, seaplanes, or lighter-than-air-technology. So, the book would be more aptly named "Introduction to Airplane Design."

Some of his information on armament systems is grossly inaccurate. Furthermore, the systems design process section does not reflect the current state of the art in the discipline of Systems Engineering. I expect improvement in the next edition and hope the author makes more of an effort to talk to engineers on the other side of the pond.

1 of 1 found the following review helpful:


A Useful, If Brief, Introduction To Aircraft Design  Feb 23, 2011 By Robert I. Hedges
"Introduction to Aircraft Design" is a very brief introduction to a very large subject. The book is quite Cranfield-centric, and provides a distinctly British viewpoint. That's not a criticism, it's an observation: most of the examples cited in the book revolve around British aircraft, including some extremely rare models (BAe Tornado, BAe Hawk, BAe Nimrod, Saunders-Roe Princess, etc.) I found that somewhat interesting, though the disadvantage for readers new to the field is that the example aircraft will not be well known to them.

The book is relatively easy to read and does contain good information; the problem is that it is frequently unfocused. Exclusive of the extensive appendices the text is only 178 pages long, which is quite brief for a book on such an all-encompassing subject. Diversions into esoteric areas such as missile guidance, V/STOL, and the Hermes Spaceplane seem misguided given the limited length of this book; frequently a new subject is introduced, but after getting the reader interested the author simply moves onto something else, making for a frustrating and distracting reading experience.

My favorite chapters from the book are chapter six "What's Under the Skin? - Airframe systems," which provides a good basic introduction to aircraft systems architecture, and chapter eleven, "What Can Go Wrong? - Some lessons from past aircraft projects, and a glimpse into the future," which describes the pitfalls of aircraft design illustrated with extremely relevant examples. The appendices themselves are very good, and contain more concise data-driven (and mathematical) information than most of the text. This book is suitable for use in accompaniment with other texts for an introductory undergraduate course on aircraft development, but is too basic for engineering or graduate study. It is also suitable for reading outside an academic environment if the goal is a basic understanding of the aircraft design process.


Basic, But Practical  Nov 03, 2010 By Cool Cat
Its use in an MAS course is too basic. I would recommend the book for undergrad courses only. This has been mentioned previously and continues to be of concern for students seeking greater detail. It leaves me wanting more detail, you will be hard pressed using this as a major source for writing detailed papers. OVERALL.... the book should cost about $40 bucks tops and should remain out of MAS courses. It carry's a value but basic to advanced learning.

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