Stephen Corda | Introduction to Aerospace Engineering with a Flight Test Perspective (Aerospace Series). 2nd Edition (2026) [PDF]

Introduction to Aerospace Engineering with a Flight Test Perspective discusses topics including:

Historical perspectives of the first flights of airplanes, rotorcraft, and spacecraft
Introductory concepts of airplanes, rotorcraft, unmanned aerial vehicles, and lighter-than-air vehicles
Placement of the reader in the aircraft cockpit to fly and learn the basics of flight test
Fundamentals of subsonic, transonic, supersonic, and hypersonic flight, with explanations of the theories of lift and the generation of drag
Types of non-airbreathing rocket propulsion, including liquid propellant rocket engines and solid rocket motors, as well as air-breathing propulsion, including propeller-driven and jet engines
Concepts of aircraft performance in cruising, climbing, gliding, and turning flight
Longitudinal and lateral-directional stability and control
An introduction to hypersonic vehicles, aero-thermodynamics, and propulsion
Orbital mechanics, covering Kepler’s laws, the two-body problem, types of trajectories and orbits, and atmospheric entry
Introduction to Aerospace Engineering with a Flight Test Perspective is an excellent accompaniment to any introductory course in aerospace engineering taught at civilian universities, military academies, and test pilot schools. The text may also be used in more advanced courses in flight testing, aerodynamics, performance, and design.