Simplified Aircraft Design for Homebuilders

Rating:
Summary: Make This The One Book You Start With
Review: As an amateur backyard builder attempting to design and build an airplane, I actually got much more out of "Simplified Aircraft Design For Homebuilders" than any of the other aircraft design books, including some extremely expensive volumes that are regularly advertised.

This book is well-written, covering the subject of aircraft design on a basic level that is easily grasped by the average homebuilder/non engineer. It's also gleefully sprinkled with a dash of humor, much like a "design book for Dummies". Dan Raymer goes to great lengths to include the finer details of aircraft design that are so illusive and so very time-consuming and difficult for the amateur to research. This book will actually save you months of frustration and research. It's all here in this one little book.

Rating:
Summary: Good overview of how to start...
Review: This book provides an excellent introduction to the conceptual design process (sizing and performance estimates) for the homebuilder. It's a bit wordy in places, and some examples are not entirely relevant to the average builder (who, besides the author and Burt Rutan, wants to build an asymmetrical design?). But it was the lack of any detail on load factors or structural analysis that prevented me from giving it 5 stars. If you want to understand the basics of how to size a wing, or calculate stall speed, then this book is an excellent choice.