Flight dynamics

Flight dynamics is the study of the performance, stability, and control of vehicles flying through the air or in outer space. It is concerned with how forces acting on the vehicle influence its speed and attitude with respect to time.

In fixed-wing aircraft, the changing orientation of the vehicle with respect to the local air flow is represented by two critical parameters, angle of attack ("alpha") and angle of sideslip ("beta"). These angles describe the vector direction of airspeed, important because it is the principal source of modulations in the aerodynamic forces and moments applied to the aircraft.