Design and aerodynamic analysis of a twin-engine commuter aircraft

The present paper deals with the preliminary design of a new general aviation Commuter 11 seat aircraft. The commuter aircraft market is today characterized by very few new models and the majority of aircraft in operation belonging to this category are older than 35 years. Tecnam Aircraft Industries and the Department of Industrial Engineering (DII) of the University of Naples “Federico II” have been deeply involved in the design of a new commuter aircraft that should be introduced in the market with very good opportunities of success. This paper aims to provide some guidelines on the conceptual design of this new twin-engine commuter aircraft. Aircraft configuration and cabin layout choices are shown and compared to similar solutions adopted by main competitors. The aerodynamic analyses are focused on some particular effects such as the wing–fuselage interference and the nacelle lift contribution and their effect on wing span loading. The aerodynamic analyses have been also essential to validate the preliminary estimation of aircraft stability and control derivatives (both longitudinal and lateral–directional) and to lead to a right sizing of tail surfaces. These analyses have been carried out through the use of a 3-D panel code. Finally some preliminary wind tunnel test results are presented.