Aircraft systems engineering

This MIT OpenCourseWare offers image galleries, video and audio lectures, lecture notes, details of projects and a reading list taken from the graduate course Aircraft Systems Engineering taught in autumn of 2005.

The course offers a holistic view of the aircraft as a system, covering: basic systems engineering; cost and weight estimation; basic aircraft performance; safety and reliability; lifecycle topics; aircraft subsystems; risk analysis and management; and system realization. Small student teams retrospectively analyze an existing aircraft covering: key design drivers and decisions; aircraft attributes and subsystems; and operational experience. Oral and written versions of the case study are delivered. For the Fall 2005 term, the class focuses on a systems engineering analysis of the Space Shuttle. It offers study of both design and operations of the shuttle, with frequent lectures by outside experts. Students choose specific shuttle systems for detailed analysis and develop new subsystem designs using state of the art technology.

Guest lecturers include Aaron Cohen, Dale Myers, John Logsdon, Tom Moser, J. R. Thompson, Bass Redd, Allen Louviere, Henry Pohl, Robert Seamans, Bob Ried, Walter Guy, Robert Sieck, Sheila Widnall, Philip Hattis, Christopher Kraft, Wayne Hale, Anthony Lavoie, Peter Young, and Gordon Fullerton. This course was administrated by shuttle astronaut and MIT Professor Jeff Hoffman and Professor Aaron Cohen, who was the Space Shuttle Orbiter Project Manager. Guest speakers provide the majority of the content in video lectures, discussing topics such as system design, accident investigation, and the future of NASA’s space mission.

[Description and screenshot taken from MIT OCW page for this course. (c) MIT used under the terms of their CC-NC-SA license.]

Link: http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/aeronautics-and-astronautics/16-885j-aircraft-systems-engineering-fall-2005/
Author: Jeffrey Hoffman
Publication Date: 2005-12
Source: http://ocw.mit.edu/
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/
Rights: Copyright MIT. Use subject to a Creative Commons non-commercial share-alike License and other terms of use. For full details see http://ocw.mit.edu/terms/