resources
Books, articles, and other sources of helpful information for the aspiring aircraft designer
Unfortunately, some of these books are out of print and can be quite expensive. The best advice I can offer is to build up your library over time and watch for used copies on sites such as Amazon or AbeBooks, where you’ll occasionally find them at a more affordable price.
general aircraft design
Frati, S. B. (1946). L’Aliante [The Glider]. (Alfred P. Scott edition). Sequoia Aircraft.
Gudmundsson, S. (2014). General Aviation Aircraft Design: Applied Methods and Procedures. Elsevier.
Pazmany, L. (1963). Light Airplane Design. (Third edition). Self-published.
Raymer, D. P. (2006). Aircraft Design: A Conceptual Approach. (Fourth edition). American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc.
Raymer, D. P. (2003). Simplified Aircraft Design for Homebuilders. Design Dimension Press.
Thurston, D. B. (1978). Design for Flying. McGraw-Hill, Inc.
Thurston, D. B. (1980). Design for Safety. McGraw-Hill, Inc.
U. S. Code of Federal Regulations. (2011). FAR Part 23—Airworthiness Standards: Normal, Utility, Acrobatic, and Commuter Category Airplanes.
U. S. Department of Transportation, Federal Aviation Administration, Flight Standards Service. (2023). Pilot’s Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge.
roncz design series
If you’re an EAA member, you can access the following articles in the Sport Aviation archives at eaa.org.
Roncz, J. G. (1990, February). Designing Your Homebuilt. Sport Aviation Magazine, 37-40.
Roncz, J. G. (1990, March). Sizing Your Wings. Sport Aviation Magazine, 34-39.
Roncz, J. G. (1990, April). Wing Incidence & Tail Size. Sport Aviation Magazine, 23-28.
Roncz, J. G. (1990, May). Forward Sweep & The Great Tire Crisis. Sport Aviation Magazine, 43-47.
Roncz, J. G. (1990, June). Questions and Answers. Sport Aviation Magazine, 41-45.
Roncz, J. G. (1990, August). Tail Incidence Part 1. Sport Aviation Magazine, 36-40.
Roncz, J. G. (1990, September). Tail Incidence Part 2. Sport Aviation Magazine, 35-40.
Roncz, J. G. (1990, October). Tail Incidence Part 3. Sport Aviation Magazine, 45-49.
Roncz, J. G. (1990, November). Tail Incidence Part 4. Sport Aviation Magazine, 41-44.
Roncz, J. G. (1990, December). Ground Effect. Sport Aviation Magazine, 37-40, 98.
Roncz, J. G. (1991, January). Canards and Other Unsolved Mysteries. Sport Aviation Magazine, 57-61.
Roncz, J. G. (1991, February). Evolution of a Homebuilt Design. Sport Aviation Magazine, 29-36.
aerodynamics, performance & stability
Abbot, I. H. & von Doenhoff, A. E. (1949). Theory of Wing Sections Including a Summary of Airfoil Data. (1959 edition). Dover Publications, Inc.
Anderson, R. F. (1933). NACA Technical Note #483: Charts for Determining the Pitching Moment of Tapered Wings With Sweepback and Twist. National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics.
Anderson, R. F. (1937). NACA Technical Report #572: Determination of the Characteristics of Tapered Wings. National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics.
Carmichael, B. (1995). Personal Aircraft Drag Reduction. (Third edition). Self-published.
Diehl, W. S. (1942). NACA Report #751: The Mean Aerodynamic Chord and the Aerodynamic Center of a Tapered Wing. National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
Finck, R. D. (1978). AFWAL-TR-83-3048 USAF Stability and Control DATCOM. McDonnell Douglas Corporation, Douglas Division.
Hoerner, S. F. (1965). Fluid-Dynamic Drag: Practical Information on Aerodynamic Drag and Hydrodynamic Resistance. (1992 edition). Hoerner Fluid Dynamics.
Jacobs, E.N. & Sherman, A. (1937). NACA Technical Report #586: Airfoil Section Characteristics as Affected by Variations of the Reynolds Number. National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics.
Lippisch, A. (1935). NACA Technical Memorandum #778: Method for the Determination of the Spanwise Lift Distribution. National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics.
Mineck, R. E. (1993). NASA Technical Paper #3359: Wind-Tunnel Investigation of Aerodynamic Efficiency of Three Planar Elliptical Wings With Curvature of Quarter-Chord Line. National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
Oswald, W. B. (1933). NACA Technical Report #408: General Formulas and Charts for the Calculation of Airplane Performance. National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics. National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics.
Paser, K. (1994). Speed with Economy: Experimental Aircraft Performance Improvement. Paser Publications.
Perkins, C. D. & Hage, R. E. (1949). Airplane Performance Stability and Control. (Ninth printing). John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Riblett, H. (1987). GA Airfoils: A Catalog of Airfoils for General Aviation Use. (Sixth edition). Self-published.
Rosenbaum, R. (1955). Airframe and Equipment Engineering Report No. 45: Simplified Flutter Prevention Criteria for Personal Type Aircraft.
Smith, H.C. (1992). The Illustrated Guide to Aerodynamics. (Second edition). TAB Books.
van Dam, C. P. (1989). NASA Research Grant NAG-1-732: High Angle-of-Attack Aerodynamic Characteristics of Crescent and Elliptic Wings. National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
Wainfan, B. (1988). Airfoil Selection: Understanding and Choosing Airfoils for Light Aircraft. (Second edition).
structures
Bruhn, E. F. (1943). Analysis and Design of Airplane Structures. (1949 Revised Edition). Tri-State Offset Company.
Jones, R. M. (1999). Mechanics of Composite Materials. (Second edition). Taylor & Francis, Inc.
Marshall, A. C. (1985). Composite Basics. (Seventh edition). Aircraft Technical Book Company.
Marske, J. (2009). Composite Design Manual. (Third edition). Self-published.
Niu, M. (1992). Composite Airframe Structures: Practical Design Information and Data. Conmilit Press, Ltd.
Peery, D. J. (1959). Aircraft Structures. (2011 edition). Dover Publications, Inc.
Rhodes, T. (2008). Stress Without Tears: A Primer on Aircraft Stress Analysis Requiring No Advanced Mathematics.
Tsai, S.W. and Hahn, H.T. (1980). Introduction to Composite Materials. Technomic Publishing Company, Inc.
powerplants & firewall forward
Bingelis, T. Firewall Forward: Engine Installation Methods. EAA Aviation Foundation, Inc.
Prizio, D. P. (2016). Powering Your Plane: Installing a Lycoming-Type Engine in Your Experimental Amateur-Built Airplane. Experimental Aircraft Association.
electrical systems
Nuckolls, B. (1988). The AeroElectric Connection. (12th edition). Self-published.
lofting & geometry
Garrison, P. (1989). Loftsman Manual. (Version 8). AeroLogic.
Liming, R. A. (1944). Practical Analytic Geometry with Applications to Aircraft. The Macmillan Company.
Thrasher, H (1942). Aircraft Lofting and Template Layout with Descriptive Geometry. Aeronautical Engineering Aviation Press.
construction techniques
Bingelis, T. (1979). The Sportplane Builder. EAA Aviation Foundation, Inc.
Bingelis, T. (1986). Sportplane Construction Techniques. (Fourth printing).EAA Aviation Foundation, Inc.
Crane, D. (1992). Aviation Mechanic Handbook. (Fifth edition). Aviation Supplies & Academics, Inc.
Poberezny, P. & Schmid, S. H., ed. (1991). Aircraft Welding. (Second printing). Experimental Aircraft Association, Inc.
landing gear design
Pazmany, L. (1986). Landing Gear Design for Light Aircraft Vol. 1. Pazmany Aircraft Corporation.
flight test
EAA Homebuilt Aircraft Council & EAA Board of Directors Safety Committee. (2021). EAA Flight Test Manual: A Task-Based Approach to Phase I. Experimental Aircraft Association, Inc.
Askue, V. (1992). Flight Testing Homebuilt Aircraft. (12th printing). Aviation Supplies & Academics, Inc.