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Learner Reviews & Feedback for Flight mechanics - The basis by ISAE-SUPAERO

4.7
stars
322 ratings

About the Course

More than one century after the Wright brothers' first flight, the flight still defy our intuition. You will learn here how to name the different parts of the airplane and how to describe and quantify its geometry. For that, we need now to share a precise vocabulary to describe the airplane's movement and attitude in space, and a refresher on basic general mechanic principles. You will remind how Newton's 2nd law allows you to determine what force must be applied on an apple - or on an airplane, to modify the magnitude and direction of its speed. Coming back on the concepts of kinetic energy and potential energy, you will discover the very useful concept of total height and you will be able to explain how an airplane can quickly exchange speed for altitude, while changes in total height are much slower. In the end, you will discover that only a very small number of forces apply on an airplane in flight and that you will be able to classify those that change its energy state and those that modify its trajectory. You will discover the concept of load factor and understand why the pilot of a combat aircraft can feel a weight nine-time greater than his actual weight! Finally, we will establish the lift and propulsion equations, that form the basis of flight mechanics, and you will be able to compute the lift and thrust necessary to follow a given trajectory at a given speed. This course is for anybody interested in learning more about how planes work, the physics of flying, or flight mechanics. It will be of particular interest to undergraduate students in aerospace engineering, trainees as well as senior pilots, journalists, and professionals in the aeronautics sector. Although some mathematical formalism may be present sometimes. It is always doubled by sketches, figures, and hands-explanations. So that, anybody can skip the formulas without losing the core understanding of the concepts. No apples were harmed in the making of this course... This course is only a foretaste of the mechanics of flight. ISAE-SUPAERO and Eric Poquillon will offer you other courses and the first specialization in autumn 2021. Initially, three courses will be published to answer several questions: Can we fly as high as we want? What is a stall? Why do some planes have propellers and others have jet engines? Is an airplane always stable? How do you control an airplane following an engine failure? All this and more will be covered in this series of flight mechanics courses. This course is a part of the specialization "Fundamentals of Flight mechanics"....

Top reviews

C

Nov 3, 2022

I am glad I took this course, it was worthwhile and I learned more than I had expected.

Thank you to the team that compiled this course and to anyone interested I would highly recommend taking it.

AT

Sep 4, 2022

The level of knowledge given in this crisp course is very good. I got to learn a lot of new things related to flying and terminologies and the physics behind airplanes. I am glad I took this course.

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1 - 25 of 81 Reviews for Flight mechanics - The basis

By Olivier D P

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Aug 11, 2021

This is a painfull not to provide a certificate for this MOOC. The topic are interesting and we may produce effort & time to succed finally without a gratification. For a school like Supaero with this only MOOC , finally it is better for such a subject to go to an other Academic Provider

By Zoltán N

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Aug 5, 2021

It need deep learning and attention to write the correct formulas, but it's a big worthless effort without a certificate.

By alen t

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Nov 4, 2021

The effort put into the course preparation is too good. Some of the quizzes seemed to be a few levels higher than the course but that's the beauty of it. It makes us think. Great job!

By Gabriel C

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Aug 8, 2021

This course is very useful to learn Flight mechanics, the basics physics, but with the methods of test I get trouble. I got the right answers but the system is very delicate with the commas or the underlines, and give a lot of trouble to approve the test because of that. Also it will be great to have a certificate, but it gives not.

By Yu-Cheng C

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Aug 15, 2021

The content is helpful and inspiring for those who are interested in Flight Mechanics. However, there are some typo in the quiz (and sometimes they affect the meaning of the problems, for example, the incorrect parameter the speed at the top of the loop "n_C" in the final exam, which should have been "V_C" according to the problem setting). I can see the instructor is trying to use different ways for students to interact with the problems, but it seems that some questions like "choose all the words describing the attitude of the airplane" in the assessment for week 2 is too ambiguous and could not be answered correctly. For the last exam, I have to go back to check the discussion forum to see how others program the answer so that the answer can be accepted by the system before I can pass the exam, even though my derivation for the answer is correct (for example, in the problem, some of the parameters have suffix, so I type, for example, "V_A", and the preview shows the correct suffix, but the form accepted is "VA", which is not suffixed). Generally speaking, if you are not that care about the score and want a definite 100% score, you will have a great time learning this course.

By Jotaro S

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Jan 4, 2022

The videos were extremely concise, and I felt I really learned a lot from this course. Although I'm 13 years old, I managed to push through with my love for planes.

By Miao T T

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Sep 10, 2022

This course and specialization is exactly what is needed for those who want to know, in a simple way and starting from a few knowledge, the world of aeronautics.

By UDAYA K

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Sep 4, 2021

THANKS SIR ERIC FOR TEACHING ME AND OTHERS ABOUT THE BASICS PARTS AND BASIC PRINCIPLES OF FLIGHT AND ITS MECHANICS. A WARM THANKS .

By Sunil K G

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Oct 11, 2021

Superb course to get along with the basics of flight mechanics. Strongly recommended!

By aymen m

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Jan 21, 2022

excelent teacher thank you

By H? X N C

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Aug 18, 2021

this is helpful

By Gaveau A

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Aug 29, 2021

Interesting course but the formulas to type are were quite hard.

By Abeeha B

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Aug 22, 2021

Learned alot.

By Nolan O

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Dec 29, 2023

some concepts were not explained thoroughly enough to fully understand

By Ramon C

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Oct 1, 2021

well that goos experience taken this course refresh my memory from school time profesor Poquillon

was excellent wath he give us in that course some people has to study a couple a years en especial all calculation i have Doug and ask a two former pilot and the can not help wo fin al with that and they give me complements to me al the course and profesor they coment was thatb was acomplete course to any one thatb want to be a pilot or aircraft mechanic.

the final tast the shoul be in multiple choice that was some kind the hard but we DIT IT.

THANK YOU.

By Gudisa S

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Mar 21, 2022

An amazing course for students pursuing Aerospace/Aeronautical/Mechanical Engineering

The way problems are approached, the teaching methods, the formal humor, the absolutely amazing practial application probelms and assignments is an icing on the cake!

Highly recommend every dreamer out there to take a look at the course

By Natasha S X

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Jun 17, 2022

This was a very interesting course to learn the basis of aerodynamics. I've learned so much and the material was great. I'd like to thank the professor for using so many resources of learning on this, it really helped me get the visual understanding, specially on the more physics and mathematics part.

By Julien M

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Sep 12, 2022

A little bit tough in the end but good introduction to flight mecanics.

I wish there was a course for dumies like me in this subject, but that's okay, the grade to pass are very reasonable.

Thank you, wish to hear from you more!

By Patrick R

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Jun 10, 2023

This was a difficult course but very valuable. I'm a commercial pilot and flight instructor and this course finally gave a complete treatment to the principles that are only superficially covered in flight school.

By Arundhati T

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Sep 5, 2022

The level of knowledge given in this crisp course is very good. I got to learn a lot of new things related to flying and terminologies and the physics behind airplanes. I am glad I took this course.

By Chanda J C

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Nov 4, 2022

I am glad I took this course, it was worthwhile and I learned more than I had expected.

Thank you to the team that compiled this course and to anyone interested I would highly recommend taking it.

By Jade M

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Jul 4, 2022

Great course thanks to great explanations of the teacher ! I learnt many interesting things, loved it so far.

One remark, it would be great to have more explanations about quiz answers.

By Carlos E M M

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Feb 3, 2022

This is an excellent course. It gives you the basics of flight mechanics explained by a profesor that really understand the core of each topic. I greatly recommend it.

By Aayush S

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Jul 5, 2022

It was a really great course with short and informative videos and also very meaningful quizzes and assignment. I am glad that I chose this course.

By Gert R

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Jan 21, 2022

This was an excellent introduction into Flight Mechanics. Eric's video's are great and really helps to understand the concepts explained.