Section 1 Introduction

This is an extended article in several parts prepared by Pete Soule under the Microaeronautics^TM name. It discusses the properties of the atmosphere and how they affect the flight of aircraft with emphasis on small aircraft. It has an associated industrial strength atmosphere computer program ATMO99 that can be downloaded and used on any computer running under Microsoft Windows(R).

The program ATMO99 has been used by two major corporations, most recently in association with the development of a very small GPS guided reconnaissance glider. This program is described in some detail at the end of the article so that you may decide if you wish to try it.

The objective of this article is to acquaint aircraft modelers with the relationship of atmospheric properties such as temperature, pressure, and humidity to the way their aircraft fly.

There is much more to meteorology and aeronautics than is covered here. In particular the aspects of dynamic meteorology that cover the winds and weather in general, yet to understand these effects one must begin with the atmosphere itself.

One point of interest to the amateur designer, and one that should be explained here, is that many of the numbers that have appeared in model publications are simply picked or nominal values that pertain to one atmosphere model. There are superior ways to derive the right number for your circumstances, or to test the way changing atmosphere conditions may affect flight characteristics. This is one of the main things you may come away with from reading this article.

I hope that the people who take the time to read this are rewarded with something that they did not know or is interesting to them. If questions come up you can ask. I don’t know anything like all the answers but questions often stimulate thought and pose new or interesting problems.