Lofting coordinates
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Lofting coordinates are used for aircraft body measurements. The system derives from the one that was used in the shipbuilding lofting process, with longitudinal axis labeled as "stations" (usually fuselage stations, frame stations, FS), transverse axis as "buttocks lines" (or butt lines, BL), and vertical axis as "waterlines" (WL). The lofting coordinate frame is similar, but not the same as aircraft principal axes used to describe the aircraft flight. For the US-manufactured aircraft the ticks on the axes are labeled in inches,[1] (for example, WL 100 is 100 inches above the base waterline).
Fuselage station
Fuselage stations are traditionally nonnegative, thus the origin is located at the nose of the plane or, sometimes, ahead of it. When compared to the coordinates used for aeromechanics, the fuselage stations are measured in the opposite direction than the ticks on the x-axis (and might not be aligned at all, if the wind-aligned coordinate system is used to describe the flight).
Butt line
Waterline
References
- ^ Takahashi 2017, Coordinate Frames.
Sources
- Takahashi, T. (2017). Aircraft Performance and Sizing, Volume I: Fundamentals of Aircraft Performance. Momentum Press. ISBN 978-1-60650-684-4. Retrieved 2024-07-02.
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