The development of a performance and mission planning program for the A-7E aircraft.

Abstract

In this thesis, drag and performance data from the A-7E Naval Air Training and Operating Procedures Standardization Manual (NATOPS) were reduced to a series of analytical expressions and implemented in a mission planning program. The program was designed to be compatible with desk-top calculators (64K memory) of the type used in aircraft carrier Strike Operations Centers and to be interactive, so that air wing and operations personnel may use it regularly for mission planning All or part of 15 NATOPS performance charts were reduced using math modeling techniques which included curve- f i t ting and cross-plotting coefficients. Program implementation was demonstrated on an IBM 3033 using a Waterloo BASIC compiler, and the program was checked for accuracy and operational suitability by a sample group of Navy attack pilots.