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United States Air Force Stability and Control Digital DATCOM

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Eurosong (talk | contribs) at 02:14, 2 August 2006 (International words, Replaced: airplane → aircraft (2), using AWB). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

The United States Air Force Digital Datcom is a computerized version of the USAF Data Compendium, a large collection of information used by aerospace engineers to predict fixed-wing aircraft stability and handling properties. Digital Datcom takes an input file containing a geometric description of an aircraft, and outputs its corresponding dimensionless stability derivatives. These numbers can be used to calculate meaningful aspects of flight dynamics.

The program is written in Fortran, and is attributed to engineers at the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.

When compared with modern methods of computational fluid dynamics, digital datcom may seem antiquated. However, in its day, the program was an advanced estimation tool, and certainly much faster than plowing through pages and pages of engineering texts. Digital Datcom is no longer supported by the USAF and is now public domain software.

Software available at: http://www.va.afrl.af.mil/org/VAC/VACA/vaca_index.html


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