Aerospace Fundamentals

How and why things fly. The starting point: what aerospace engineers do, the four forces and the lift equation, the standard atmosphere and airspeeds, and the fluid-mechanics basics — fluid properties, continuity and Bernoulli — that everything else builds on.

• Introduction to Aerospace Engineering & Flight — What aerospace engineers do and how anything flies. Learn the aeronautics/astronautics split, a short history from the Wright Flyer to reusable rockets, the parts of an aircraft, the four forces (lift, weight, thrust, drag), the lift equation, axes and control surfaces, units and speeds (knots, Mach), and the disciplines — aerodynamics, propulsion, structures, flight mechanics, avionics, space systems — covered in this branch.
• The Standard Atmosphere & Airspeeds — Every performance number assumes an atmosphere. Learn the layers of the atmosphere, the International Standard Atmosphere (ISA) equations for temperature, pressure, density and speed of sound, pressure and density altitude, and the airspeeds pilots and engineers use — indicated, calibrated, equivalent and true airspeed, ground speed and Mach — with Python implementations of ISA and pitot-static airspeed.
• Fluid Properties — Fluids deform continuously under shear. Learn density, specific weight and gravity, viscosity (dynamic and kinematic), Newtonian vs non-Newtonian fluids, compressibility, surface tension, capillarity and vapour pressure.
• Continuity — Mass is conserved in a flow. Learn mass and volume flow rate, the continuity equation A₁V₁ = A₂V₂, flow in branching pipes, and compressible mass flow.
• Bernoulli Equation — Bernoulli's equation expresses energy conservation along a streamline: pressure, velocity and elevation heads trade off. Learn heads, Venturi and orifice meters, Pitot tubes, Torricelli's law and the extended energy equation with losses and pumps.