本书系统扼要地介绍航空科学技术基础和重要知识，主要包括航空发展史、空气动力学基础、航空器飞行原理、航空发动机、航空器结构基础、航空仪表及导航等；同时，由于航空航天技术发展速度快，本书还介绍了航空器一些新的技术进展，以便读者能及时了解最新的前沿技术。本书是作为航空概论英文教材，与国外类似教材相比，在章节安排方面更加适应和满足我国高校留学生培养方案和双语教学。本书既适用于航空航天类专业的高校针对来华留学生，还适用于国内大学生《航空航天概论》课程双语教学的新需求。

Preface
Chapter 1 History of Aeronautic
1.1 Evolution from Wheel to Space
1.2 Legends and Chinese Kites
1.3 Early History
1.3.1 Scientific Research
1.3.2 Birth of Lighter-than-Air
1.3.3 Dawn of the Dirigible (Airship)
1.4 Mid-Term History and Development
1.4.1 Heavier-than-Air Aircraft
1.4.2 Impact of Aircraft's Creation
1.4.3 World War I
1.5 Era of Aviation at its Peak
1.5.1 Commercial Flight
1.5.2 Bomber and Fighter during World War II
1.6 Jet Airplane and Evolution
1.6.1 The Beginning
1.6.2 The Next Frontier (Sound Barrier)
1.6.3 Early Supersonic Jet Fighter, Jet Bomber and Jet Commercial Airliner
1.6.4 Recent Technologies (Next Generation Jet Fighters and Airliners)
Chapter 2 Basic Aerodynamics
2.1 The Atmosphere
2.1.1 Atmospheric Pressure
2.1.2 Atmospheric Density
2.1.3 Atmospheric Viscosity
2.1.4 Sound Speed in Air
2.1.5 Mach Number
2.1.6 Flight Regimes
2.2 Atmospheric Regions
2.2.1 Troposphere
2.2.2 Stratosphere
2.2.3 Mesosphere
2.2.4 Thermosphere
2.3 Continuity Equation
2.4 Bernoulli's Principle
2.5 About Viscous Flow
2.5.1 Boundary Layer
2.5.2 Reynolds Number
2.6 About Compressibility
2.6.1 Incompressible Flow
2.6.2 Compressible Flow
2.7 Wind Tunnels
2.7.1 Low-Speed Wind Tunnels
2.7.2 Supersonic Wind Tunnels
Chapter 3 Airfoil, Wing, and Airplane
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Airfoil Aerodynamics
3.2.1 Airfoil Shape
3.2.2 Airfoil Lift
3.2.3 Airfoil Characteristics
3.3 Wing Lift
3.3.1 Finite Wings
3.3.2 Wing Lift Coefficient
3.3.3 Wingtip Vortices
3.3.4 Downwash
3.3.5 Spanwise Lift Distribution
3.4 High Lift Devices
3.4.1 Trailing-Edge Flaps
3.4.2 Leading-Edge Flaps and Slats
3.4.3 Boundary Layer Control
3.4.4 Powered Lift and Vectored Thrust
3.5 Wing and Airplane Drag
3.5.1 Skin Friction Drag
3.5.2 Pressure Drag
3.5.3 Induced Drag
3.5.4 Finite Wing Total Drag
3.5.5 Whole Airplane Drag
3.6 Mach Number Effects
3.6.1 Mach Wave
3.6.2 Critical Mach Number
Chapter 4 Elements of Airplane Performance
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Equations of Motion
4.3 Drag Curves
4.4 Power Curves
4.5 Range and Endurance
4.6 Gliding Flight
4.6.1 Maximum Glide Range
4.6.2 Minimum Sink Rate
4.7 Climbs
4.7.1 Maximum Climb Angle
4.7.2 Maximum Rate of Climb
4.7.3 Ceilings
4.8 Takeoff and Landing
4.9 Turning Flight
4.9.1 Level Turns
4.9.2 Vertical Turns
4.10 V-n Diagram
Chapter 5 Airplanes' Stability and Control
5.1 Introduction
5.2 Coordinate System
5.3 Control Surfaces
5.4 Stability Definition
5.4.1 Trim
5.4.2 Stability
5.4.3 Dynamic Stability
5.5 Longitudinal Stability
5.6 Directional Stability
5.7 Lateral Stability
Chapter 6 Aircraft Propulsion
6.1 Introduction
6.2 Airplane Propellers
6.3 Piston Engine
6.4 Turbojet Engine
6.5 Afterburners
6.6 Turbofan Engine
6.7 Turboprop Engine
6.8 Turboshaft Engine
6.9 Ramjets
Chapter 7 Airplane Structure
7.1 Introduction
7.2 Mechanics Conception
7.2.1 Stress and Strain
7.2.2 Stress-Strain Relationship: Hooke's Law
7.2.3 Plastic Deformation
7.2.4 Failure
7.2.5 Fatigue
7.2.6 Type of Stress
7.3 An Airplane's Loads
7.3.1 Point Loads
7.3.2 Distributed Loads
7.3.3 Gust Loads
7.3.4 V-n Diagram
7.4 Structural Layout
7.5 Component Sizing
7.5.1 Choosing Structural Shapes
7.5.2 Sizing to Stress Limits
7.5.3 Sizing to Fatigue Limits
7.5.4 Sizing to Deflection Limits
7.5.5 Buckling
7.5.6 Design Considerations
Chapter 8 Airplane Instruments
8.1 Introduction
8.2 Early Airplane Instruments
8.3 I