Roy Day

Suppose you want to design a Sport Scale airplane, or an original that's a bit different from the "box with a wing." Say you'd like to design an airplane with an oval cross-section fuselage and tapered wings. Furthermore, you don't have a computer or Computer Aided Drafting (CAD) capability. No problem. There are simple techniques that have been in use for years, long before the advent of the computer and CAD programs. The method is called lofting. Lofting was used hundreds of years ago by ship designers to lay out hulls. It applies equally well to aircraft design. Lofting is a technique of drawing a family of shapes that will result in a smooth outside form. It can be used to generate the formers for any cross-section fuselage and the ribs for a tapered wing. It can also be used to design cowls and canopies.