Response of Small Business Aircraft to Continuous Atmospheric Turbulence

A method is presented for estimating the lateral and longitudinal response parameters employed in the design load calculations. Estimates of load factors, tail surface loads, and motion responses for both the longitudinal and lateral-directional excitation may be made for aircraft such as the light general aviation class and the small business jets. The method involves the use of data charts of response integrals which are parametrically related to the aircraft stability parameters, short-period or Dutch roll frequency and damping ratio, and a gust-to-aircraft scale parameter. Sample calculations are included to illustrate the use of the method.