Aircraft system design is a process to produce an aircraft that is strong, lightweight, economical and can carry an adequate payload while being sufficiently reliable to safely fly for the design life. This course is to introduce students to the typical aircraft industry practice and the overall aircraft design process. The students will first be introduced to the overview of past and current aircraft designs and configurations, and regulations that need to be considered before the design process takes place. Then the students will be introduced to the technical aspects of designing aircraft starting with specifying the mission requirements, based on the market research analysis. The process is then followed by preliminary sizing and weight estimation. Upon designing the overall configuration and fuselage layout, the students can then perform more detailed analyses such as: wing design, controls, stability, landing gear, propulsion, and structural consideration.

For a student to pass the course, at least 30% of the maximum mark for both coursework and examination should be obtained.