Benchmark 2.0 Beta 14

Benchmark allows you to model the performance of an engine, a propeller and an airplane, then 'fly' the airplane at any flight condition to see how fast it will fly, or how many miles per gallon you will get. Calculate the power of the engine.

Watch what happens when you change the design of the propeller. Try out different engine and propeller combinations in your airplane. Print miles-per-gallon charts for the flight manual of your airplane, not a factory-average machine.

Benchmark allows you to get to know your engine, propeller and airplane in ways that have never been possible before, to understand the power and fuel consumption curves of the engine with a degree of accuracy that is unheard of.

With Benchmark, our collective understanding of engines, propellers and airplane will never be the same.

Benchmark handles all of the standard calculations used in performance flight testing and analysis—a specialized type of aeronautical engineering used by aircraft manufacturers to conduct performance flight tests, analyze the flight data, model the performance of the airplane and finally produce performance charts for the flight manual for the airplane.

It is the only program of its type in the world and in a few seconds Benchmark handles all of the calculations that have previously required months of engineering work and analysis.

The normal flight test regime involves serious, careful work to model the performance of the airplane. But once you have modeled a design—Falco, Bonanza, Mooney, etc.—you can then use one airplane as a base for the performance modeling of another plane of the same type.

We have Karl Hansen's 160 hp Falco modeled, and it's an exceptionally fast machine. But your Falco may have a 180 hp engine, a different propeller and may not be as fast.

With Benchmark, you can 'save as' to create a separate airplane file, change the engine and propeller and then add or subtract drag to match the performance of your airplane.

This done, you can calculate the performance of your airplane at any flight condition and produce your own performance flight manual charts.

From this point of view Benchmark is an authoring tool designed to be used to create the models and it includes calculators for engine power and airplane speed.

Limitations:

· 195 days trial

What's New in This Release: [ read full changelog ]

· MPG charts changed to Fuel Economy. Now combines MPG with CAFE scores, and added wind controls. See Performance Charts for full details.
· There are some minor problems still remaining with printing the CAFE scores. We expect to get this fixed in the near future. Stay tuned.
· Added climb chart for time, distance and fuel. Please note that this chart will now print, just like the MPG charts.
· Changed for minimum required OS 10.6.
· Completely reworked Atmospherics Calculator for better graphics, to use Benchmark preferences for unit values and to provide a way to convert between TAS and IAS both ways. Pressures are given in mbar, however please note that the pressure values can be selected and copied, and then you can use the Units Calculator to convert the pressures to other unit values.