Flight principles of solar-powered airplane and sensitivity analysis of its conceptual parameters

Using statistics collected on four successfully-flown solar-powered airplanes, whose wing loadings are comparatively low, sections 1 and 2 of the full paper try to sum up the most basic flight principles of a solar-powered airplane and then perform the sensitivity analysis of its key parameters at the conceptual design phase. With the help of Fig. 7, section 3 explains our energy-centered conceptual design method suitable only for the solar-powered airplane. The successfully-flown Swiss solar-powered airplane "HB-SIA" is one of the four successfully-flown solar-powered airplanes. When section 3 applies our energy-centered conceptual design method to it, naturally no contradiction occurs.