Dear Colleagues,

Drones is pleased to publish a Special Issue in honor of Prof. Max F. Platzer, who is currently serving as adjunct professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at the University of California Davis. Since 2006 he has served as the editor of the international review journal “Progress in Aerospace Sciences”.

Born in Vienna in 1933, Prof. Platzer studied mechanical engineering at the Technical University of Vienna from 1951 to 1957. He received a Diploma Engineer’s degree in 1957 and became an assistant professor of fluid mechanics and applied mathematics. In 1960, he accepted the position of special assistant to the chief of the Aerodynamics Branch at the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center and served as chief of the Theoretical Unsteady Aerodynamics Section from 1963 to 1966. His responsibilities were the development of improved aero-elastic analysis methods for flexible launch vehicles, such as Saturn V. In 1965, he received a Superior Achievement Award signed by Dr. Wernher von Braun for his contributions to the identification and analysis of a panel flutter problem on the Saturn V launch vehicle. Additionally, in 1964, he completed a dissertation under the guidance of Prof. Klaus Oswatitsch, chair professor of fluid mechanics at the Technical University of Vienna. The topic of the dissertation was the extension of Oswatitsch’s equivalence rule (known in the United States as Whitcomb’s area rule) to unsteady flows.

In 1966, he moved to the Lockheed-Georgia Research Center, where he served as chief of the Aeromechanics Section, with the responsibility for improving the aero-elastic analysis methods used for large flexible aircraft, such as the Galaxy-C5 aircraft. In 1970, he accepted an appointment as associate professor of aeronautics at the Naval Postgraduate School, where he was promoted to full professor in 1976 and served as department chair between 1978 and 1988 and 2000 and 2003. During his service at the Naval Postgraduate School, he worked on various aerodynamic, aero-elastic, flight mechanics, and propulsion problems related to naval aircraft. Among them was the computational and experimental investigation of flapping wing aerodynamics, leading to the demonstration of one of the very first flapping-wing micro-air vehicles in December 2002.

In 1992, he was elected Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. In 1995, he received the distinguished professor medal of the Naval Postgraduate School. In 2000, he was elected Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and in 2021 he was elected honorary president of the International Sustainable Aviation and Energy Research Society.

Prof. Platzer is inventor/co-inventor of three U.S. patents and author/co-author of 256 publications. He is also editor/co-editor of 7 conference proceedings and books, including the AGARD Manual on Aeroelasticity in Axial-Flow Turbomachines, Vol. I, Unsteady Aerodynamics, March 1987, and Vol. II, Structural Dynamics and Aeroelasticity, June 1988, as well as “Standard Handbook for Aerospace Engineers, 2^nd edition, published by McGrawHill, 2018. He is author/co-author of the following books:

1. Cebeci, M. Platzer, H. Chen, K.C. Chang, J.P. Shao, “Analysis of Low-Speed Unsteady Airfoil Flows”, Springer 2004;
2. M.F. Platzer and N. Sarigul-Klijn, “Aerohydronautical Power Engineering - Is it the Key to Abundant Renewable Energy and Potable Water ?” University Readers, San Diego, California, 2012;
3. M.F. Platzer and N. Sargul-Klijn, “The Green Energy Ship Concept: Renewable Energy from Wind over Water”, Springer Briefs in Applied Science and Technology 2021

In honor and recognition of Prof. Platzer’s life-long scientific and educational contributions to the field of drones and aeronautical engineering, this Special Issue of Drones welcomes the submission of original research manuscripts or reviews in the areas of the design and flight dynamics of drones. The deadline for the submission of manuscripts is December 31^st, 2022. Manuscripts will be published online on an ongoing basis after due processing.

Dr. Abdessattar Abdelkefi
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Drones is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• UAV/μUAV/MAV/NAV
• fixed-wing/rotary-wing/flapping-wing drones
• space/marine/aerial/underwater drones
• flight dynamics and control
• drone design and development
• fluid–structure interaction/aeroelasticity/hydroelasticity
• bioinspiration and biomimicry
• drone development, stability, and manufacturing