Letter to AIAA Journal Chief Editor into Waste Basket

The following letter was sent to AIAA Journal Chief Editor Peretz P. Friedman on Sept 17.
The letter was thrown into the waste basket by AIAA without answer.

Concerning New Theory of Flight submitted to AIAA Journal

In March 2012 we submitted the article New Theory of Flight to AIAA
Journal. The article presents a new mathematical description of the
generation of lift and drag from the flow of air around a wing, which is
fundamentally different from the current textbook theory based on the work
by Kutta-Zhukovsky-Prandtl. Our new theory is based on a mathematical
analysis of computed solutions of the 3d Navier-Stokes equations with lift
and drag within experimental error tolerance for all angles of attack
including stall and beyond.

The assigned AIAA Journal editor Gregory Blaisdell acknowledges that our
article "is unusual in that it challenges our existing understanding of
aerodynamics". However, the challenge is not really evaluated by the
reviewers and the editor, who instead respond by a lengthy defense of
exactly the existing theory we question using exactly the same arguments
we question, without actually considering our arguments and evidence.

One of the reviewers states: "The authors provide no documented scientific
evidence to discredit the current state of the art”, but acknowledges
that: “At most, perhaps they present a numerical model of the governing
equations which avoids the need to discretize the boundary layer“.

Our objective is not to "discredit" classical theory. But we do present a
new theory made possible through the recent developments in computational
modeling of turbulent flow based on the Navier-Stokes equations, which
allows for quantitative prediction of the full 3d flow field including
aerodynamic forces, also for separated flow beyond stall. Our evidence
consists of accurate solutions of the 3d Navier-Stokes equations in close
correspondence with observation, and an analysis of these solutions.

We therefore request a new review process by AIAA of our article, without
being simply discarding in a defense of the classical theory.

Sincerely, JH, JJ and CJ