Calculate mean aerodynamic chord, taper ratio, and MAC station for a straight tapered wing. This free aviation calculator helps with aircraft design study, geometry analysis, and %MAC understanding.
Enter root chord, tip chord, and wing span information to calculate mean aerodynamic chord and MAC location.
This calculator is designed for a straight tapered wing and is most useful for geometry study and %MAC planning.
Mean aerodynamic chord, or MAC, is a representative chord length used to describe a wing’s aerodynamic characteristics. In aviation and aircraft design, it is commonly used when discussing stability, loading, and center of gravity as a percent of MAC.
For a straight tapered wing, MAC can be calculated from the root chord, tip chord, and span geometry. This makes it a useful reference for both aircraft design study and weight and balance analysis.
Taper ratio is the tip chord divided by the root chord. It describes how much the wing narrows from root to tip.
MAC gives a standard reference chord so center of gravity can be expressed consistently as a percentage of MAC.
It gives a useful estimate for a straight tapered wing and can include a simple leading-edge offset, but it is not a full solver for every wing planform.
The MAC station is the spanwise location where the mean aerodynamic chord is positioned on the wing.