How accurate is Piano?
In terms of preliminary design, it’s as accurate as the best tools available anywhere in the world. This doesn’t mean that Piano claims the same depth of analysis as, for example, preliminary design procedures that Airbus or other major manufacturers might use internally. But such procedures require a far greater level of detailed input, and time, and often involve several departments. They are of course better matched to the techniques and specific market of the particular manufacturer, which also implies they may not perform as accurately when examining the products of others. For the typical number of inputs that Piano uses, it can model an enormous range of types (from a tiny Eclipse to an A380) better and faster than anything. Hard numbers depend on specifics (a ‘percentage game’ is all too easily played without clear reference baselines). Nonetheless, as an example, the best globally-applicable wing weight predictions tend to have mean errors of the order of 9% rms, which is as g
