The objective of this paper is to evaluate the dependence of the flight-path when height changes as function of time on the aerodynamic characteristics of single rectangular wings with aspect ratios between 4 and 12 due to dynamic ground effect using an unsteady vortexring panel code, which uses a time-stepping method and the image method to simulate climb and sink maneuvers with a free wake. It is observed that each maneuver has different effects on lift, drag, and pitching moment coefficients. For a constant rate of descent and climb maneuvers, the flight path angle has an important impact over the results increasing the lift and induced drag coefficients and decreasing the pitching moment coefficient as the flight path angle decreases because the flight path angle is linked to the effective angle of attack. In contrast, no evident relation is appreciated between the static and dynamic ground effect in flare. Lift and induced drag spanwise distributions are also considerably affected by the specific maneuver. Finally, the nondimensional h derivatives are related to the flight path of the wing in ground effect. Nomenclature b = wingspan CL, CD, CM = lift, drag, and pitching moment coefficients CL0, CD0, CM0 = lift, drag, and pitching moment coefficients at zero angle of attack CLq, CDq, CMq = variation of lift, drag, and pitching moment coefficients with pitch rate CLh, CDh, CMh = variation of lift, drag, and pitching moment coefficients with nondimensional height CLα, CDα, CMα = lift, drag, and pitching moment slopes
