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The longitudinal stability of an aircraft, also called pitch stability, [2] refers to the aircraft's stability in its plane of symmetry [2] about the lateral axis (the axis along the wingspan). [1] It is an important aspect of the handling qualities of the aircraft, and one of the main factors determining the ease with which the pilot is able ...
Stability is the ability of the aircraft to counteract disturbances to its flight path. According to David P. Davies, there are six types of aircraft stability: speed stability, stick free static longitudinal stability, static lateral stability, directional stability, oscillatory stability, and spiral stability. [5]: 164
The period is usually on the order of 3–15 seconds, but it can vary from a few seconds for light aircraft to a minute or more for airliners. Damping is increased by large directional stability and small dihedral and decreased by small directional stability and large dihedral.
An aircraft stabilizer is an aerodynamic surface, typically including one or more movable control surfaces, [1] [2] that provides longitudinal (pitch) and/or directional (yaw) stability and control. A stabilizer can feature a fixed or adjustable structure on which any movable control surfaces are hinged, or it can itself be a fully movable ...
Stability derivatives, and also control derivatives, are measures of how particular forces and moments on an aircraft change as other parameters related to stability change (parameters such as airspeed, altitude, angle of attack, etc.). For a defined "trim" flight condition, changes and oscillations occur in these parameters.
The fore-aft CG affects the longitudinal stability of the aircraft, with the stability increasing as the CG moves forward and decreasing as the CG moves aft. With a forward CG position, although the stability of the aircraft increases, the elevator control authority is reduced in the capability of raising the nose of the aircraft.
Dihedral effect is a critical factor in the stability of an aircraft about the roll axis (the spiral mode). It is also pertinent to the nature of an aircraft's Dutch roll oscillation and to maneuverability about the roll axis. Longitudinal dihedral is a comparatively obscure term related to the pitch axis of an airplane.
The figure on the right shows the variation of moment with AoA for a stable airplane. The negative slope for positive α indicates stability in pitch. The combination of the two concepts of aerodynamic center and pitching moment coefficient make it relatively simple to analyse some of the flight characteristics of an aircraft. [1]: Section 5.10