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The vertical stabilizer is the fixed vertical surface of the empennage. A vertical stabilizer or tail fin [1] [2] is the static part of the vertical tail of an aircraft. [1] The term is commonly applied to the assembly of both this fixed surface and one or more movable rudders hinged to it. Their role is to provide control, stability and trim ...
A Boeing 737 uses an adjustable stabilizer, moved by a jackscrew, to provide the required pitch trim forces. Generic stabilizer illustrated. A horizontal stabilizer is used to maintain the aircraft in longitudinal balance, or trim: [3] it exerts a vertical force at a distance so the summation of pitch moments about the center of gravity is zero. [4]
The rudder is a fundamental control surface which is typically controlled by pedals rather than at the stick. It is the primary means of controlling yaw—the rotation of an airplane about its vertical axis. The rudder may also be called upon to counter-act the adverse yaw produced by the roll-control surfaces.
The vertical tail structure has a fixed front section called the vertical stabiliser, used to control yaw, which is movement of the fuselage right to left motion of the nose of the aircraft. The rear section of the vertical fin is the rudder , a movable aerofoil that is used to turn the aircraft's nose right or left.
It may still have a fuselage, vertical tail fin (vertical stabilizer), and/or vertical rudder. Theoretical advantages of the tailless configuration include low parasitic drag as on the Horten H.IV soaring glider and good stealth characteristics as on the Northrop B-2 Spirit bomber. Disadvantages include a potential sensitivity to trim.
With a symmetrical rocket or missile, the directional stability in yaw is the same as the pitch stability; it resembles the short period pitch oscillation, with yaw plane equivalents to the pitch plane stability derivatives. For this reason, pitch and yaw directional stability are collectively known as the "weathercock" stability of the missile.
A flying wing may have various small protuberances such as pods, nacelles, blisters, booms, or vertical stabilizers. Similar aircraft designs, that are not technically flying wings, are sometimes casually referred to as such. These types include blended wing body aircraft and lifting body aircraft, which have a fuselage and no definite wings.
This motion continues until the yaw angle of the aircraft reaches the point where the vertical stabilizer effectively becomes a wind vane and reverses the yawing motion. As the aircraft yaws back to the left, the right wing then becomes less swept than the left resulting in the right wing developing more lift than the left.