3 ms·
An example from hang gliding: the wings form a shallow "V", with you at the centre. If it tilts left, there's more lift area downwards on the left (and less on
by hyperpallium 8y ago
An example from hang gliding: the wings form a shallow "V", with you at the centre. If it tilts left, there's more lift area downwards on the left (and less on the right), so it tends to tilt back, righting itself.
I'm not sure what prevents oscillation; nor how pitch is stablized (pointing downwards vs pointing up), but I've found hang gliders very stable.
- unoti 8y agoPitch is stabilized by the tail. When the nose points down, air hits the top of the tail and pushes the tail down, bringing the nose up. And when the nose is pointing up, air hitting the bottom of the tail pushes the tail up. The V shape thing you mentioned for hang gliders is also true for most light planes. It’s a self stabilizing thing. I think what prevents th oscillation is that as it comes to level, the amount of upward force from the other wing equalizes.
- mannykannot 8y agoYet canards can be made stable in pitch as well. In either case, the 'trick' is that the forward plane, whichever one it is, should be rigged at a higher angle of incidence than the rear plane.
- snt 8y agoThe "projected area" theory is a common misconception of how dihedral works (that I also subscribed to for many years). All things being equal, the port and starboard wings create the the same amount of roll torque, no matter which one is 'facing' the ground better (of course, dihedral does still work, because all things are not equal). https://aviation.stackexchange.com/questions/26759/how-does-the-dihedral-angle-work https://aviation.stackexchange.com/questions/26759/how-does-...
- dTal 8y agoCheck out page 126 of Stick And Rudder for an intuitive illustration of why dihedral works.