Relaxed Stability - Vertical Wing Position

Vertical Wing Position

The vertical positioning of the wing changes the roll stability of an aircraft.

  • An aircraft with a "high" wing position (i.e., set on top of the fuselage) has a higher roll stability. A Cessna 152 is an example.
  • An aircraft with a "low" wing (i.e., underneath the fuselage) has less roll stability. A Piper Pawnee is an example of a "low" wing.

This is commonly explained through the analogy of a pendulum-style effect, but this explanation is incorrect (see Pendulum rocket fallacy). Instead, this effect is due to the aircraft's response to sideslip. An aircraft which is rolled to one side will tend to start to sideslip towards the low side of the airplane. A high wing tends to cause the aircraft to roll away from the sideslip, which tends to level the aircraft. A low wing tends instead to roll into the sideslip, increasing the roll angle and therefore increasing the sideslip further.

Read more about this topic:  Relaxed Stability

Famous quotes containing the words vertical, wing and/or position:

    In bourgeois society, the French and the industrial revolution transformed the authorization of political space. The political revolution put an end to the formalized hierarchy of the ancien regimé.... Concurrently, the industrial revolution subverted the social hierarchy upon which the old political space was based. It transformed the experience of society from one of vertical hierarchy to one of horizontal class stratification.
    Donald M. Lowe, U.S. historian, educator. History of Bourgeois Perception, ch. 4, University of Chicago Press (1982)

    The sin of my ingratitude even now
    Was heavy on me. Thou art so far before
    That swiftest wing of recompense is slow
    To overtake thee. Would thou hadst less deserved,
    That the proportion both of thanks and payment
    Might have been mine! Only I have left to say,
    More is thy due than more than all can pay.
    William Shakespeare (1564–1616)

    I believe that no man who holds a leader’s position should ever accept favors from either side. He is then committed to show favors. A leader must stand alone.
    Mother Jones (1830–1930)