The Purpose of an Aircraft’s Vertical Tail
Aircraft are built to mimic the natural flight mechanics of birds, those of which have horizontal wings that create lift as air flows over them. However, despite this similarity, birds stabilize themselves in air by changing the shape of their wings and repositioning their heads to achieve certain aerodynamics. As such, aircraft typically feature a vertical tail built to stabilize the vehicle while in flight to make up for their lack of adaptive wings and flexibility. Those interested in learning more about aircraft and their vertical tail are encouraged to read this on.
How They Work
All aircraft have a determined center of gravity, and the goal is to keep the mass as close to its center of gravity as possible during flight. Despite this, there are forces constantly moving a plane away from its center of gravity like wind, turbulence, and passenger movement inside the cabin. For this reason, the vertical tail/vertical stabilizer is responsible for keeping the vehicle close to its center of gravity in the yaw and roll axis. To do this, the vertical fin counteracts forces of roll as air moves over it, keeping the nose pointing straight ahead.
Applications
In addition to helping maintain an aircraft’s center of gravity, the vertical stabilizer is important to the safety of aircraft with multiple engines. Normally, multi-engine aircraft produce equal amounts of thrust on each side where the engines are located. In the event that an engine loses power, the remaining engine’s thrust would impart a turning force around the center of the aircraft. If this were to occur, the pilot would use the vertical fin and its rudder to steer the nose of the aircraft in the opposite direction to counteract the turning force of the working engine, preventing what would have otherwise been a catastrophe.
The rudder, as mentioned above, is a mobile surface that deflects air to push or pull the aircraft nose in the intended direction. It is helpful to think of it like a rudder on a boat, and the aircraft’s autoflight systems continuously adjust it to keep the nose pointing straight ahead if it faces a crosswind. It does this by pointing the aircraft so that it is coming into land at an offset angle, which allows the plane to fly forward into the wind. During takeoff and landing, the rudder is used by the pilot to steer the nose toward the runway centerline, but it is important to note that this becomes difficult in windy conditions.
Trim Tabs: How Do They Help?
Also located on the vertical stabilizer are the trim tabs which allow the pilot or flight control system to make necessary adjustments to make sure the nose is pointed in the desired direction. They tend to be used after takeoff when the pilot will ‘trim’ the nose, as well as in the event of an engine failure, during which the pilot can trim the yaw axis.
Why Are Vertical Stabilizers So Large?
Shorter aircraft require large stabilizers because they have less yaw stability, meaning that to produce sufficient yaw control, the stabilizer needs to be bigger than those on longer aircraft. This is because the distance between the vertical stabilizer and its center of yaw is short, so the vertical fin needs a large surface area to maintain stability and control.
Great care is taken in the design of vertical stabilizers to make sure they are of the correct size, strength, and efficiency without affecting the flight characteristics of the whole aircraft. Those searching for top-quality vertical stabilizers should look no further than Aviation Axis, where we house an inventory of more than 2 billion new, used, obsolete, and hard-to-find aviation components, and more, all of which have been sourced from leading global manufacturers on our Approved Vendor List (AVL). Moreover, countless parts are subject to varying levels of quality assurance measures to ensure their high caliber for your benefit. To learn more about our products and services, give us a call or email at your earliest convenience, and a representative will be more than happy to assist you however we can!
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