Aircraft Stability and Control

AE 1350
Lecture Notes #11
 We will study
• What do we mean by aircraft stability and
control?
• Static and Dynamic Stability
• Longitudinal, lateral and roll stability
• Necessary Conditions for Longitudinal stability
• Stability Margin
• Relaxed Stability Margin
 A system is said to be stable if it can recover
from small disturbances that affect its
operation.

A cone resting Unstable Neutrally stable.

on its base is Assumes new position
stable. caused by the disturbance.
 An aircraft is subjected to some disturbance,
say a gust, a cross wind or turbulence

Freestream

Unexpected Gust

Will it recover automatically, without pilot’s intervention,

and resume its original direction of flight?
If so, the aircraft is longitudinally stable.
 Longitudinal Static Stability
The initial tendency of
the vehicle is to bring
Alpha the nose up. If so,
Alpha The aircraft is statically
unstable.

Time
Time
The initial tendency of the vehicle
Aircraft is in
is to bring the nose down. If so,
steady level flight
The aircraft is statically stable.

Gust pitches the nose up

Aircraft may be statically unstable, but
dynamically stable Over a long
period,
Longitudinal Stability vehicle
recovers.
6
Dynamically
Alpha, in degrees

5.5
5
stable.
4.5
4
3.5
3
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
Time, in seconds

Initial tendency may be to pitch the nose up

Statically unstable.
 Aircraft may be statically and
dynamically stable
6
5.5
5
Alpha

4.5
4
3.5
3
0 10 20 30 40
Gust pitches Time
nose up

Initial tendency and long-term tendency both are to recover

from a gust or disturbance
 Aircraft may be dynamically
unstable
Longitudinal Stability

40
Degrees

20
Alpha,

-20 0 10 20 30 40

Time, seconds
 Condition for Static Stability
L + dL

Aircraft c.g. (center of Gravity)

The gust generates a small clockwise Moment about c.g. dM, and a
small positive additional lift dL.
For static stability, if dL is positive (upward gust),
dM must be negative, causing the nose to drop.
Otherwise the wing will pitch up further increasing lift.
dM/dL must be negative for static stability.
 Nondimensionalization
Lift and pitching moment M are usually non-dimensionalized.

L is divided by [1/2  V2 S] to yield CL

M is divided by [1/2  V 2 S c] to yield CM

Here c is a reference length, e.g. average chord.

From the previous slide, dM/dL must be negative for static stability.

In nondimensional form, dCM/dCL must be negative for

static stability.

The quantity -dCM/dCL is called the static stability margin.

Notice the negative sign.
The more positive it is, the more longitudinally stable the aircraft.
 How can a Designer Ensure
Longitudinal Static stability?
Lift

Aircraft c.g.
Rule #1 : Place the c.g. as far forward as possible. This will
cause the nose to drop, if lift increases due to a gust, reducing
, and lift. The opposite will occur if there is downward gust.
 How can a Designer Ensure Longitudinal
Static stability?
Tail Lift

Aircraft c.g.
Rule #2 : Place the horizontal tail as far aft as possible. This will
cause the nose to drop, if there is a vertical gust, reducing
, and lift. The opposite will occur if there is downward gust.

A canard is a tail upstream of the c.g., statically unstable!

 The price paid for a large static
stability margin
• The aircraft may become sluggish, hard to
maneuver. The tail will resist the pilot’s attempt to
change the aircraft “angle of attack.”
• A large tail adds to aircraft weight, and cost.
• A smaller tail will require a long fuselage(“ a long
enough crowbar!”) to generate enough of a
pitching moment to bring the nose up or down.
• Tail generates drag, including wave drag!
 Horizontal Tail in Steady Level Flight needs to
produce a download to balance all moments.

Tail Lift
Aircraft c.g.

The wing produces a counterclockwise moment about the c.g.

The tail will have to produce a clockwise moment about the c.g.

These two moments (I.e. force times distance) must roughly balance.

The wing has to generate enough lift to overcome the weight + Tail lift
 Relaxed Static Stability
• For improved maneuverability, some fighter aircraft sacrifice
the static stability margin.
• Some fighter aircraft are statically unstable.
• Their nose will continue to pitch up, the lift will continue to go
up when a upward gust is encountered. Result: A/C will stall,
flip over.
• These aircraft must be actively controlled by the pilot, or an
onboard computer.
• Redundant computer systems are present in case a computer
based flight control fails.
 Directional Stability
Freestream comes from pilot’s
right side, due to cross wind.
It causes nose to rotate to left
viewed from the top.
The force on the tail
causes the aircraft
to rotate back to
original direction.
A cross wind may cause the nose to rotate about the vertical axis,
changing the flight direction.

The vertical tail behaves like a wing at an angle of attack,

producing a side force, rotates the aircraft to its original direction.

All of this occurs without pilot action or intervention.

 Why twin tail?
• Some fighter aircraft have twin tails.
• Each of the tails may be small, reducing radar
cross section.
• Alternatively, twice the surface means twice
the amount of side force that can be generated,
giving good directional control.
• Disadvantage: Cost of manufacturing, weight
go up.
 Lateral Stability
• It is the ability of the aircraft to recover
from a roll without pilot’s intervention.

If the wing is tilted upwards

Dihedral is good for from root to tip, it has a
lateral stability. dihedral.
 Anhedral

If the wing dips down from root

Anhedral is bad for to tip, it has an anhedral.
lateral stability.
What happens when the aircraft
undergo a roll?
Lift
Lift

A portion of the lift

is pointed sideways.
The vehicle moves
laterally.
This is called sideslip.
 During sideslip, a relative wind
flows from right to left

This wind has

a component normal
to the wing on
A downwash occurs the right, viewing
on the left wing, from the front.
reducing lift. This is an upwash.
The upwash increases
lift on the right wing.
As a result, the aircraft rights itself,
and recovers from the roll.