Quote:
Originally Posted by Carl Spackler
You are correct. Nobody disagrees that a vertical stabilizer adds to stability. Stability is different than control. There is simply no aerodynamic facts to back up the premise that you lose control and crash if you lose the vertical stabilizer. None.
You talked previously about Dutch Roll. In the old 727 days, we trained in recovery from severe Dutch Roll with the Yaw Damper inoperative. The recovery technique involves the use of aileron only - you never want to touch the rudder.
Carl
|
It is because you had a vert stab that was naturally dampening the yaw, the ailerons were used to dampen the roll.
If you had no vert stab, there would have been no (or a lot less) tendency for the nose to stop traveling in one direction and start traveling back to neutral. Also, without a vert stab, there would have been little or no tendency for the nose to stop yawing as it approached and went through neutral. The very reason you didn't touch the rudder was because of the natural stability provided by the vert stab. With a vert stab, the positive stability in the yaw axis would eventually dampen the movements - without it, the yaw stability would be very close to neutral or even negative. Without the vert stab, you would have lost control.
By the way, stability is natural - control is what you provide - and without stability you lose control (ask any F-117 pilot especially what would happen to their control if they lost the computer provided their positive stability). Without one you don't have the other, you aren't that fast.