GESchwarz
Well-Known Member
I've just read that too small a vertical tail surface area coupled with too much dihedral will cause dutch roll, and too little dihedral coupled with too large a vertical tail surface area can bring on Spiral Instability. With vertical tail volumes all over the map (Piper J-3 = .022, Ercoupe = .034, Ryan Navion = .040, Vans RV-8 = .067), how do you decide how much vertical tail volume to have?
There does seem to be a direct correlation between vertical tail volume and top speed of the airplane. Is that by design or is it coincidental/random? I've never seen speed as a part of the tail volume calculation.
There does seem to be a direct correlation between vertical tail volume and top speed of the airplane. Is that by design or is it coincidental/random? I've never seen speed as a part of the tail volume calculation.
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