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Sailplane Pitching moment

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Wild Bill

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 11, 2013
Messages
111
Location
Vidalia, GA
I've been doing some reading about laminar flow wings, small efficient high aspect ratio wings and this has pointed me to the sections used on sailplanes and motorgliders. I'm somewhat confused by what I see because most all of these designs have sections with a high pitching moment. Yet tail moment/fuselage length is relatively short, horizontal stab span and area is also very small compared to the wing. Yet these designs are very stable in pitch. I've flown an ASK21 and it was far from divergent or unstable by any means.

Im assuming it has something to do with sailplane wings flying at a low angle of attack and being lightly loaded, and at relatively low airspeeds. The low airspeed makes the TINY horizontal stabilizer even less effective though.
What am I missing here?
 
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