Hinged was the wrong word. The axis of rotation I suppose. Right now the H-Stabilizer rotates as though it is hinged well towards the rear. This means it is unstable in the case of failure, though I don't think this has happened but this instability means the load on the jackscrew is almost always there in one direction or another.
As soon as loads leave a theoretical airflow centre, they become exponentially (loosely speaking) greater as the system calls for say, AND. We are now aware of the extreme difficulties caused by this load. We should have been more aware about the jack stalling at least since the Toronto control-unloading emergency which decended 'down to the height of a fuel station sign.'
I bet that got their attention.
If the H-Stabilizer was effectively hinged around a point significantly forward of the centre of the surface it would trail like most control surfaces - at least to some extent.
It occurs to me that any beam to the jackscrew would not need to travel the full range of the surface's angular movement behind the rotation point. Neither would it need to be as strong as the surface is now trailing. i.e., trailing the stabilizer at least eases some of the design loads.
Designed from an armchair? Well, just think about the ramp on aircraft carriers.
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Last edited by Loose rivets; 15th Jun 2019 at 02:50.