PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Lengthened fuselage to improve longitudinal stability
Old 24th February 2005 | 11:19
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safetypee
 
Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 2,776
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From: UK
The BAe146 / Avro RJ series aircraft came in three lengths; most other things being unchanged. The longer variants had or appeared to have increased stability; the doubt that I introduce comes from some difficulties with control cable friction due to a longer fuselage run, cg range, and the balance between tail arm and higher mass – any inertia effects. I don’t have the details to clarify these points.
Thus the longer aircraft were more sluggish than the shorter variants. Relating this to the fighter world then the shorter BAe 146–100 (RJ70) was for more ‘fighter’ like, with much quicker pitch response than the longer variants. Thus this appears to support the theory that fighters should trade stability, be less stable, in order to have greater manoeuvrability.
If the FW190 fuselage extension was in conjunction with more a powerful engine, could the mod be associated with directional stability?
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