T-Tails - Why?
Just been reading (R&N) about an MD80 which seems to have stalled in bad WX conditions, possibly due to overloading, a couple of years back.
I was in the industry when Tridents, BAC 1-11s, even the lovely old VC-10, and so forth were all the rage, despite the problems with T-Tails. Stick shakers and stick pushers were surely only a "band-aid" to a serious basic design problem?
Just wondering if anyone can explain why, with the known drawbacks of this sort of configuration, aircraft like the MD-80 were built? Is there any advantage in putting the engines on the back of the fuselage and the tail high up above them? Why do we continue to do it?