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Old 11th Jun 2009, 05:46
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Brian Abraham
 
Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: Sale, Australia
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Woodpecker, you will need to get your aerodynamic books out and revisit stability. No airliner built has a tailplane producing lift in an upwards direction, irrespective of the C/G position. An aft C/G is desired to reduce trim drag, but the tailplane will always be producing -ve lift. The Airbus family have what is known as "relaxed stability", the computers providing for the shortfall in aerodynamics. On the 380 for example they were able to reduce the size of the tailplane area by 10% and reduce trim drag by .5%, which in turn lead to a reduction in weight of 1,500 pounds. With the loss of all computers the aircraft is able to be flown by use of the trim wheel, the tailplane providing stability. If the tailplane were producing +ve lift in this case the aircraft would be unstable (refer to the moments and couples in your aerodynamic notes).
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