Chris Scott:
I know you do. When I made my studies, conventional stabilizers were designed to produce negative lift. At that time, there were no preoccupations with fuel saving or drag reductions...
I think (although not sure) that, with the advent of CGCC computers and in order to save fuel, that new big jets suffered a slight redesign of the stab profile. New jets are not designed to be stable. They are designed to fly with near zero trimming. It is therefore a waste of lift and fuel, to design stabs producing negative lift, together with 5 Ton of Fuel...
I will pay closer attention next time I fly and will take a closer look at the stab profile.
