To understand how dihedral works, imagine a dihedral pair of wings banked 10 degrees. The effective width of each wing is now different - one wing is closer to horizontal than the other. The more horizontal wing has a greater effective width and so a greater vertical lift vector than the one pointing upwards, and this unbalanced force rolls the aircraft back until each wing has the same effective width and the lift forces become equal. Thus the dihedral gives rise to an automatic stability acting to keep the aircraft level.
Sorry safteypee, you are sooo wrong about the 146!
Last edited by Uplinker; 20th May 2013 at 01:08.