Aircraft Stability

Meaning of stability and control

• The stability (or positive stability) of an aircraft means its
ability to return to some particular condition of flight, after
having been disturbed from that condition, without any effort
of the pilot.
• The aircraft can be stable under some conditions and unstable
under other conditions. If the aircraft tends to move away
from the original position on being disturbed, then it is said to
be unstable (also called negative stability).
• If the aircraft tends to do neither and prefers to remain in its
new position, then it is said to be in neutral stability.

Positive stability Neutral stability Negative stability

 Aircraft stability
• There are two types of stability:
• Static stability, and
• Dynamic stability
• Static stability is represented by the figure in the previous
slide showing a marble on different surfaces.
• If the forces and moments on the body caused by a
disturbance tend initially to return the body to its
equilibrium position, the body has positive static stability.
• If the forces and moments are such that the body
continues to move away from its equilibrium position after
being disturbed, the body has negative static stability.
• If the forces and moments are such that the body occupies
another stable equilibrium position after being disturbed,
the body has neutral stability.
 Dynamic stability
• Dynamic stability deals with the time history of a body’s
motion after it initially responds to its static stability.

Direction of flight
Positive dynamic stability

Neutral dynamic stability Direction of flight

Negative dynamic stability

Direction of flight
 Aircraft reference axes and moments

Positive pitching moment

(Pitch up)

Positive roll moment

(Right roll) Positive yaw moment
(Right yaw)
 Aircraft longitudinal static stability

In order to obtain longitudinal stability (also known as stability in

pitching), it must be ensured that if the angle of attack is
temporarily increased due to some disturbance, forces will act in
such a way as to decrease the angle of attack and restore the
initial position
 Aircraft longitudinal dihedral angle

• Longitudinal dihedral angle is

the difference in angles of
incidence of the wing and tail
plane. It is positive if wing
incidence is smaller.
• Aircraft with fixed tail plane
stabilizer will have fixed Advantage of longitudinal dihedral angle:
longitudinal dihedral angle.
The lever arm for the force on the tail plane
about the CG of the aircraft is larger
• Aircraft with moving tail plane compared to that on the wing.
stabilisers have variable angle
Therefore, even though the force on the
of incidence. Therefore, the wing may be large during a disturbance, the
longitudinal dihedral angle is moment due to force on the tail plane will
be adequate to stabilize the aircraft
also variable in flight.
 Aircraft longitudinal static stability
• If some disturbance pushes the aircraft into a tail-down attitude, the tail
plane momentarily has a higher angle of attack. Consequently, it produces
lift thus restoring the aircraft back to original level position.
Pitch up disturbance
Level Level again

Up force on tailplane

• If some disturbance pushes the aircraft into a tail-up attitude, the tail plane
produces a downward force thus restoring the aircraft back to original level
position.
Down force on tailplane

Level Level again

Pitch down disturbance

 Aircraft longitudinal static stability

• The longitudinal static stability depends on four factors:

• Position of the centre of gravity (c.g.), which must not be
too far back. This is the most important condition.
• The pitching moments on the main wing, usually tends
towards instability and can be modified by good choice of
airfoil and wing positioning with respect to overall c.g.
position
• The pitching moment on the fuselage, or the body of the
aircraft; this too tends towards instability.
• The tail plane, its area and angle at which it is set, its
aspect ratio and its distance from c.g. This generally has a
stabilizing effect.
 Necessary conditions for longitudinal stability

L + dL

dM

Aircraft c.g,

• Imagine a gust of air generating a small clockwise moment dM

about the aircraft c.g. and a small additional lift dL on the
wings.
• For longitudinal static stability, if dL is positive (upward gust),
dM must be negative, causing the nose to drop. Otherwise the
wing will pitch up further increasing lift.
• dM/dL must be negative for longitudinal static stability
 Necessary conditions for longitudinal stability

• Lift and pitching moment are usually non-dimensionalized and

written as follows (from lift and moment expressions):
L M
CL  and CM 
0.5 V 2 S 0.5 V 2 Sc
• Therefore, in the non-dimensional form, (dCM/dCL) must be
negative for longitudinal static stability.
• The quantity -(dCM/dCL) is called the static stability margin
(note the negative sign)
• Higher the static stability margin, the more stable is the aircraft
in its longitudinal direction.
 Necessary conditions for longitudinal stability
• Consider an aircraft with fixed controls, i.e., the elevator in
some fixed position. Assume that the variation of the aircraft
c.g. with angle of attack (αa) is known. Therefore, the variation
of the coefficient of moment about the c.g., (CM,cg) can be
plotted against α as shown.

CM.cg

(+)

dCM ,cg
CM.0 Slope=
d a
Trimmed

(αe) (αa)
(-)
 Necessary conditions for longitudinal stability

• Generally, for conventional aircraft, CM.Cg =0

this variation is linear. The value of V∞

CM,cg at zero lift (where αa=α0) is
denoted by CM,0
CM.Cg is negative
• The value of αa where Mcg=0 is
denoted by αe which is known as
the equilibrium or trim angle of
V∞
attack
• Now consider the aircraft in steady,
level flight at its trim angle of attack CM.Cg is positive
V∞
αe. Let there be a sudden
disturbance that changes the angle
of attack momentarily.
 Necessary conditions for longitudinal stability

• Under these conditions, there are two possibilities: an increase

or decrease of αa.
• If the angle of attack momentarily increases beyond αe, then
the resulting CM becomes negative as per the plot and there
will be an opposite, restoring moment.
• If the angle of attack momentarily decreases below αe, then the
resulting CM becomes positive as per the plot which again
provides an opposite restoring moment that will increase αe.
• Thus, the system becomes self correcting and the aircraft
retains its longitudinal stability if the CM vs. αa characteristic
has a negative slope.
 Necessary conditions for longitudinal stability

CM.cg
• The opposite is true if the
characteristic has a positive
slope and the aircraft tends (+)
Trimmed

towards instability if the CM (αa)

(αe)
vs. αa characteristic has a (-)

positive slope CM.0

• Therefore, the necessary criteria for longitudinal balance and

stability are:
• CM,0 must be positive
dCM ,cg
• The ratio must be negative
d a
• αe must fall within the flight range of angle of attack for the
aircraft.
 Lateral stability

• To ensure lateral stability, it is necessary that when a slight roll

takes place, the forces acting on the aircraft tend to restore it to
its initial condition.
• In all aircraft, when flying at small angles of attack, there is a
resistance to roll. This occurs because the lift will slightly
increase on the wing going down while there is a small
decrease in lift on the wing going up.
• However, if the angle of attack is large and near to stalling
value, then the increased angle on the wing going down may
cause decrease in lift and the lift on the wing going up may
increase. This may be catastrophic as the aircraft may go to an
uncontrolled auto rotation.
 Lateral stability

• The most common method of

obtaining lateral stability is by the
use of a dihedral angle on the
main wings. Normal level flight

• When the wings are both equally Decreased lift

due to lower α
inclined, the resultant lift on the
wings is vertically upwards and
will exactly balance the weight
Increased lift
• If one wing becomes lower, then due to higher α

the resultant lift on the wings will

be slightly inclined in the direction
of the lower wing while the
weight will remain vertical Situation during roll
 Lateral stability
• Therefore, the two forces will
not balance and there will be a
small resultant force acting in a
sideways and downwards
direction.
• This force is unbalanced and
hence the aircraft will move in
the direction of this force. Then
the aircraft is said to sideslip.
• The sideslip increases the angle of attack of the lower wing
thus increasing the lift. Similarly, the lift produced by the
upper wing is reduced due to reduction in angle of attack.
The difference in lift so created produces a restoring
moment.
 Lateral stability
• Owing to the large size of the
fuselage, it is also possible
that a major part of the upper
wing may not get good airflow
during sideslip which can also
be a cause for reduction of lift
on the upper wing.
• This may mean that an aircraft Anhedral low wing aircraft

may have margin for lateral

stability even without the
dihedral
• Therefore, if dihedral is likely to lead to dynamic instability
involving coupled roll and yaw motions (called Dutch roll),
the wings may have Anhedral (opposite of dihedral)
 Directional stability

• An aircraft has directional

stability, if on being temporarily
deflected from its course, it
tends to return to its initial
Aircraft in normal flight – No force
course on its own. on vertical stabiliser

• If there is a directional
disturbance, a side force
develops because of the angle of
attack on the vertical stabilizer.
This force creates a moment
about the cg of the aircraft to
restore it to its initial direction. Force, F

Situation due to a directional

disturbance
 Control of aircraft
Ailerons
• Whether an aircraft is stable or Rudder
unstable, it is necessary for the
pilot to be able to control it, so
that he can manoeuvre it into
Elevator
any desired position
• Longitudinal control is
provided by the elevators
• Roll control is provided by the
ailerons Longitudinal control Roll control

• Directional control is provided

by the rudder

Directional control