Airfoil Stability Tail 
Pilot Institute
JUNE 4, 2025
Have you ever seen an airplane with no tail and no vertical fin, but with just a sleek wing? They prove that with the right aerodynamic tricks, you dont need a tail to fly. A tailless aircraft is a fixed-wing airplane without a horizontal stabilizing surface. Directional (yawing) stability from the vertical stabilizer.
Vintage Aviation News
APRIL 1, 2025
The delta wing’s large area (425 square feet), thin airfoil cross section, low weight, and structural strength made a great combination for a supersonic aircraft. feet high at the tip of the vertical stabilizer. It was built as a test bed for a proposed interceptor that never materialized. feet long, had a 31.3-foot
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Vintage Aviation News
APRIL 18, 2025
The F-14s unique roll control setup, which relies on differential horizontal stabilizers and spoilers rather than traditional ailerons, provided effective control at various speeds but also introduced side forces that could contribute to spin entry. View of the cockpit of NASA’s F-14, tail number 991.
Pilot Institute
JULY 11, 2025
When you reach around 36,000 feet (11,000 m) near the tropopause, the temperature stabilizes at around -56.5 °C. Making the wing relatively flat on top with a blunter leading edge and more curvature on the bottom gives you a supercritical airfoil. The problem is that the tail itself might be in trouble.
Pilot's Life Blog
FEBRUARY 11, 2025
The wings are designed with an airfoil shape, curved on the top and flatter on the bottom, creating a pressure difference when air flows over them. Each rotor blade acts as an airfoil, and as it rotates, it moves air over its surface, generating lift. This pressure difference produces lift, allowing the aircraft to ascend.
Fear of Landing
MARCH 22, 2024
Gradually used to replace metals on parts of aircraft tails, wings, engines, cowlings, and parts of the fuselage, composites reduce overall aircraft weight and improve operational efficiency. The resulting “supercritical airfoil” shape, when integrated with the aircraft wing, significantly improves the aircraft’s cruise efficiency.
Pilot Institute
NOVEMBER 1, 2024
Remember that wings, propeller blades, and tail surfaces are airfoil-shaped. Ice build-up on the airframe changes the airflow pattern around these airfoils. It most commonly forms on the leading edges of your aircraft, including the wings, tail, and horizontal stabilizer, as well as on the propeller blades and pitot tubes.
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