Characteristics of Plain and Balanced Elevators on a Typical Pursuit Fuselage at Attitudes Simulating Normal-Flight and Spin Conditions
Abstract
Lift and elevator hinge-moment characteristics of a horizontal tail, provided with various plain and balanced elevators and mounted on a typical pursuit fuselage, were measured in the NACA 7- by 10-foot wind tunnel at attitudes simulating normal-flight and spin conditions. The lift effectiveness of the elevator was practically independent of the size of the aerodynamic balance. The elevator with a large overhang was overbalanced throughout some range of deflections and would therefore require the use of an unbalancing tab for satisfactory operation. Because, at angles of attack above the airfoil stall, the elevator maintained about half of its lift effectiveness, increments of lift can be obtained to upset the spin equilibrium and effect a recovery if the elevator can be moved. The plain unbalanced elevator generally floated at lower negative deflections than did the balanced elevator under spin condition. A trimming tab, deflected in the same direction as the elevator, presents a feasible means of reducing the stick forces in a spin to a magnitude the pilot is capable of exerting.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 01, 1942
- Accession Number
- ADA801381
Entities
People
- H. P. Hoggard Jr.
- Richard I. Sears
Organizations
- National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics