Longitudinal Stability and Control: A Simple Exposition of the Fundamentals Employed in this Aspect of Design

• Published in: Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology 1940-09, Vol.12 (9), p.260-276
• Main Author: Gates, S.B.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0002-2667
• DOI: 10.1108/eb030684

IN these notes I have attempted to describe the main features of longitudinal stability and control in the simplest possible terms, omitting the mathematical apparatus which makes this subject so formidable to those who are not constantly using it. Designers are certainly justified in complaining that most analyses of this subject contain, so to speak, so much XYZ that the ABC of the matter (if indeed there is one) is successfully hidden from them. In making a drastic attempt to return to ABC it must be realised that such a statement can be neither strictly accurate nor complete. Something will be gained, however, if it helps some designers to be clearer about what they are supposed to be doing in this part of their task, and why. The XYZ of the subject is, of course, indispensable to the working out of any particular problem of design A classified list of some useful recent British reports will be found in the Appendix.