J. Nieuwenhuize wrote:
Papa3 schreef:

induced drag is fairly low and certainly lower than the weight penalty of a heavier tail.

Are you suggesting that a tail with a higher aspect ratio would be, by
definition, heavier or talking about the tactic of putting additional
weight in the tail to move the CG?

Good stuff.

P3

Heavier construction. Heavier stabilizer means larger moment of
inertia, higher torsional stiffness of the tail... leading to maybe 4
or 6 times as much "extra" construction weight as only the extra
stabilizer weight. And you have to correct that with even more wing
surface ;-)

Okay. To summarize your comments, the induced drag created by a
stabilizer, even one operating at it's maximum (negative) Cl is
relatively insignificant to the overall system efficiency. Did I get
that right? Further, the structural considerations involved in
building a higher aspect ratio tail would more than negate any slight
decrease in drag. Also correct?

Ahh, engineering compromises...

I'd still be interested to see the numbers in terms of total drag on a
given elevator operating at basically neutral trim vs. max up elevator.
I guess I could sit down and do this, but it would mean pulling out
some old text books that are awfully dusty right now :-)

P3