Why the T-Tail?

"Derrick Steed" wrote in message
...
What about the pilatus B4 then?

Rgds,

Derrick Steed

Whats your point the B4 is a T Tail, I fly one

Peter.

"Peter Seddon" wrote in message
...

"Derrick Steed" wrote in message
...
What about the pilatus B4 then?

Rgds,

Derrick Steed

Whats your point the B4 is a T Tail, I fly one

Peter.
Oh you mean modern, well it is of sorts.

Peter.

"Jim Vincent" wrote in message
...
What about the pilatus B4 then?

It has a T-tail too;-)

Seriously, every design is a trade off between structural weight and
performance issues such as wetted area and configuration.

The B-4 is an aerobatic glider with very good glider performance, about
35:1.
It has a shorter distance from wing to tail compared to most gliders and a
larger cross section. That allows the structure to handle the torsional
forced
induced by the T-tail. In fact there are two models, one for limited
aerobatics, the other for full. The main difference is a stiffening plate
at
the tail.

Jim Vincent
N483SZ
illspam

There are actually 3 variants 4 if you count the fixed U/C one
they are
B4 PC11
B4 PC11A
B4 PC11AF

Peter.

There are actually 3 variants 4 if you count the fixed U/C one
they are
B4 PC11
B4 PC11A
B4 PC11AF

Peter.


Hey Peter...I missed that! I never knew there was a fixed gear version.

I had a B4 for a few years and I think it was the best metal work I've ever
seen.

Come to think of it, I once saw a yellow one and a white one, so that makes it
five ;-)

Jim Vincent
N483SZ
illspam

Whats your point the B4 is a T Tail, I fly one

Someone implied that aerobatic gliders don't have T tails.


Rgds,

Derrick Steed

Marian Aldenhövel wrote:
Hi,

I have noticed that most if not all modern gliders are built with a
T-Tail (not sure about the term, I am talking about the elevator being
located at the top of the tailfin). While most power-aircraft I know
right up to the airliners have it at the bottom.

What are the aerodynamic or constructive reasons for that?

Aerodynamics, Ha! It looks cool. That's what sells gliders.
;-)

Shawn

Derrick Steed wrote:

Someone implied that aerobatic gliders don't have T tails.

It was me. I wrote: Any *serious* aerobatic plane ... etc. The point is,
the B4 was *not* designed as an acro glider. Only later they found that
due to it's superior handling it would make an ideal acro glider. The
structure had to be reinforced, though, to allow flick maneuvres ...
exactly because of the huge torque forces caused by the T-tail.

BTW: There are many gliders which are certificated for some acro
figures: ASK-21, DG-500, DG-1000 just to name a few. All of them have
T-tail, none of them is primarily an acro glider, all are cross country
gliders which just happen to be allowed for some simple acro figures,
and, you guessed it, none of them is certificated for flick maneuvres.

Stefan

Stefan wrote:
BTW: There are many gliders which are certificated for some acro
figures: ASK-21, DG-500, DG-1000 just to name a few. All of them have
T-tail, none of them is primarily an acro glider, all are cross country
gliders which just happen to be allowed for some simple acro figures,
and, you guessed it, none of them is certificated for flick maneuvres.

The flight manual for my T-tailed DG-303 Acro allowed flick maneuvers
and tail slides...

Marc

Marc Ramsey wrote:

The flight manual for my T-tailed DG-303 Acro allowed flick maneuvers
and tail slides...

Lucky you. Lucky me that I didn't explicitely mention the DG-300.

Seriously, I only wanted to say that all airplanes which are primarily
designed for serious, competitive aerobatics have a "conventional" tail.
All which I know, that is. (And yes, the salto has a V-tail, which isn't
worse, torqueforcewise.)

Of course there are many airplanes with T-tail which are allowed for
aerobatics to some degree, and some might even be allowed for flick
maneuvres.

What was the question again? Ah, pros and cons of T-tail vs. conventional.

Stefan

FYI: Flick half rolls are allowed in the DG-1000 (18M).

BTW: There are many gliders which are certificated
for some acro
figures: ASK-21, DG-500, DG-1000 just to name a few.
All of them have
T-tail, none of them is primarily an acro glider, all
are cross country
gliders which just happen to be allowed for some simple
acro figures,
and, you guessed it, none of them is certificated for
flick maneuvres.

Stefan