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From: price@magic.ARPA
Newsgroups: net.aviation
Subject: Re: Acrobatics (Really How Things Fly)
Message-ID: <173@magic.ARPA>
Date: Thu, 25-Jul-85 20:02:38 EDT
Article-I.D.: magic.173
Posted: Thu Jul 25 20:02:38 1985
Date-Received: Sun, 28-Jul-85 04:09:01 EDT
References: <726@dataio.UUCP>
Reply-To: price@magic.UUCP (Chuck Price)
Distribution: net
Organization: DEC Systems Research, Palo Alto
Lines: 29

In article <726@dataio.UUCP> dbp@dataio.UUCP (Dave Pellerin) writes:

> ... Dihedral has little or no affect on lift, it only provides yaw
>stability.
>

I thought dihedral provided roll stability. Of course, if you kick
in rudder on a wing with a lot of dihedral, it will bank up. Thats how
many model sailplanes work.

Dihedral tends to make the wing return to level flight if banked, does
it not? But...but...hmmm, it also converts yaw to roll.

So, is it really providing yaw stability or roll stability or both?

  **Hang gliding lore:
  Hang gliders incorporate some amount of anhedral in order to allow the
  wing to be weight-shifted. Increasing the amount of anhedral reduces
  roll initiation resistance, but also increases the tendency to overbank.
  A balance is typically struck between anhedral at the tips of the wing and
  dihedral near the root.
  
  You really can't yaw a weight-shifted hang glider, as far as I know. If
  anyone figures out a way to do that, let me know!


-See you at cloudbase!

 chuck price