Im getting to the end of the Aerodynamics text book now and i have come to the aircraft stability section, i may be having a slight problem understanding or my brain is freezing up on me. I am mainly talking about stability in Pitch and roll, when i think of pitch i'm thinking of the aircraft pitching around it lateral axis and when rolling the the aircraft it rolls around its longitudinal axis. Why when we talk about stability in pitch we are talking about longitudinal stability and in roll we are talking about lateral stability?
Cheers guys
G'day brawilli,
The terminology for stability is oriented on the planes of motion not the axes.
Pitch is about the lateral axis but the motion occurs in the pitching plane which runs longitudinally through the aircraft. Stability in pitch is therefore longitudinal stability i.e. stability in the longitudinal, pitching plane.
Similarly, roll is about the longitudinal axis but the motion occurs in the rolling plane which runs laterally through the aircraft. Stability in roll is therefore lateral stability i.e. stability in the lateral, rolling plane.
Cheers,
Rich
Thanks Rich!
