EMPENNAGE

• \äm-pǝ-näzh\
• “Tail” or “Tail Assembly”
• Consists of fixed surfaces such as the
Vertical Stabilizer and Horizontal Stabilizer
• It gives stability to the aircraft

EMPENNAGE
COMPONENTS OF
EMPENNAGE
EMPENNAGE
CONTROL
SURFACES
• A primary control surface
• Controlled by the yoke from the cockpit
• Attached to the back of the HORIZONTAL
STABILIZER
• Controls the PITCHING motion
• Pitch Up: Elevators Up
• Pitch Down: Elevators Down

ELEVATOR
ELEVATOR
• These are small moveable portions of the trailing edge of
the control surface
• Relieves or reduces control pressures

TRIM TAB
TRIM TAB
• A primary control surface
• Controlled by the rudder pedals from the cockpit
• Attached to the back of the vertical stabilizer
• Used to move the airplane’s nose from left to right
during flight
• Controls the YAWING motion
• Yaw Left: Left Rudder
• Yaw Right: Right Rudder

RUDDER
RUDDER
• Another design of empennage that does not require an
elevator
• It incorporates a one-piece horizontal stabilizer that
pivots from a central hinge point

STABILATOR
STABILATOR
EMPENNAGE
CONFIGURATIONS
• TAI LP LAN E S
• Cruciform Tail
• T–Tail
• Conventional Tail
• FINS
• H–Tail
• Ventral Fin
• Twin Vertical Tail
• R U D D E R VAT O R S
• V–Tail
• Inverted V–Tail
• X–Tail
• Y–Tail

EMPENNAGE
CONFIGURATIONS
TAILPLANES
It is further classified as Cruciform, T-Tail, and
Conventional
• “Cross” shape
• Horizontal stabilizers are placed midway up the vertical
stabilizer
• Often used to keep the horizontal stabilizers out of the
engine wake

CRUCIFORM TAIL
CRUCIFORM TAIL
• “T” shape
• Horizontal stabilizer is mounted on top of the fin
• Keeps the stabilisers out of engine wake and give better
pitch control
• More likely to enter in a deep stall and difficult to recover
from a spin

T–TAIL
T–TAIL
• Inverted “T” shape
• Horizontal stabilizer is mounted on the fuselage
• The simplest configuration and most convenient to
perform all tail functions

CONVENTIONAL
TAIL
CONVENTIONAL
TAIL
FINS
Comprises the fixed vertical stabilizer and
rudder
• Also known as “Twin Tail”
• Consists of two small vertical stabilizers on either side of
the horizontal stabilizer

H–TAIL
H–TAIL
• Vertical stabilizer is mounted underneath the fuselage
• Often used in addition to a conventional fin

VENTRAL FIN
VENTRAL FIN
• Has a regular horizontal tail but two separate and parallel
vertical tails
• Largely improves the direction controllability of the
aircraft

TWIN VERTICAL
TAIL
TWIN VERTICAL
TAIL
• Has a regular horizontal fins and more than two vertical
stabilizers

MULTIPLE FINS
MULTIPLE FINS
RUDDERVATORS
It is an alternative to the fin-and-tail-plane
approach.
Tail surfaces are set at diagonal angles.
• “V” shape
• Similar to a horizontal tail with high dihedral angle
without any vertical tail
• More susceptible to Dutch Roll tendencies

V–TAIL
V–TAIL
INVERTED V–TAIL
X–TAIL
Y–TAIL