Wiktionary
alt. (context aviation English) The fin on the tail of an aircraft; it includes the rudder on its trailing edge n. (context aviation English) The fin on the tail of an aircraft; it includes the rudder on its trailing edge
WordNet
n. a stabilizer that is part of the vertical tail structure of an airplane [syn: vertical stabiliser, vertical fin, tail fin, tailfin]
Wikipedia
The vertical stabilizers, vertical stabilisers, or fins, of aircraft, missiles or bombs are typically found on the aft end of the fuselage or body, and are intended to reduce aerodynamic side slip and provide direction stability. It is analogous to a skeg on boats and ships.
On aircraft, vertical stabilizers generally point upwards. These are also known as the vertical tail, and are part of an aircraft's empennage. This upright mounting position has two major benefits: The drag of the stabilizer increases at speed which creates a nose-up moment that help to slow down the aircraft that prevent dangerous overspeed, and when the aircraft banks the stabilizer produce lift which counter the banking moment and keep the aircraft upright at the absence of control input. If the vertical stabilizer was mounted on the underside, it would produce a positive feedback whenever the aircraft dive or bank, which is inherently unstable. The trailing end of the stabilizer is typically movable, and called the rudder; this allows the aircraft pilot to control yaw.
Often navigational radio or airband transceiver antennas are placed on or inside the vertical tail. In all known trijets (aircraft with 3 engines), the vertical stabilizer houses the central engine or engine inlet duct.
Vertical stabilizers, or fins, have also been used in automobiles, specifically in top level motor sports, with the concept making a resurgence in both Formula 1 and Le Mans Prototype racing.
A few aircraft models have a ventral fin under the rear end. Normally this is small, or can fold sideways, to allow landing. Both the North American X-15 supersonic/hypersonic experimental aircraft, and the late World War II German twin-engined Dornier Do 335 heavy fighter used differing forms of the cruciform tail stabilizing surface format.
Usage examples of "vertical stabilizer".
Then he inserted his outstretched feet into grips on the vertical stabilizer and brake pedals, and then gripped the stubby control stick in one hand while adjusting the throttle setting with the other.
Painted in a charcoal gray with no markings but a small American flag on the vertical stabilizer, the McDonnell Douglas C-17 soared above an ocean of pearl-white clouds blanketing the glaring ice of Antarctica like a giant, featherless pterodactyl over a Mesozoic landscape.
It was a Boeing 747-bjjF freighter, still in Nippon Cargo Airlines livery, although the markings on the vertical stabilizer from its former owner had already been painted over in bright white.
The wings and vertical stabilizer shrank inward, thickening as they went.
He carefully glued the rudder and vertical stabilizer parts together and began assembling the horizontal stabilizer.
The racers collided in a shriek of metal, and a leading edge of Mars Guo's vertical stabilizer snagged the Steelton line to Anakin's left engine and released the binding.
Our planes don't have a very tall vertical stabilizer, and Vampire One didn't have a horizontal stabilizer-it used adaptive wing technology for pitch control.
Worse, the leading edge of the vertical stabilizer was less than thirty meters away.
He stopped and circled one of the Messerschmitt 262s, admiring the slim cigar shape of the fuselage, the triangular vertical stabilizer, and the ungainly jet pods that hung from the razor knifelike wings.
That opened flaps on the vertical stabilizer at the back of the orbiter.
Pitt views the lettering painted on the plane's fuselage through the underwater camera and, after viewing the serial number on the vertical stabilizer, identifies the plane as Vixen 03.
Pitt views thelettering painted on the plane's fuselage through the underwater cameraand, after viewing the serial number on the vertical stabilizer,identifies the plane as Vixen 03.
There were seven holes in the Corsairfive in the fuselage and two in the vertical stabilizer.
He let it drop to a precise 500, then flew along the Rambla, just far enough out to sea so the black cross on the fuselage and the swastika on the vertical stabilizer couldn't be seen by the people sitting in the sidewalk cafes along the beach.
Schneider got the vertical stabilizer on his and then probably the main tank.