Post #2043135
2026-05-05 20:48 UTC
@intrepidhero@vmst.io I know where you're going with that. 😀 You're describing a canard airplane. They actually don't remove the vertical stabilizers - at least in Rutan designs and derivatives, they moved them to the wingtips. If you want a stable and controllable plane for the pilot, there needs to be vertical surfaces toward the back to provide yaw-axis stability and control. Pretty much only military designs put up with unstable handling, usually augmented by computer. Here's a canard example...
Replies (1)
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@intrepidhero@vmst.io 2026-05-05 22:07
@ikluft@avgeek.social you're right! I'd forgotten how substantial the winglets are on long-ez and company. The only thing I can think of without verticals is the B2, and I recall hearing it was famously unstable.