A stabilator is a fully movable aircraft horizontal stabilizer. It serves the usual functions of longitudinal stability, control and stick force requirements[1] otherwise performed by the separate parts of a conventional horizontal stabilizer (which is fixed) and elevator (which is adjustable). Apart from reduced drag, particularly at high Mach numbers,[2] it is a useful device for changing the aircraft balance within wide limits, and for reducing stick forces.[3]
Stabilator is a portmanteau of stabilizer and elevator. It is also known as an all-moving tailplane (British English), all-movable tail(plane), all-moving stabilizer, all-flying tail (American English), all-flying horizontal tail, full-flying stabilizer, and slab tailplane.[2]
- ^ Roskam, Airplane Design, part III, Empennage layout, Longitudinal considerations
- ^ a b Abzug, Malcolm J.; Larrabee, E. Eugene (23 September 2002). Airplane Stability and Control: A History of the Technologies that Made Aviation Possible. Cambridge University Press. p. 78. ISBN 978-1-107-32019-2. Retrieved 17 October 2022.
All-movable tail surfaces became interesting... when high Mach number theory and transonic wind-tunnel tests disclosed poor performance of ordinary flap-type controls.
- ^ Daroll Stinton, The design of the aeroplane, Control surfaces, p. 447 and 449 : "...for variation of tab size, gear ratio and stabilator pivot position, the stick-free neutral point can be varied almost at will.