Airfoil Cockpit Rudder 
Pilot Institute
JUNE 4, 2025
A tailless aircraft may still have a fuselage and a vertical tail (fin and rudder). Use of Reflex Airfoils Ever notice how many tailless aircraft have wings that curve at the trailing edge? This type of design is a reflex airfoil. The rudder allows you to make controlled yaw movements. But how do elevons help you do this?
Vintage Aviation News
OCTOBER 7, 2024
During these years, he concluded that the inner surface of the venturi tube needed an airfoil shape to achieve the greatest efficiency. The duct, as predicted by Stipa, had a profile similar to that of the airfoil, with a fairly small rudder and elevators mounted on the trailing edge of the duct. The Stipa-Caproni in flight.
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Vintage Aviation News
OCTOBER 18, 2024
“Sitting so high up and trying to look down inside the cockpit for the airspeed is nearly impossible. You have to use a lot of rudder—I mean you have to be rabid as far as using the rudder to control the airplane, and it wheel lands very nicely.” It’s the rudder that is doing everything.
Vintage Aviation News
APRIL 18, 2025
Photo by NASA The impetus for the program came from issues the Navy had encountered with inadvertent spin entries, which were traced back to the aircrafts aileron rudder interconnect system. These glove modifications served to smooth the wing surface and alter the airfoil to achieve specific pressure distributions.
Plane and Pilot
JUNE 4, 2025
Owner Ken Nelson smiles from the cockpit of his Varga. Theres always a rudder dance on every takeoff and landing. m2) Airfoil: NACA 43015 Empty weight: 1,150 lbs. I do not think any pilot will deny that handling a tailwheel airplane requires a somewhat higher skill set. Varga 2180TG General Crew: 2 Length: 21 ft., 29 imp gal.;
Plane and Pilot
DECEMBER 16, 2024
For one thing, the F2s fuselage hangs from a completely new wing with two distinct airfoil shapes. An obvious discontinuity leads to a thinner airfoil inboard. With the F2, the rudder and vertical stabilizer are changed, with the rudder becoming a much smaller surface than before. Well see about that.
Plane and Pilot
OCTOBER 3, 2024
The airfoil is a Harry Riblett shape, giving modernized flow separation on the leading edge for a soft stall yet with good lift and drag performance. An elegantly simple rope system inside the fuselage raises and lowers the Gweduck’s water rudder mounted inside the base of the main rudder (right).
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