The empennage, or tail assembly, of an aircraft consists of the horizontal stabilizer and elevator, as well as the vertical stabilizer and rudder. It provides control of pitch and yaw, stabilizing the aircraft in flight. Vought Aircraft Industries supplies empennages to major aviation companies and the US government.
Derived from the French for “arrow feathers,” the English word empennage describes the stabilizer apparatus found at the rear of an aircraft and is commonly known as the tail or tail assembly. Although modern aircraft sometimes differ in the composition of their empennage component parts, the apparatus generally consists of the horizontal tail structure (the horizontal stabilizer and elevator) and the vertical tail structure (the vertical stabilizer and rudder). .
The empennage, as the French derivation of its name suggests, acts analogously to the feathers of an arrow when shot from a bow. It provides control of the pitch (the movement of an aircraft up and down its lateral axis) and yaw (the side-to-side movement of an aircraft) of a craft in the air, and is therefore the means by which the aircraft stabilizes and flies in the intended direction
The horizontal tail structure of the empennage consists of the horizontal stabilizer and the elevator. The horizontal stabilizer is a fixed part that controls and balances the pitch of the airplane; while the elevator is connected to this horizontal stabilizer and dictates the pitch and movement of the aircraft’s nose. When the horizontal stabilizer and elevator are combined to form a single piece of the empennage apparatus, it is commonly referred to as the stabilizer or flying tail.
The configuration of the vertical tail structure of the empennage mirrors that of its horizontal counterpart. The vertical stabilizer at the front of the aircraft is a stationary piece of equipment that controls the yaw back and forth of the craft; while the rear section of the structure is a movable piece of apparatus and acts as the rudder for the aircraft’s empennage. This rudder works to stabilize any unwanted yaw when the plane is in the process of turning.
On modern commercial aircraft such as the Airbus A320, A330, A340 and A380 series, the empennage is made of carbon fiber and typically houses the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder. The name of the aircraft and other insignia are often emblazoned on the empennage or tail portion.
Dallas-based Vought Aircraft Industries supplies the aviation industry with most of its empennages and tailpieces, among its customers Airbus, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and the US government. It produces the tail section. of the Boeing 747, the 767 horizontal stabilizer, the C-130J Hercules empennage, has sold more than 2,400 empennage sections to Lockheed Martin and supplies the US Army’s F22A horizontal stabilizer.
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