Why Does Wing Dihedral Make Planes Stable?

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Credits:
Writer/Narrator: Brian McManus

References:

Thank you to AP Archive for access to their archival footage.

Songs:
The Night Lights - Rippled Stone
Papaya Island - Dye O
Greenwich Lights - Gridded
Beyond Rivers and Dust - Alec Slayne

Thank you to my patreon supporters: Adam Flohr, Henning Basma, Hank Green, William Leu, Tristan Edwards, Ian Dundore, John & Becki Johnston. Nevin Spoljaric, Jason Clark, Thomas Barth, Johnny MacDonald, Stephen Foland, Alfred Holzheu, Abdulrahman Abdulaziz Binghaith, Brent Higgins, Dexter Appleberry, Alex Pavek, Marko Hirsch, Mikkel Johansen, Hibiyi Mori. Viktor Józsa, Ron Hochsprung

[burtlangoustine]

I once saw the Pope flying a cesna-type plane. His wings were Cathedral type.

[rakaipikatan]

I mean planes naturally flap their wings like birds, duh

[ARcam]

4:33
Engineer: So how many wheels should we put on our new plane comrade Antonov?
Antonov: Yes

[arkoleonakos]

We are working in the university on submarine technology, and I would be intersted to see a video based in submarine technology! Also I really like your channel! Keep up the great job, giving knowledge and strength to young engineers!

[ihato]

7:40 When camera shutter speed matches plane's propeller.

[matrick]

It's angle of attack right? i've never heard it spelled as attach


just something i noticed :)

[devin]

I used to apply this principle on my paper airplane when i was a child😂

[chrisc]

One of my favorite wing profiles is that of the B-52 Stratofortress (or Big Ugly Fat Fucker if ya nasty). On the ground, it has a significant anhedral angle, to the point that the wingtips need their own gear when taxiing - both to make sure they don't strike the ground, and to help support the weight of them. Especially when carrying munitions on the hardpoints.
But in the air, they're either flat for most of the wing profile, or even slightly dihedral as you get closer to the end. This is less a specific design for stability, and more just *how much* flex those wings have. A little over 30' (~9m) total swing at the tip!

[easypz]

I actually wrote a paper on the F4U a couple years ago. The inverted gull wing proved to be more aerodynamic due to being attached perpendicular to the rounded fuselage. It also wasn’t just for the size of the propeller; despite the blades spanning 13ft across, the inverted gull wings were used to make the landing gear shorter to support the harsh carrier landings.

[caesar]

What do you call a plane that flies backwards?
A receding airline!

[Oliver]

Ground Clearance actually is only one of the reasons why the Corsair has inverted gull wings. Both the P-47 and F6F (also made for carrier operations) use the same engine and as such an airscrew of comparable size, yet these two have conventional wings. The designers of the Corsair wanted to mke its landing gear as strong as possible, which is obviously easier with a short gear leg. Not only because of the stress on the gear during rough carrier landings, but also because the Corsair (at least the earlier variants) could use their landing gear as dive breaks.
Also the Corsair's fuselage continues the near circular form of the engine, contrary to the F6F which has more elliptical cross-section due to the air intakes below the engine, and a wing root causes the least amount of drag when it joins the fuselage in a 90° angle.

[poodlescone]

Regular planes: I got all the angles.

XF5U: Hold my pancake.

[Nicolasgusso]

"The plane tends to side slip" THANK YOU!!! The most commom and wrong explanation is pedulum effect, wich does not apply. Is really good to hear the correct explanation

[NPleazy]

I don’t see YouTube’s “endless supply of clickbait” as a problem. I actually really appreciate that YouTube understands what I like to watch and suggests similar videos.

[sac]

>The f16 was one of the first planes to introduce instability for efficient maneuvering


Ackchually, no. The first plane to do this was... the first plane. The wright brothers put a lot of thought into this issue, the were trying to decide if a plane should be unstable and rely on the pilot to keep it in the air, thus allowing easier maneuvering, or stable, requiring less input, but more effort to make quick maneuvers. Moreover, they wanted instability because they figured it would make recovery easier if the plane were to suddenly stop flying. Flat spins would be a lot easier to pull out of if the plane wasn't so happy to stay in them.

They were, of course, bicycle mechanics, so they immediately gravitated to the side of human controlled instability, like you get in a bicycle. The 1903 flyer was very unstable. Same for the 1904, and so on. It wasn't because they didn't know what they were doing, but because they had consciously chosen, based on their deliberations and glider testing, to make the airframe unstable and rely on human stabilization, just like on a bike. If you watch early footage of them flying, you can see the planes pitching wildly up and down as they do a mediocre job of damping out the plane's natural tendency to suffer wild phugoid oscillations.

Practicality soon dictated that if anything was to become of aviation, this intense requirement would have to go, but the pioneer aviators of the day continued to debate stability vs instability for some time. Soon, the tasks of monitoring instruments, navigation, checking equipment monitoring equipment more complex than a few sticks with a tarp lashed to them, etc, demanded planes that could "shut up and fly straight, " but making planes unstable to make maneuvering easier is literally as old as flight.

[flaviobriggs]

I definitely used to think the wings on the big cargo planes were swept downwards for structural stability and to keep them from flexing as much. Very enlightening video, great work.

[macbury]

This is all stuff I'd figured out in my time playing KSP, but awesome to know the real reasons as to why these shapes have these effects on handling.

[pinkgoergefloyd]

“Wings come in many shapes and sizes”

Me ... “🔺 Triangles”

[adhithasimhanraghavan]

Forget YouTube algorithms!. This channel producing one video in several weeks is more potent than weekly click baity uploads of other flashy channels. Real enginnering!! My huge respect to your technique of teaching.

[eduardobarreto]

Dude, your friendship with Wendover is starting to influence you.