Tailplane with Positive Camber for Reduced Elevator Hinge Moment

The Learjet 85 is a business jet with an unpowered manual elevator control and is designed for a maximum dive Mach number of 0.89. During the early design, it was found that the stick force required for a 1.5g pull-up from a dive would exceed the limit set by FAA regulations. A design improvement of the tailplane was initiated, using 2D and 3D Navier-Stokes CFD codes. It was discovered that a small amount of positive camber could reduce the elevator hinge moment for the same tail download at high Mach numbers. This was the result of the stabilizer forebody carrying more of the tail download and the elevator carrying less. Consequently, the elevator hinge-moment during recovery from a high-speed dive was lower than for the original tail.

Horizontal tails are conventionally designed with zero or negative camber since a positive camber can have adverse effects on tail stall and drag. The tailplane sections for the Learjet 85 were tailored to minimize these adverse effects while achieving a significant reduction in elevator hinge-moment. High-speed wind-tunnel tests on a model instrumented for hinge moments, confirmed the benefits of the tailplane with positive camber. A patent has been filed for this tail design.