Aircraft Design Practice Test: Stability, Control, and Handling Qualities — Flashcards

Stability, Control, and Handling Qualities topics include: Longitudinal and lateral-directional static stability and control, stick free and dynamic stability.

Aircraft stability, control, and handling qualities are all related to the operation of an aircraft:
Stability: An aircraft's ability to return to its original flight path, even when disturbed. Stability allows an aircraft to maintain uniform flight conditions, minimize pilot workload, and recover from disturbances.
Control: An aircraft's ability to change its flight direction and attitude. Aircraft control describes the pilot's response to actions taken to maintain equilibrium or perform maneuvers.
Handling: The servicing of an aircraft while it's on the ground at an airport. This includes tasks like aircraft movement, parking, cleaning, de-icing, baggage handling, cargo handling, and passenger handling.
Flying qualities: The characteristics that determine how difficult it is to accomplish a task with the airplane. Flying-qualities testing involves the airplane's static and dynamic stability and its control characteristics.
Handling qualities: How well the pilot/vehicle interface works. It also includes how easy it is for the pilot to perform the tasks required to complete the mission.