weathercock stability

weathercock stability

[′weth·ər‚käk stə′bil·əd·ē]

(aerospace engineering)

directional stability

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

directional stability

The stability that concerns yawing about the normal, or vertical, axis. An aircraft is directionally stable if when it is temporarily deflected from its course, it tends to return to the original course without any correction applied by the pilot. Also called weathercock stability or yaw stability.

An Illustrated Dictionary of Aviation Copyright © 2005 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved