The cruciform tail is an aircraft empennage configuration which, when viewed from the aircraft's front or rear, looks much like a cross. The usual arrangement is to have the horizontal stabilizer intersect the vertical tail somewhere near the middle, and above the top of the fuselage.
Often this arrangement is chosen to keep the tail out of the engines' wake or to avoid complex interference drag.
Cruciform tails are also used on many kind of airships, like classical Zeppelins.
Read more about Cruciform Tail: Benefits, Applications
Famous quotes containing the word tail:
“His friends he loved. His direst earthly foes—
Cats—I believe he did but feign to hate.
My hand will miss the insinuated nose,
Mine eyes the tail that wagg’d contempt at Fate.”
—Sir William Watson (1858–1935)