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Aviation glossary

Empennage

Also: tail, tail unit, tail assembly

The aircraft

Tail assembly of an aircraft, made up of the horizontal and vertical stabilisers and their control surfaces, providing stability and control.

What it is

The empennage does for an aircraft what the feathers do for an arrow: it keeps it pointing into the airflow. It has a vertical part, the fin or vertical stabiliser with its rudder, and a horizontal part, the horizontal stabiliser with its elevators.

The most common arrangement on jet airliners is the conventional tail, with the horizontal surfaces mounted low on the rear fuselage, as on the Airbus A320. Alternatives include the T-tail, with the tailplane perched on top of the fin, as on the Boeing 727, and the cruciform tail, with it set partway up. The fin is also where many airlines display their logo, making it the most recognisable part of a livery.

On Vuelopedia

The illustration in an aircraft record on Vuelopedia shows its livery, whose most recognisable element is often on the fin.

Airbus A320 Boeing 727

Related terms

Horizontal stabiliserHorizontal tail surface that keeps an aircraft stable in pitch and, on most jet airliners, pivots through a few degrees to trim it. RudderMovable surface hinged to the back of the fin that swings the nose left or right, controlling the aircraft in yaw. ElevatorMovable surface on the trailing edge of the horizontal stabiliser that raises or lowers the nose, controlling the aircraft's pitch attitude. T-tailTail layout in which the horizontal stabiliser sits on top of the fin, so that seen from the front or rear the assembly forms a letter T. LiveryPaint scheme and markings that identify an aircraft's operator: colours, name, logo and often a distinctive design on the tail.
Whole glossary

Cite

To cite this page in academic work, an article or Wikipedia, choose the style and copy the reference. The access date is today.

This page was last updated on October 9, 2026

APA

Vuelopedia. (2026, October 9). Empennage. Retrieved October 16, 2026, from https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/empennage

MLA

“Empennage.” Vuelopedia, Fundación Poderia, 9 Oct. 2026, vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/empennage. Accessed 16 Oct. 2026.

Chicago

Vuelopedia. “Empennage.” Fundación Poderia. Last modified October 9, 2026. https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/empennage.

Harvard

Vuelopedia (2026) Empennage. Available at: https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/empennage (Accessed: 16 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{vuelopedia_en_glossary_empennage,
  author       = {{Vuelopedia}},
  title        = {{Empennage}},
  publisher    = {Fundación Poderia},
  year         = {2026},
  date         = {2026-10-09},
  url          = {https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/empennage},
  howpublished = {\url{https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/empennage}},
  urldate      = {2026-10-16},
  note         = {Accessed 2026-10-16}
}

Wikipedia

{{cite web |url=https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/empennage |title=Empennage |website=Vuelopedia |publisher=Fundación Poderia |date=2026-10-09 |access-date=2026-10-16 |language=en}}

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