{"id":29388853,"date":"2026-10-24T17:48:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-24T15:48:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/dihedral-anhedral-wings-explained-roll-stability\/"},"modified":"2026-10-24T17:48:22","modified_gmt":"2026-10-24T15:48:22","slug":"dihedral-anhedral-wings-explained-roll-stability","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/de\/dihedral-anhedral-wings-explained-roll-stability\/","title":{"rendered":"Dihedral and Anhedral: Why Some Wings Tilt Up and Others Droop"},"content":{"rendered":"<style>.et_pb_title_container h1.entry-title { padding-top: 40px !important; }<\/style>\r\n<!-- mfsh:top -->\r\n\r\n<style>\r\n.mfsh-trigger{display:inline-flex;align-items:center;gap:10px;height:44px;padding:0 18px;margin:0 0 26px;border:2px solid #0F1720;background:#fff;color:#0F1720;font-family:inherit;font-size:14px;font-weight:700;line-height:1;letter-spacing:0;text-transform:none;cursor:pointer;box-shadow:none;transition:background 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Now watch a <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/air-forces\/united-states-marine-corps-aviation\/\">US Marine Corps<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/aircraft\/harrier-jump-jet\/\">Harrier<\/a> hover over the same runway. Its wings do the opposite: they droop from the top of the fuselage towards the ground, like a bird about to fold them away.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>Neither shape is styling. The upward tilt is called dihedral, the downward tilt anhedral, and both are a designer&rsquo;s way of tuning one of the subtlest qualities an aircraft has: how it behaves when a gust tips one wing down and nobody touches the controls.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>Getting it right makes an aircraft pleasant and safe to fly. Getting it wrong produces either a machine that slowly slides into a spiral dive, or one that wags its tail through the sky in a Dutch roll. Here is how dihedral and anhedral work, and why some of the most famous aircraft ever built wear their wings upside down.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background:#f4f6f9;border:1px solid #e2e7ee;padding:18px 22px;margin:22px 0 26px\"><p style=\"margin:0 0 8px;font-weight:700;color:#0d1117\">Quick Facts<\/p><ul style=\"margin:0;padding-left:18px\"><li style=\"margin:4px 0\"><strong>Dihedral:<\/strong> Upward angle of the wings or tailplane from horizontal, seen from the front<\/li><li style=\"margin:4px 0\"><strong>Anhedral:<\/strong> Downward angle: negative dihedral<\/li><li style=\"margin:4px 0\"><strong>What it does:<\/strong> Creates a rolling moment from sideslip (the dihedral effect), which helps the aircraft&rsquo;s spiral stability<\/li><li style=\"margin:4px 0\"><strong>Rule of thumb:<\/strong> 10&deg; of sweepback gives about 1&deg; of effective dihedral; a high wing about 5&deg; over a low wing (FAA)<\/li><li style=\"margin:4px 0\"><strong>Pioneer:<\/strong> Sir George Cayley recognised dihedral&rsquo;s value for lateral stability; <em>On Aerial Navigation<\/em>, 1809&ndash;1810<\/li><li style=\"margin:4px 0\"><strong>Anhedral wings:<\/strong> F-104 Starfighter (10&deg;), C-5 Galaxy, An-124 Ruslan, Harrier<\/li><li style=\"margin:4px 0\"><strong>Mixed:<\/strong> F-4 Phantom II: 12&deg; dihedral outer wings, 23&deg; anhedral tailplane<\/li><li style=\"margin:4px 0\"><strong>Too much \/ too little:<\/strong> Dutch roll \/ spiral instability<\/li><\/ul><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">The V you see from the front<\/h2>\r\n\r\n<p>Dihedral is the upward angle of the wings, or the horizontal tail, from the horizontal when an aircraft is seen head-on. Anhedral is simply negative dihedral: a downward angle. Wings with more than one bend along their span are called polyhedral, and a wing that bends sharply near the root is a gull wing.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>The idea is older than powered flight. Sir George Cayley, the English pioneer who identified the four forces acting on an aircraft, recognised the importance of the dihedral angle for lateral stability. His landmark treatise <em>On Aerial Navigation<\/em> appeared in 1809 and 1810, almost a century before the Wright brothers flew.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px;width:100%\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/10\/boeing-737-dihedral-wings-landing-anchorage.jpg\" alt=\"An Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 landing at Anchorage, its low-mounted wings angled upward in a shallow V\" style=\"width:100%;height:auto;max-width:100%;display:block\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">A low-wing airliner shows its dihedral clearly on landing: the wings rise from the fuselage in a shallow V. Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 at Anchorage, 2011. Photo: Frank Kovalchek \/ Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>The US Federal Aviation Administration uses a rear view of a Boeing 737 to illustrate the term in its <em>Pilot&rsquo;s Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge<\/em>, the textbook every American student pilot learns from. Look at almost any low-wing airliner on approach and the V is obvious.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">How a tilted wing levels itself<\/h2>\r\n\r\n<p>Here is the clever part. When a gust rolls an aircraft, it does not just tilt. It starts to slide sideways towards the lower wing, so the air now arrives slightly from the side. That sideways slide is called sideslip.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>On a wing with dihedral, sideslip raises the angle of attack of the wing slipping into the wind, which is the lower one, and reduces it on the raised wing. The lower wing makes more lift, the higher wing less, and the difference produces a rolling moment that pushes the wings back towards level. Engineers call this the dihedral effect: roll produced by sideslip.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;margin:24px 0 8px\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/I8iLR2xRNKY\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;font-style:italic;margin:0 0 24px\">Real Engineering explains why wing dihedral makes aircraft stable, and how sideslip turns into a restoring roll.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>It is not a magic self-levelling device. The fin is busy at the same time, turning the nose into the sideways airflow like a weathervane and reducing the very sideslip that dihedral needs to work. The balance between the two decides whether an aircraft drifts gently back to wings-level, or slowly tightens into a spiral.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background:#f8f9fa;border-left:4px solid #1565c0;padding:20px 22px;margin:18px 0 24px;font-size:16px;line-height:1.7\"><div><em>&ldquo;The changes in lift effect a rolling moment tending to raise the windward wing, hence dihedral contributes to a stable roll due to sideslip.&rdquo;<\/em><div style=\"margin-top:10px;font-size:14px;color:#555\"><strong>Federal Aviation Administration<\/strong> &mdash; <em>Pilot&rsquo;s Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge<\/em> (FAA-H-8083-25), chapter 5<\/div><\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">Wing position and sweep do the same job<\/h2>\r\n\r\n<p>Dihedral angle is only one ingredient. Anything that changes the rolling moment in a sideslip counts, and two of the biggest are where the wing is attached and how far it is swept back. The FAA&rsquo;s rule of thumb: every 10 degrees of sweepback gives about one degree of effective dihedral, and mounting the wing high on the fuselage is worth about five degrees compared with mounting it low.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>That is why high-wing and low-wing aircraft look so different from the front. A high-wing aircraft hangs its fuselage beneath the wing, and the FAA describes the fuselage acting like a keel, with its weight swinging back like a pendulum when a wing dips. It already has plenty of built-in roll stability, so it needs less dihedral angle. A low-wing aircraft lacks that help and makes up for it with a more visible V.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px;width:100%\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/10\/c-5b-galaxy-anhedral-wing-front-view.jpg\" alt=\"Air-to-air front view of a US Air Force C-5B Galaxy, its high-mounted swept wings drooping downward from the fuselage\" style=\"width:100%;height:auto;max-width:100%;display:block\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">The C-5 Galaxy mounts its swept wing high above the centre of gravity, so it is given anhedral to cancel some of the excess roll stability. A C-5B of the 22nd Military Airlift Squadron. US Air Force photo by Kenneth Hackman \/ public domain<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>Now combine both effects, a high wing and a swept wing, on one aircraft. The result can be too much stability: a machine that resists rolling so strongly that it becomes sluggish and prone to oscillation. The cure is to tilt the wings down.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">Why the giants droop their wings<\/h2>\r\n\r\n<p>Look at the <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/aircraft\/c-5-galaxy\/\">Lockheed C-5 Galaxy<\/a> or the <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/aircraft\/antonov-an-124\/\">Antonov An-124 Ruslan<\/a> from the front and the wings visibly sag from the top of the fuselage. Both mount a swept wing high above their centre of gravity, which gives them so much dihedral effect that anhedral is added to cancel some of it, so the aircraft can be manoeuvred more easily.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px;width:100%\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/10\/antonov-an-124-anhedral-wing-front-view-kennedy.jpg\" alt=\"Head-on view of an Antonov An-124 Ruslan on the Shuttle Landing Facility at Kennedy Space Center, its high wings sloping down towards the tips\" style=\"width:100%;height:auto;max-width:100%;display:block\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">Head-on, the An-124&rsquo;s anhedral is unmistakable. This one delivered hardware for Japan&rsquo;s Kibo space station module to the Kennedy Space Center Shuttle Landing Facility in January 2007. Photo: NASA\/Dimitrios Gerondidakis \/ public domain<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>The Harrier follows the same pattern. Its shoulder-mounted swept wing has prominent anhedral, and the family carries anhedral on the tailplane too, a feature introduced on the fifth <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/aircraft\/hawker-p1127-kestrel\/\">Hawker P.1127<\/a> prototype and kept for the production Harrier.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>Fighters lean the same way for a different reason. Combat aircraft often have near-zero dihedral or outright anhedral because less dihedral effect means less roll stability, and less roll stability means a jet that rolls more eagerly. Many airliners show a modest V instead: a stable spiral mode matters more for a passenger jet than a fast roll rate.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background:#f8f9fa;border-left:4px solid #d32f2f;padding:20px 22px;margin:18px 0 24px;font-size:16px;line-height:1.7\"><div><em>&ldquo;The combination of dihedral and sweep may produce too much lateral stability and some airplanes will use a small amount of anhedral (wings turned down slightly) to lessen the lateral stability.&rdquo;<\/em><div style=\"margin-top:10px;font-size:14px;color:#555\"><strong>NASA, <em>Introduction to the Aerodynamics of Flight<\/em><\/strong> &mdash; Theodore A. Talay, NASA SP-367, 1975 (via the US Centennial of Flight Commission)<\/div><\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">The Starfighter and the Phantom: two famous fixes<\/h2>\r\n\r\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/aircraft\/f-104-starfighter\/\">Lockheed F-104 Starfighter<\/a> is the textbook case. Its vertical fin was only slightly shorter than each of its tiny wings and almost as aerodynamically effective, so it behaved like a wing standing on end. A rudder input could roll the aircraft in the opposite direction. Kelly Johnson&rsquo;s team answered by canting the wings down at 10 degrees of anhedral.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px;width:100%\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/10\/nasa-f-104-starfighter-anhedral-wing-t-tail.jpg\" alt=\"A white NASA F-104 Starfighter in flight over the desert, its short wings angled downward beneath a tall T-tail\" style=\"width:100%;height:auto;max-width:100%;display:block\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">The F-104&rsquo;s 10-degree anhedral offset the rolling effect of its tall fin, which was almost as aerodynamically effective as a wing. A NASA F-104 over the desert in 1990. Photo: NASA \/ public domain<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/aircraft\/f-4-phantom-ii\/\">McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II<\/a> wears both shapes at once. Wind tunnel tests showed it needed about five degrees of dihedral, but redesigning the titanium centre section was out of the question. McDonnell&rsquo;s engineers angled up only the outer wing panels, by 12 degrees, which averaged out to the required five across the span. The all-moving tailplane, meanwhile, was given 23 degrees of anhedral to improve control at high angles of attack and keep it clear of the engine exhaust.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>Sometimes the bend has nothing to do with stability at all. The <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/aircraft\/f4u-corsair\/\">Vought F4U Corsair<\/a> got its inverted gull wing because a straight wing would have needed impossibly long landing gear legs to keep its huge propeller off the deck. Bending the inner wing down shortened the struts considerably.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;margin:24px 0 8px\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/WlwxH9SuH5M\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;font-style:italic;margin:0 0 24px\">Flight-club&rsquo;s short explainer on what dihedral is and what it does for an aircraft.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">Too much, too little<\/h2>\r\n\r\n<p>Dihedral is a balancing act. Too little dihedral effect against a strong fin, and the aircraft has spiral instability: after a disturbance the bank slowly steepens and the nose drops into a tightening spiral. The divergence is usually gradual enough for a pilot to catch, but it is the reason no aircraft can be flown hands-off forever.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>Too much dihedral effect against a weak fin, and the aircraft Dutch rolls, its nose tracing a figure of eight on the horizon as roll and yaw chase each other. Swept-wing jets are especially prone to it, which is why airliners carry yaw dampers. Designers generally prefer to accept a mild spiral tendency rather than live with the wobble.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;margin:24px 0 8px\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/uldtTHIO4AY\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;font-style:italic;margin:0 0 24px\">The Wired Flyer walks through the four sources of lateral stability: dihedral, keel effect, sweepback and weight distribution.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>Even a docile jet trainer such as the <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/aircraft\/l-39-albatros\/\">Aero L-39 Albatros<\/a> shows the principle: its low-set, straight wing rises gently from the roots, giving a stable, forgiving platform for students. So next time you are at an airport or an airshow, look at the wings head-on. Up or down, every one of those angles is an engineer&rsquo;s answer to the same question: how much should this aircraft want to roll?<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p><em>Sources: FAA Pilot&rsquo;s Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge (FAA-H-8083-25, ch. 5), NASA SP-367 via US Centennial of Flight Commission, This Day in Aviation, Warbirds Resource Group, Wikipedia (Dihedral (aeronautics); George Cayley; Lockheed F-104 Starfighter; McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II; McDonnell Douglas AV-8B Harrier II; Hawker Siddeley P.1127; Vought F4U Corsair)<\/em><\/p>\r\n<!-- mfsh:bottom -->\r\n\r\n<button type=\"button\" class=\"mfsh-trigger mfsh-bottom\" data-mfsh-placement=\"bottom\" aria-haspopup=\"dialog\"><svg><use href=\"#mfsh-i-share\"\/><\/svg>Share this story<\/button>\r\n\r\n<!-- \/mfsh:bottom -->\r\n\r\n\r\n<style>.mfq{margin:34px 0 8px}.mfq h2{font:26px\/1.3 \"Gilroy semiBold\",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#0d1117;padding-top:22px;margin:0 0 6px}.mfq .qa details{border-top:1px solid #5C91FF;margin:0;padding:0}.mfq .qa details:last-of-type{border-bottom:1px solid #e2e7ee}.mfq .qa summary{cursor:pointer;list-style:none;display:flex;justify-content:space-between;align-items:center;gap:16px;padding:22px 26px;font:18px\/1.7 \"Gilroy semiBold\",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#0d1117}.mfq .qa summary::-webkit-details-marker{display:none}.mfq .qa summary::after{content:\"+\";font:24px Helvetica,sans-serif;color:#3568e0;flex:0 0 auto}.mfq .qa details[open] summary::after{content:\"\\2013\"}.mfq .qa details:hover summary{color:#3568e0}.mfq .qa .a{font:16px\/1.7 \"Gilroy regular\",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#454e5e;padding:0 26px 24px}.mfq .qa .a a{color:#3568e0}@media(max-width:680px){.mfq .qa summary{padding:18px 14px;font-size:17px}.mfq .qa .a{padding:0 14px 20px}}<\/style>\r\n\r\n\r\n<section class=\"mfq\"><h2>Frequently Asked Questions<\/h2><div class=\"qa\"><details open><summary>What is dihedral on an aircraft wing?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Dihedral is the upward angle of an aircraft&rsquo;s wings or horizontal tail from the horizontal, seen from the front. It creates the dihedral effect: when the aircraft sideslips after a gust tips one wing down, the lower wing meets the air at a higher angle of attack, makes more lift and helps roll the aircraft back towards wings-level.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>What is anhedral and why do some aircraft have it?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Anhedral is negative dihedral, a downward angle of the wings or tailplane. Designers use it when an aircraft already has too much roll stability from a high-mounted or swept wing. Anhedral cancels some of that stability, so the aircraft rolls more readily. Fighters also use little or no dihedral to improve manoeuvrability.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Why do the C-5 Galaxy and An-124 have drooping wings?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">The Lockheed C-5 Galaxy and Antonov An-124 Ruslan both mount a swept wing high above their centre of gravity. Wing position and sweep each add dihedral effect, so together they would make the aircraft excessively stable in roll. Anhedral cancels part of that effect and makes the giant freighters easier to manoeuvre.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Why does the F-104 Starfighter have anhedral wings?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">The F-104 Starfighter&rsquo;s vertical fin was only slightly shorter than each wing and almost as aerodynamically effective, so it acted like a wing standing on end and could roll the aircraft opposite to a rudder input. Lockheed offset this by canting the Starfighter&rsquo;s wings downward at 10 degrees of anhedral.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Do high-wing aircraft need dihedral?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">High-wing aircraft need less dihedral than low-wing aircraft. Mounting the wing high on the fuselage provides about five degrees of effective dihedral compared with a low wing, according to the FAA, because the fuselage hangs below the wing like a keel and pendulum. Low-wing aircraft make up for the difference with a more visible upward angle.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>What happens if an aircraft has too much dihedral?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Too much dihedral effect, especially combined with a relatively weak fin, makes an aircraft prone to Dutch roll, a coupled rolling and yawing oscillation in which the nose traces a figure of eight. Too little causes spiral instability, where the bank slowly steepens. Designers usually prefer a mild spiral tendency to Dutch roll.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Can I fly in an F-104 Starfighter?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Yes. MiGFlug offers F-104 Starfighter flight training at NASA&rsquo;s Kennedy Space Center in Florida: a three-day programme with ground training and a 35 to 50 minute flight in the back seat of the Mach 2 jet designed by Kelly Johnson&rsquo;s Skunk Works. Details: <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/flights-prices\/f104-starfighter-flight\/\">F-104 Starfighter flight<\/a>.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Can I fly in an L-39 Albatros?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Yes. MiGFlug offers L-39 Albatros jet flights in Florida and California, the Swiss and Italian Alps, Brno in Czechia, Sydney and New Zealand. The L-39 was the world&rsquo;s first jet trainer powered by a turbofan engine, and more than 2,900 were built. Book an <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/l-39-albatros\/\">L-39 Albatros flight<\/a>.<\/div><\/details><\/div><\/section>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@type\":\"FAQPage\",\"mainEntity\":[{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"What is dihedral on an aircraft wing?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"Dihedral is the upward angle of an aircraft\u2019s wings or horizontal tail from the horizontal, seen from the front. It creates the dihedral effect: when the aircraft sideslips after a gust tips one wing down, the lower wing meets the air at a higher angle of attack, makes more lift and helps roll the aircraft back towards wings-level.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"What is anhedral and why do some aircraft have it?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"Anhedral is negative dihedral, a downward angle of the wings or tailplane. 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Details: F-104 Starfighter flight.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"Can I fly in an L-39 Albatros?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"Yes. MiGFlug offers L-39 Albatros jet flights in Florida and California, the Swiss and Italian Alps, Brno in Czechia, Sydney and New Zealand. The L-39 was the world\u2019s first jet trainer powered by a turbofan engine, and more than 2,900 were built. Book an L-39 Albatros flight.\"}}]}<\/script><div style=\"background:#f0f4ff;border-left:4px solid #5C91FF;padding:16px 20px;margin:32px 0 8px\"><p style=\"margin:0 0 8px;font-weight:600;color:#333\">Related Posts<\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/dutch-roll-explained\/\">Dutch Roll: The Wobble Swept-Wing Jets Are Built to Fight<\/a><\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/angle-of-attack-and-the-stall-explained\/\">Angle of Attack and the Stall: Why Wings Stop Working<\/a><\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/vortex-generators-wing-fins-explained\/\">Vortex Generators: The Little Fins That Fix Big Wing Problems<\/a><\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/why-nothing-can-replace-the-antonov-an-124-ruslan\/\">Why Nothing Can Replace the Antonov An-124<\/a><\/p><\/div>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Why airliner wings form a V while the Harrier, C-5, An-124 and F-104 droop theirs: dihedral, anhedral and roll stability explained.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":29388768,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"editor_notices":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[665],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29388853","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aviation-world"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Dihedral and Anhedral: Why Wings Tilt Up or Down | MiGFlug<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Dihedral and anhedral explained: why airliner wings form a V while the Harrier, C-5, An-124 and F-104 droop theirs, and what it does for roll stability.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" 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