A fixed-wing aircraft has five main components: engine, landing gear, fuselage, wings, and empennage. The fuselage is the main body of the aircraft, a long and sturdy metal tube that connects all the main components, including the wings and the tail assembly. The empennage is the tail section of the aircraft, the rear part of the tail assembly that supports the vertical and horizontal stabilizers. It provides stability and control around the pitch and yaw axes, guaranteeing balance and preventing unwanted pitch, yaw, or roll. The empennage consumes the same stresses and transmits them to the fuselage, forming a cohesive structural system.
Expert behind this article
Jim Goodrich
Jim Goodrich is a pilot, aviation expert and founder of Tsunami Air.
What is the difference between the empennage and the fuselage of an aircraft?
The empennage, called the tail assembly, is the rear part of the aircraft whose primary job is to provide stability. It consists of two fixed surfaces: the vertical stabilizer ( called the fin or tailfin) and the horizontal stabilizer ( called the tailplane). The vertical stabilizer includes the rudder, a movable surface that deflects the tail left or right. The horizontal stabilizer carries the elevators, movable surfaces that control pitch.
The fuselage is the central body that stretches from nose to tail. It is designed to accommodate the crew, the passenger cabin, cargo holds, fuel tanks, instruments, radios, and avionics bays. While the fuselage gives the aircraft its overall shape and enclosed space, the empennage is only the tail section, built expressly to steady the craft in flight.
Is the empennage part of the fuselage?
No, the empennage is the tail assembly and it is a distinct structure located at the rear of the aircraft. Yet its forward bulkhead is bolted to the aft bulkhead of the fuselage, so the tail assembly includes part of fuselage skin and frames at the joint. Inside this junction, the same structural members - longerons, stringers, and frames - continue from the fuselage sections into the tail section, making the connection behave like an extension of the main body. From that point rearward the empennage stands alone: the vertical stabilizer, called tailfin, rises upward, while the horizontal stabilizer, called tailplane, projects left and right. Both surfaces are flight control surfaces; the vertical stabilizer helps stabilize the airplane in flight laterally, and the horizontal stabilizer prevents excessive pitching motion. Although the two assemblies share nodes at the mating bulkhead, the fuselage ends where its constant cross-section stops, and the empennage begins where the tail surfaces start, so the empennage is attached to but is not part of the fuselage.
What is the relationship between the empennage and the fuselage?
The empennage forms one unified structure along with the fuselage. The empennage is located at the rear end of the fuselage, where the aft section of the fuselage houses the vertical stabilizer (fin) and the horizontal stabilizers (elevators). This positioning maximizes the moment arm, allowing the tail to effectively balance the wing moment and guarantee control around the pitch and yaw axes.
Because the empennage absorbs the same stresses generated by airflow reaction, these stresses are transmitted to the fuselage structure. In turn, the tubular-beam fuselage distributes the loads through its skin. Thus, the fuselage connects wings, empennage, and landing gear into one coherent airframe, while auxiliary systems, lights, and antennas are incorporated into the fuselage to preserve aerodynamic cleanliness.
The empennage is an addition to the airplane that forms one uninterrupted construction with the fuselage. During flight, the tail interprets command information while the body matches part of the upright fin. Motions swivel the whole frame around the airplane's center of gravity. TThe arrangement is designed to function as one united structure.