Dan,

Gotcha.

Matt,

Those two planes you showed look like they're mass-balanced. Are they balanced on the pivot? Doesn't look like it. The second one is clearly drooping at the trailing edge. Remember, he said there aren't any fullsize airplanes with full-flying stabs that are balanced on the pivot. I'll keep retyping that if I have to! So, I'll bet you a six-pack neither of those two planes have full-flying stabs that don't drop aft-end down when you let go of the yoke (with the control lock removed, of course). Again, this is the core of the issue. Remember, everyone was talking about whether or not to balance the F18 stabs on the pivot!