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To Dihedral or Not to Dihedral?

Posted: Thu Jul 23, 2026 4:27 pm
by KanzasPiet
Im sure it will be next summer before we are ready to mount wing panels but I have a question that I forgot to ask while at Brodhead.
Who has introduced Dihedral to their build? Who has experience with and without dihedral flying a Pietenpol for comparison? Lastly, if you had to build again, would you add it in. Im sure I can find discussions in the archives but Im looking for most resent thoughts on the subject.

Re: To Dihedral or Not to Dihedral?

Posted: Wed Jul 29, 2026 2:31 pm
by zippythehog
No vitriol in this question but, why would you want to add dihedral? The load is below the wings, which should provide satisfactory roll stability.
Adding dihedral would be a diversion from the plans and I would think you wouldn’t get a reward equal to the effort. In fact, it would likely be detrimental to performance, both roll response and cruise speed.
I have not flown a Piet, dihedral added or not, so I defer to the easily more experienced contributors here.