To Dihedral or Not to Dihedral?

Discussion area for builders of Pietenpol aircraft, both beginners and experienced folks. Share ideas, ask questions and help build the Pietenpol community.
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KanzasPiet
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue Jul 14, 2026 3:07 pm

To Dihedral or Not to Dihedral?

Post 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.
Memento Vivere!
zippythehog
Posts: 9
Joined: Wed Feb 21, 2024 10:04 pm

Re: To Dihedral or Not to Dihedral?

Post 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.
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