A forward Center of Gravity primarily affects stability and control in which way?

• A. Increases stability and stall resistance and improves elevator authority.
• B. Increases stability and stall resistance, but reduces elevator authority.
• C. Decreases stability and increases stall risk.
• D. Has no effect on stability.

Answer: (B)

Placing the center of gravity forward changes the pitch behavior of the airplane by making it more statically stable. With a forward CG, any nose-up disturbance triggers a restoring moment from the tail that tends to push the nose back down, so the aircraft resists pitching up on its own. This same forward moment also means the aircraft trims with a stronger nose-down tendency, which is a hallmark of increased stability.

The forward CG also tends to raise the wing’s angle of attack needed to reach the stall, effectively making the airplane more resistant to stalling at a given flight condition. In practical terms, a forward CG makes the airplane harder to push toward a stall unintentionally.

However, that same forward positioning reduces elevator authority. Since the nose-down tendency is stronger, more elevator deflection is required to achieve a given nose-up pitch change, and the tail-down force needed to balance the airplane increases. This reduces the effectiveness of elevator input for pitch control.

So, a forward CG increases stability and stall resistance while reducing elevator authority.