Canard (aeronautics) an aircraft designer may adopt the canard configuration to reduce the main wing loading, to better control the main wing airflow, or to increase the aircraft’s maneuverability, especially at high angles of attack or during a stall. Canard foreplanes, whether used in a canard or three-surface configuration, have important consequences on the aircraft’s longitudinal equilibrium, static and dynamic stability characteristics. The term “canard” arose from the appearance of the Santos-Dumont 14-bis of 1906, which was said to be reminiscent of a duck ("canard" in French) with its neck stretched out in flight. The Wright Brothers began experimenting with the foreplane
Canard (aeronautics) a tailless aircraft, by control surfaces at the rear of the main wing, as on the Saab Viggen. In a control-canard design, most of the weight of the aircraft is carried by the wing and the canard is used primarily for pitch control during maneuvering. A pure control-canard operates only as a control surface and is nominally at zero angle of attack and carrying no load in normal flight. Modern combat aircraft of canard configuration typically have a control-canard driven by a computerized flight control system. Canards with little or no loading (i.e. control-canards) may be used to intentionally destabilize