Reddit reviews Tupolev Tu-154: The USSR's Medium-Range Jet Airliner (Aerofax)

> Also, aircraft with swept wings tend to be much less dihedral, or even anhedral, because the wing sweep conveys some dihedral effect on its own.

I can't think of a single Western jet airliner that didn't/doesn't have dihedral.

(I realize that you didn't limit your statement to transport aircraft. But why wouldn't the same aerodynamic principles and engineering practices apply to them as to other swept-wing jet aircraft?)

> For example, the Tu-154, the workhorse Soviet airliner between 1970 and the early 2000's, was one of the fastest subsonic airliners produced, with a high degree of wing sweep, owing at least partly to its military origins.

The Tu-154 wasn't based on any military predecessor. It was a "clean sheet of paper" design. This is probably the most authoritative history of the airplane that's out there:

http://www.amazon.com/Tupolev-Tu-154-Medium-Range-Airliner-Aerofax/dp/1857802411

> The same can be seen in the preceeding Il-18 and Tu-104 aircraft, both developed directly from military versions.

The Tu-104 was developed from the Tu-16 "Badger" bomber. But the Il-18 wasn't developed from a military aircraft; it, too, was an original design.

> I can't think of a single Western jet airliner that didn't/doesn't have dihedral.

All I said is that as wing sweep increases, you tend to see less and less dihedral, sometimes going into anhedral, because the wing sweep introduces dihedral effect on it's own. Even in western airliners, aircraft with more swept wings have less dihedral. Take the 727 or HS Trident for example, comparable sweep to the Tu-134/Tu-154 and almost no dihedral at all.

And of course, almost every western high-wing aircraft has anhedral. The Bae 146 is one example, as someone said, and moving into cargo aircraft you have the C-17 and C-5, among others.

> The Tu-154 wasn't based on any military predecessor. It was a "clean sheet of paper" design. This is probably the most authoritative history of the airplane that's out there:
http://www.amazon.com/Tupolev-Tu-154-Medium-Range-Airliner-Aerofax/dp/1857802411[1]

Thanks for the link- I'll check it out. For the Tu-154, I didn't mean that it came for a bomber, but I could have sworn that it originated from a military specification for a government transport and then state airline use. Might be wrong though.

I did notice that, and it's appreciated. However reddit natively removes any comment that has a known link shortener in it. For readability and to avoid getting caught in the spam filter, I suggest formatting with the reddit hyperlink syntax in the future, like so:

[Tupolev Tu-154: The USSR's Medium-Range Jet Airliner](http://www\.amazon.com/Tupolev-Tu-154-Medium-Range-Airliner-Aerofax/dp/1857802411)

Which, when entered into a comment field and submitted, ends up looking like this:

Tupolev Tu-154: The USSR's Medium-Range Jet Airliner

Thanks for the comment! I've approved it now.