empennage
/ɛmˈpɛnɪdʒ
/noun Aeronautics
An arrangement of stabilizing surfaces at the tail of an aircraft.The gunner never had a chance as the whole empennage of the aircraft had separated resulting in the bomber spinning out of control....
- The empennage boom formed a tail cone to the aft beam.
- The empennage was built integral with the fuselage to ensure absolute rigidity.
Origin
Early 20th century: from French, from empenner 'to feather an arrow', from em- 'in' + penne 'a feather' (from Latin penna).