A disturbance that causes one wing to drop describes which stability concept?

• A. Directional stability
• B. Vertical stability
• C. Lateral stability
• D. Longitudinal stability

Answer: (C)

When a disturbance causes one wing to drop, the airplane experiences a roll about its longitudinal axis. Lateral stability is the property that resists that rolling motion and tends to bring the wings back to level. This restoring tendency comes from design factors such as wing shape (dihedral) and how lift and weight are distributed, which create a restoring moment when the aircraft banks. In simple terms, lateral stability governs how the aircraft responds to roll disturbances and whether it returns to wings-level flight. The other options describe stability about other axes (pitch for longitudinal, yaw for directional) and aren’t describing the rolling, wings-level response.