tailplane

thumb|upright=1.2|The horizontal stabiliser is the fixed horizontal surface of the empennage

A tailplane, also known as a horizontal stabiliser, is a small lifting surface located on the tail (empennage) behind the main lifting surfaces of a fixed-wing aircraft. Gyroplanes and some helicopters also feature horizontal stabilisers as part of their tail assembly. Not all fixed-wing aircraft have tailplanes.Canards, tailless and flying wing aircraft have no separate tailplane, while in V-tail aircraft the vertical stabiliser, rudder, and the tail-plane and elevator are combined to form two diagonal surfaces in a V layout.