Is A380's center of gravity really too far back? I have searched and even studied plans from Airbus itself, but I was not able to confirm the following and would like to ask if the information I have is correct.

TLDR version so you don't have to read all the text: Does A380 really have the center of gravity positioned BEHIND the aerodynamic force center?

(What I know so far): For any passenger aircraft, without (almost any) exception, the center of gravity is always closer to the nose of the aircraft than the aerodynamic forces resultant. This is to provide an auto-stabilising force for the aircraft in case it stalls for whatever reason. Since the airplane is "nose heavy", it would eventually establish itself "towards the air flow" and after some height drop, should at least partially regain normal flight mode. Also it prevents the aircraft from going into a flat loop. While this setup is safe, it also means that the tail wing needs to correct for the center of gravity and "pull down" (omitting the duck planes now), which means it does not help to create lift, instead reducing the total lift. This increases fuel consumption.

(What I need to confirm): During my UL theory training, one of the instructors told us that A380 (and all the new passenger planes driven mostly by computers alike) will have the center of gravity behind the aerodynamic center, which enables to use the huge tail wing to actually create lift instead of decreasing it and thus lowering the fuel consumption dramatically. While this is great from economical and ecological point of view, it would only work while the computers look after the plane. It would become so unstable that there is no way a human could fly it "by hand".

I understand that if the computers go down on a "fly-by-wire" airplane completely, the joystick/rudder becomes just a piece of plastic anyways, but a computer that constantly looks after the stability of the plane seems much more "error ready" than a simple wire between a cockpit and a servo.

Modern jet fighters have CoG behind the aerodynamic center and it is said that you only stall them once. There is no way to recover a stall like you would do with your good old Cessna. It strikes me that something like that would get approved for a civilian aircraft.

Thank you for your inputs. I was not able to find any resource concerning A380's CoG.
No. Positive lift on the tail does not necessarily mean that the center of gravity needs to be aft of the aerodynamic center of the aircraft. Only when the lift per area of the tail surface is higher than that of the wing will the center of gravity move into the unstable region.


  the center of gravity is always closer to the nose of the aircraft
  than the aerodynamic forces resultant


Again, no. The center of gravity needs to be at the same lengthwise station as the center of pressure in trimmed flight, otherwise the aircraft would not be trimmed and start to pitch. With low-mounted engines there might be some thrust moment which must be canceled by a slightly forward location of the center of gravity, but this effect is small.

Next, the auto-stabilisation is not only helpful when stalling. It also provides a smoother ride in gusty conditions and makes it easier for the pilot to fly the aircraft.

Since the aspect ratio of the tail surfaces is smaller than that of the wings, lift there is bought more expensively, so it will be bad for performance if the tail produces more lift per area than the wing. Negative stability is only helpful for supersonic and highly manoeuverable airplanes. Airbus does not do that, and besides, the A380 would not be certified with negative stability.

What it does have, however, like all Airbus aircraft since the A310, is relaxed static stability. The center of gravity is still ahead of the neutral point, but less so than in conventional airliners. This does indeed help to lower drag, and the reduced (but still positive!) stability is enhanced by electronic means.