Book Smarts v 1.0
I spent a little time today reading from one of the books I'd picked up. I've finished the chapter on basic aerodynamics, which is interesting because while some of it seems very familiar to me from my aerospace engineering courses, some of it doesn't seem familiar at all! Apparently all single engine planes pull to the left, for a variety of reasons, especially at low airspeed and high power, i.e., at takeoff. Next takeoff I'll have to try a little right rudder. What causes turning? The horizontal component of lift.
Now I'm reading about the mechanics of the plane itself. The engine's a lot like a car engine. Apparently carburetors can freeze even on a 70 degree July afternoon! It seems like it's dependent on not only the temperature, but also the dewpoint, which is a portion of the weather report that I always figured was some leftover from a committee meeting in 1942 when some meteorology nerd convinced them to show the dewpoint because he knew what it was and nobody else did so they couldn't argue back. Shows what I know!
Four more days. Plenty to learn in the mean time!
Now I'm reading about the mechanics of the plane itself. The engine's a lot like a car engine. Apparently carburetors can freeze even on a 70 degree July afternoon! It seems like it's dependent on not only the temperature, but also the dewpoint, which is a portion of the weather report that I always figured was some leftover from a committee meeting in 1942 when some meteorology nerd convinced them to show the dewpoint because he knew what it was and nobody else did so they couldn't argue back. Shows what I know!
Four more days. Plenty to learn in the mean time!
posted by MKT at 10:27 PM
1 Comments:
Your first reason is right on; it's one of 3 reasons. The other two are:
* Air corkscrewing around the fuselage from the prop hits the left side of the tail, moving the tail to the right and spinning the plane to the left;
* Since the plane wants to fall down, the prop blade on the downstroke (right hand side from the pilot's seat) is fighting this and is doing more work. Since that lift is generated on the right and not on the left, the right gets turned up a little bit, causing a veer to the left.
So thankfully, planes should act just the same in the southern hemisphere!
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