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Winston DoRight

Funny thing about the wind

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It seems that no matter which direction you fly in, it always requires right aileron to correct for the new wind effects. If you take off and fly North you need to input right stick, turn around 180 deg and you'd think there would be a difference but again right stick is needed, as it is for east west as well.

 

What's up with that? You'd think that eventually the wind would blow on you from the opposite direction considering you just changed from North to South and even East to West.

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What's up with that?

 

I strongly suspect that the plane you're flying requires a lot of right aileron trim to fly straight. In my experience, most of them require a lot of aileron 1 way or the other to fly straight, let alone deal with gusts and constant wind. Unless corrected with trim in-flight (as an abstraction of the countless unrecorded test flights and rigging tweaks your pilot and his ground crew would have done in real life between actual missions), you'll always be stuck holding the stick far over.

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All I know is that landing now is a new ball game. I was making my approach and could not hold course from the cross-wind. I had to go around and make a different approach, into the wind. I quess that is in disagreement with your observation Winston.

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I strongly suspect that the plane you're flying requires a lot of right aileron trim to fly straight. In my experience, most of them require a lot of aileron 1 way or the other to fly straight, let alone deal with gusts and constant wind. Unless corrected with trim in-flight (as an abstraction of the countless unrecorded test flights and rigging tweaks your pilot and his ground crew would have done in real life between actual missions), you'll always be stuck holding the stick far over.

 

Nope, that's not it. I always trim for level flight at cruise speed. I know that for the Alb DVa I can input 10 keystrokes of right alieron even before takeoff and this produces level flight. With "Hands Off" trim I'm still never in need of any left stick to compensate for the new wind effects. I'll try some Allied craft as soon as my current German pilot bites it and see if there's any difference.

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All I know is that landing now is a new ball game. I was making my approach and could not hold course from the cross-wind. I had to go around and make a different approach, into the wind. I quess that is in disagreement with your observation Winston.

 

Yes, funny you should mention that. I did have a similar landing experience where the wind effect was less when approaching from a recriprocal heading. But still I have never had to hold left stick to compensate for wind...... ever. I'll have to try some other craft.

 

So you're saying that you have had to use left stick to counter the wind? Can you give me info so that I may try and duplicate that flight? Date, time, squadron, airfield?

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So you're saying that you have had to use left stick to counter the wind? Can you give me info so that I may try and duplicate that flight? Date, time, squadron, airfield?

 

FA (A) 250, DFW C.V, 21 Dec 1916, 1429hrs, from Wasquehal to bomb rail yard 118 just NW of Arras. On the way home at 5000m, I had to hold considerable left aileron to stay on course. The DFW normally needs beaucoup right aileron trim to fly straight.

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Winston, sorry no. I don't recall any other details of that flight. Was not DiD for sure I remember those. I'm imprisoned so I've just been pleasure flying. May have been the N28 early assignment in the 94th.

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