Thread: Flat Turns
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Old 04-02-2008 | 11:29 AM
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UAL T38 Phlyer
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From: Curator at Static Display
Default Physics

Simple physics:

a=v(squared)/r

a=acceleration
v=velocity
r=turn radius

"a" is the acceleration in the horizontal that "accelerates" your velocity vector in a new direction, resulting usually from banking an airplane, and "borrowing" a component of said lift to use in the horizontal--a banked turn.

If you hold the rudder to floor and maintain no-bank, you're in a sideslip--and EVERY airplane will turn. This is because the sideslip is an angle of attack--against the side of your fuselage, so it generates horizontal lift. Not very effectively, but it does. But:

The slower you are, for the miniscule amount of "a" you generate in sideslip, the smaller your turn radius--and the quicker you turn. (another formula for Theta-dot that I haven't memorized).

So, in a fixed-wing 60-kt airplane, you can do a no-bank turn in 12 minutes. At 480 kts, it would take about 2-3 hours.

And, a hovering helicopter can do it in less than a minute (I would think!).

I'm guessing you do them in the RC-12 so you can keep an antenna pointed at a specific area of interest (and not mask it) while still maneuvering the airplane.

You could also do them by splitting the throttles (still creates yaw).
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