"Dave Stadt" wrote in message
m...
Frankly, I have never quite understood the distinction, same as with
"forward" and "side" slips.

That one always confused me too. I'm not sure I remember to this day.

The airplane certainly doesn't know. Always figured if it doesn't know,
no reason for me to know.

When you are flying a rectangular course, the airplane doesn't know you are
not following a ground track that is parallel to your heading. That doesn't
mean there's no reason for you to know.

Likewise the difference between forward and side slips. It's true that they
are the same aerodynamically, but that doesn't mean that there's no
justification for having two different terms.

Now, that said...perhaps better terms could have been chosen. For example,
maybe us "crosswind slip" for a sideslip, and "drag slip" for a forward
slip. This uses terms that more directly apply to the real, practical
distinction between the slips rather than an arbitrary directionally
relative term. But we have the terms we have, for better or worse.

I guess one of the biggest issues is that using two different terms implies
that there are two different maneuvers. Of course, one can combine a
forward slip and a side slip. We'd call it a forward (drag) slip, but some
component of the slip could be compensating for drift, which is the job of a
side (crosswind) slip. But the fact remains that there are really two
distinct reasons to use a slip, so it's not surprising that pilot
terminology includes two different ways to describe a slip.

Pete