On Sat, 29 Jul 2006 15:52:39 -0600, Tim Auckland wrote:

(Things are so slow in this group at the moment, I thought I'd post
this to get your input on something I've been mulling over...)

If you put a plane into a skidding left turn (wings level) with left
rudder, the ball on the panel goes to the right.

However, I've been trying to work out what would happen to the ball if
it was mounted on the tail.
The rudder is pushing the tail of the plane to the right, so I think
the ball would go to the left.
Can anyone confirm this?

Tim.

In the situation you describe, the ball should first go to the left, as the
tail is pushed out to the right by the action of the rudder. Once the skid
is stable, and the ball will go over to the right, to reflect the fact that
the aircraft (including its tail) is turning left.