Weathervaning

ken wrote:
both - you will get secondary effects from the aileron bank causing yaw
and
the aircraft will "weathercock" into wind. For those sceptics who don't
believe the aircraft will weathercock fly hands off with no rudder
trim/bias
(and reduced power so there is no slipstream effect) and see what happens,
it will turn into wind.

Well, you could look at as you describe, or just say that the plane doesn't
like slips/skids (as a result of its inherent stability) which is the way I
think of it.


Koopas Ly wrote:
Just a quick question...

During a crosswind landing, for instance a left crosswind, you'd lower
the left, upwind wing to counter the right drift induced by the
crosswind.

You'd also use some right rudder to keep the nose straight and prevent
it from "weathervaning".

Is this "weathervaning effect" caused by your leftward relative motion
due to the left bank OR by the rightward crosswind ITSELF?

What's the difference? Remember, we always think about 'relative' motion.


Next thing I was wondering, which is related to the above: say you're
dead on centerline on landing, and all of a sudden a crosswind from
the left starts blowing. The effect would be that you should only be
displaced to the right of runway centerline. Your airplane nose would
still be parallel to the centerline. Do you agree?

No, due to the aircraft's stability, it would yaw to the left.

Hilton