Rock Rolling & Other Easter Chores

If being a glider semi-pilot means you HAVE flown
one - or many another plane that will turn the wrong way if only
ailerons or wing warping is used - I am open to correction! :-)

I don't know about Wright flyers or gliders, but "normal" airplanes
(according to my limited experience on Robins and Cessnas) will
actually turn the proper way. That's due to the fact that once you
bank the plane (by aileron), you also have to pull to compensate for
the loss of lift in the vertical axis. This gives you a slight
rotation of the plane around its pitch axis, and the horizontal
component of lift gives you (after some time) a horizontal velocity,
which, on a stable plane, will induce a force on the vertical
stabilizer that makes the plane turn in the right direction. The
resulting moment is usually much greater than the one due to
differential drag on the ailerons.

In short, an airplane (maybe more so for the "truck-like handling"
planes such as Cessnas, and less so for lighter handling planes, which
I've never flown) will fly well on just aileron and elevator; rudder
is only needed for take-offs and landings in crosswinds. But no
serious flight instructor will ever admit that ;-)

Oliver