Why are the yokes always turned?

Often the ailerons are connect to the rudder with a bungee.
The rudder is connected to the nose wheel steering. Ergo.


"Ron Wanttaja" wrote in message
...
| On Mon, 16 Oct 2006 07:03:12 +0200, Mxsmanic
wrote:
|
| Why does it seem that the control yokes of small
aircraft are always
| turned completely to one side or the other in
photographs? Is there
| some sort of convention about doing this? A safety
reason? Why is it
| so common?
|
| I've never seen this. Can you post a link to some
examples?
|
| Ron Wanttaja

Mxsmanic wrote:
Why does it seem that the control yokes of small aircraft are always
turned completely to one side or the other in photographs? Is there
some sort of convention about doing this? A safety reason? Why is it
so common?

Without any airflow over the ailerons, it's kind of hard to hold
them in the center. As soon as the control flops over to one
side or the other, it tends to stay there.

Ron Natalie writes:

Without any airflow over the ailerons, it's kind of hard to hold
them in the center. As soon as the control flops over to one
side or the other, it tends to stay there.

Aren't they balanced such that they have no tendency to turn either
way? I should think the forces on them in a parked aircraft would be
symmetrical.

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Mxsmanic wrote:
Ron Natalie writes:

Without any airflow over the ailerons, it's kind of hard to hold
them in the center. As soon as the control flops over to one
side or the other, it tends to stay there.

Aren't they balanced such that they have no tendency to turn either
way? I should think the forces on them in a parked aircraft would be
symmetrical.

They are balanced aerodynamically so they go neutral. As I said,
with no wind blowing on them in a lot of planes they'll sit
on the stops once they are knocked to one side or another.

Recently, Mxsmanic posted:

Ron Natalie writes:

Without any airflow over the ailerons, it's kind of hard to hold
them in the center. As soon as the control flops over to one
side or the other, it tends to stay there.

Aren't they balanced such that they have no tendency to turn either
way? I should think the forces on them in a parked aircraft would be
symmetrical.

The forces on a parked airplane would only be symmetrical if the plane was
always headed into the wind. Obviously, this will rarely be the case
except for those parking spaces that are built on a turntable with a
large rudder on the back.

Neil

On 2006-10-16, Neil Gould wrote:
The forces on a parked airplane would only be symmetrical if the plane was
always headed into the wind. Obviously, this will rarely be the case
except for those parking spaces that are built on a turntable with a
large rudder on the back.

On a point of pedantry, the turntable parking space would not need a
rudder. The plane tied down to this turntable tiedown would cause it to
point into the wind, since the turntable/aircraft combination would
behave like a large weather vane.

--
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On 10/18/06 05:21, Dylan Smith wrote:
On 2006-10-16, Neil Gould wrote:
The forces on a parked airplane would only be symmetrical if the plane was
always headed into the wind. Obviously, this will rarely be the case
except for those parking spaces that are built on a turntable with a
large rudder on the back.

On a point of pedantry, the turntable parking space would not need a
rudder. The plane tied down to this turntable tiedown would cause it to
point into the wind, since the turntable/aircraft combination would
behave like a large weather vane.


Yea ... it's a good thing you caught that.

There are usually slight differences in weight between the control surfaces,
due to the manufacturing process. For example, it is not uncommon for one
aileron to be a pound or two heavier than the other.

Gravity, plus the force of winds, will inevitably cause one to droop.
Likewise, rudders are not always hinged in a straight line, and the hinge
lines are off center, so the rudder will tend to tilt toward the heavier
side.

This is simply a factor in owning planes that are frequently over 20+ years
old.