Model Building (but not with plastic and glue)

Todd wrote: "Why is it I can never write the short answer I intended
when
I started out.? "

Because we've made it more complex that it needs to be. Here's a
shorter answer.

A slip occurs when the wings are banked and the fuselage is
intentionally yawed to counteract the resulting turning force. This
results in increased drag and a misalignment between the aircraft's
path through the air (or direction) and the orientation of the
fuselage centerline (alternately "landing gear" or "heading"). A slip
may be used to decrease glide slope (at the cost of a misalignment of
the gear at landing) or to align the landing gear with ground track in
a crosswind (at the cost of additional drag).

From this there are only two types of slips: balanced (a slip) and
sloppy turns. Calling it a forward slip or a side slip confuses the
maneuver with the varying circustnaces under which it might be applied.
A slip has two symptoms, increased drag and misaligment between
direction (as measured by the velocity vector) and heading. Therefore,
a slip never compensates for crosswind... it simply aligns your gear
with your ground track.

Compensating for the crosswind is achieved by changing your direction.
(This is another place where the model fails. Think about it.)

Again, do you see how subtleties in the model can lead to
misinterpretations and the creation of workable models? The very fact
that we differentiate slips into two types shows a flaw in the model.
There's only one type of slip, and different circumstances for its use.


I know some of you want to talk about turning slips, but they tend to
confuse what should be a simple difference. Once we can bifurcate slips
into balanced and turning, then we can talk about the uses of (and the
models related to) turning slips.