Scudrunners

Comrades,

Why is the Yawing Movement the Least Understood Part of Aircraft Handling??

I have a theory about this ... it's nose wheel trainers. Great rental aircraft, but really horrible trainers.
They are unbelievably tolerant of a lack of yaw control. You can land them sideways, and the center
of mass ahead of the mains pulls the aircraft straight.

See Primacy. If a student learns to fly on a tailwheel aircraft, they have no choice except to instinctively
learn to control yaw from day one, using the rudder pedals. Taildraggers are stupidly unstable in yaw
when the tires are on the ground and there is any forward motion, because the center of mass behind
the mains pushes the aircraft more at an angle, divergently. It's like balancing a broom on your finger.

However. If a student learns to control yaw, they will find that crosswind landings, spin avoidance at
high alpha and Vmc demos are no longer a problem.

In a perfect world, every student would do their first 10-12 hours to solo in a NORDO taildragger at
a quiet field, with nothing in the panel to distract them from LOOKING OUTSIDE at the big attitude indicator
(called the horizon) and for traffic avoidance.

Pop quiz: given how stupidly unstable taildraggers are, apart from basic training and masochism, why
on earth would anyone build or fly one?

Wait… are you both Russian bots? Wild.

I love her accent. I hope she's not a nefarious Russian honeypot trap?



You knew it all along, didn't you comrade?