Newbie here.
Crosswind at 16kts. I bank upwind wing down a little, strong opposite rudder.....then the inevitable ground loop happens! All in a day's work and well replicated in the latest Microsoft Flight Simulator.
"There are indeed situations when an intentional ground loop is good piloting -- as a desperate means of stopping almost on the spot!," says Wolfgang Langewiesche in Stick & Rudder. "After a forced landing in a short field, it is certainly better to ground-loop the ship than to run head into a tree," but Wolfgang goes on to say, "usually, the ground loop is the result of carelessness--and igorance."
What triggers the ground loop? Stick & Rudder says, "the nature of the landing gear itself: because its wheels are forward of the ship's center of gravity, any swerve will always set up forces that will make this swerve worse. The ground loop feeds on itself."
So, it's not the crosswind that causes the ground loops...nor even the sidways drift...I love Stick & Rudder. It's pure theory. I wonder what are your thoughts of this book? Yes, they don't call them flippers anymore...
Crosswind at 16kts. I bank upwind wing down a little, strong opposite rudder.....then the inevitable ground loop happens! All in a day's work and well replicated in the latest Microsoft Flight Simulator.
"There are indeed situations when an intentional ground loop is good piloting -- as a desperate means of stopping almost on the spot!," says Wolfgang Langewiesche in Stick & Rudder. "After a forced landing in a short field, it is certainly better to ground-loop the ship than to run head into a tree," but Wolfgang goes on to say, "usually, the ground loop is the result of carelessness--and igorance."
What triggers the ground loop? Stick & Rudder says, "the nature of the landing gear itself: because its wheels are forward of the ship's center of gravity, any swerve will always set up forces that will make this swerve worse. The ground loop feeds on itself."
So, it's not the crosswind that causes the ground loops...nor even the sidways drift...I love Stick & Rudder. It's pure theory. I wonder what are your thoughts of this book? Yes, they don't call them flippers anymore...
