[NSRCA-discussion] Weather Vane or Crab

[Nat Penton]

Georgie
When you cross the Mason Dixon line things change

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "george w. kennie" <geobet at gis.net>
To: "NSRCA Mailing List" <nsrca-discussion at lists.nsrca.org>
Sent: Sunday, October 14, 2007 12:07 PM
Subject: Re: [NSRCA-discussion] Weather Vane or Crab


> Marty,
> The problem I have with the "unconcious control input" theory is, 
> ....there
> are hundreds of "Sport" flyers in all 3 of the local clubs that I belong 
> to
> that subscribe to the idea that the rudder is meant to be used only when 
> the
> plane is on the ground. One of the guys at my #1 field places his thumb
> against the base of the throttle stick as soon as the plane is safely in 
> the
> air and the throttle and rudder control are never touched "til the wheels
> are back on the ground. Despite the fact that these guys never even 
> breathe
> on the rudder, their planes exhibit the same fuselage rotation into a 
> cross
> wind on vertical uplines that my planes do.
> G.
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: <moleski at canisius.edu>
> To: "NSRCA Mailing List" <nsrca-discussion at lists.nsrca.org>
> Sent: Sunday, October 14, 2007 4:40 AM
> Subject: Re: [NSRCA-discussion] Weather Vane or Crab
>
>
>> Winston E Batchelor wrote:
>>
>>> Thanks George
>>
>>> I really didn't want to argue with Doug.
>>
>>> ... I was in no way experienced enough to make a correction. IN fact it
>>> alomost
>>> blew me onto the shoulder of the road ...
>>
>> I suspect that you experience on the bike and other people's experiences
>> with weathervaning of pattern planes are examples of "tacit knowledge,"
>> an idea developed by Michael Polanyi.
>>
>> The vast majority of people do not know what rules they are following
>> when they ride a bike.  They acquire the skill tacitly (silently) and
>> don't even realize what they themselves are doing to maintain their
>> balance.  The corrections are quick and intuitive, beneath the level
>> of consciousness.
>>
>> The trick that we use to maintain our balance is to steer into
>> a fall.  If we're falling to the right, we swing the bars to the
>> right.  That causes the frame to straighten up.  It may go past
>> neutral and start falling to the left.  If so, we swing the
>> bars to the left.
>>
>> This is very evident at super slow speeds.
>>
>> To disrupt our balance so that we can make a turn, the
>> first thing we do is to turn AWAY from the way we want to
>> go.  To initiate a right-hand turn, we swing the bars to the
>> left, which causes us to start falling to the right; then
>> we swing the bars to the right to stop the fall, but not
>> so far to the right that we come upright--we lean into
>> the turn.  When it's time to come out of the turn,
>> we pull the handle bars more to the right, which
>> throws us toward the left and causes the frame to
>> come upright.
>>
>> Video of robot motorbike in which the designer briefly
>> explains the principle:
>>
>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOgkNh_IPjU&mode=related&search=
>>
>> In the case of perceived "automatic compensation for the
>> wind," I suggest that people are setting the groundtrack
>> for the plane without even knowing that they are doing it.
>> When they get the plane tracking straight across the ground,
>> it will be properly yawed into the crosswind.  It is
>> the pilot who achieves the balance between the force of
>> the wind trying to carry the plane off the line and the
>> force needed to compensate for that which comes from
>> yawing the plane into the wind.  It happens so fast and
>> is so natural that people think the plane is doing it--or,
>> in the case of the wind unsettling your balance, you thought
>> that the motorcycle itself is doing the balancing act.
>>
>> Marty
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>>
>
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