Originally Posted by
megan
Naval Air Training Command, Introduction to Helicopter Aerodynamics TH-57, page 4-5
406. PHASE LAG VERSUS GYROSCOPIC PRECESSION
That paragraph you quote looks very similar to a note I wrote for the local beefers in1977 to try to persude them to stop calling phase lag 'gyroscopic precession'.
My teaching materials did/do not mention gyroscopes at all, but I would accept 'like a gyroscope' as a quick one off.
I was taught 'gyroscopic precession', but I am a physicist and knew it was not right. When I was tasked to teach it I went to as many sources as I could find. The ones coming from designers and engineers did not mention gyroscopes, but the ones tracing their history back to the early days of helicopters in the US did, and that included the CFS ones.
Needless to say, I was treated with suspicion and 'gyroscopic precession' continued to be the accepted cannon.
In later years I have realised that my own 'explanation' was possibly too simple, but at least it came with the rider that many other things could affect the phase angle. ;-)