Originally Posted by
Maoraigh1
From the handling, I see side and forward slip as just names. I got my PPL on an aircraft without flaps or airbrakes. Most of my flying has been on an aircraft with airbrakes, not flaps. I can stop a slip without taking my hand off the throttle, so I seldom used the airbrakes. Only recently did I encounter the term "forward slip".
The distinction is like that between "Stop:sign-braking" and "Red-light-braking" which I don't think driving instructor has ever taught.
Yes they are names, but there is a difference. I think most people, even pilots, intuitively think of the slip as a side slip because the
side of the airplane is headed towards the runway, not the spinner/longitudinal axis. Just my guess as to why so many get it backwards.
A lot in aviation is taught incorrectly. Like two molecules leaving the leading edge, then because of a rendezvous they have set up at the trailing edge, the one on the top of the wing goes faster. I have heard lift described thusly from more pilots than I care to admit.