Originally Posted by
WideScreen
Maybe read again, what I wrote.....
You think in speed. That's the wrong approach. You need to think in Kinetic Energy, and that is ground reference based. When you turn final with Kinetic Energy Ek, it represents a ground speed corresponding to that Ek. And you have the same Ek on your base leg, with the same ground speed. Kinetic Energy doesn't know about airspeed. Only wings know about airspeed.
IF you need a higher ground speed to keep flying (because of a tailwind), you will need to add Kinetic Energy. If you don't do that, by pointing the nose down (trading in potential energy) and/or use engine power (trading in chemical energy), you are loosing airspeed. The extra Kinetic Energy does come from somewhere. Really.
I really hope you are not a pilot. You have absolutely no idea what you are talking about. Kinetic energy is not ground reference based.
When an airplane is flying around in a constant bank it will make a circle relative to the surrounding air. If that air moves across the surface of the earth the pattern across the ground will look like curly hair (sorry, don’t want to start looking for pictures). Whatever the wind is, in the airplane you will not feel any difference between turning into the wind or out of the wind. That is because your frame of reference is the air. It’s like a fly in a train. It’s not flying at a 100 mph if the train is going a 100 mph. I was going to say more, but I ran out of potential energy. (facepalm)