Thanks to everyone who replied.
swh,
I still cannot see how excess power can affect Vmc. Considering Vmc is the slowest speed where the asymmetrical thrust can be counteracted with rudder force, I cannot see how having more overall excess power can affect any of these variables. Maybe you could expand on what you wrote and illustrate your thought process... (I tend to be a little slow
)
Rob,
I like your theory a lot. It definately makes sense.
Ft,
I read our post several times but can't seem to grasp the concept. Or rather, I understand what you are saying, but I can't convince myself. Maybe the reason being that in the FAA's Vmc (which is is what I learned and teach) there is no mention of performance. In fact, we teach that Performance and Directional Control are on the 2 sides of a balance(you give up one for the other). In other words, the FAA Vmc is the speed at which a heading change of less than 20 deg can be maintaned with 150lb max rudder pressure, prop windmilling, TO config, max 5deg bank, ect. There is no mention of performance. In fact, for small aircraft certification, there is no single-engine positive climb requirement, not even at Vyse (and therefore certainly not at Vmc). In other words, performance is not the limiting factor of Vmc, but control is(I don't reacall performance playing any role in the Vmc arena, I believe its all about airspeed, rudder angle of attack, cg, bank angle and yawing moments, with maybe some stabilizing keel effect from the gear, depending on its position relative to the cg).
So reducing drag the same amount on both sides (and the same distance away from the longitudinal axis) will increase performance, but will not change neither asymmetrical thrust, not rudder force, thus not altering Vmc.
Oktas8,
I will reply to your post after some more pondering.
palgia
PS. Just thought of something, maybe my theory (wings not rolling= equal amount of lift on each wing) is wrong. If the wings are not rolling, all it means is that all the rolling moments cancel out. The moment depends on TWO things, force (in this case lift) and arm. Therefore we could have a wing producing 2000lb of lift 1 meter from the longitudinal axis, while the other wing is producing only 500lb of lift using ailerons that are 4m away. The overall rolling moments cancel out. Does that make sense or am I going insane?