DFC,
regarding the first explanation (aircraft sideslips w/ball centered...), I heard it from a fellow flight instructor who was trying to answer my question. I doubt he made it up himself, its probably circulating "out there" in the hangar-talk along with many other misconceptions and myths that are very common in the aviation world. (that's always IF this theory is wrong... I could always be wrong).
As far the second explanation (stalls break to the right because of too much right rudder) I found it
here .
To quote that website, the paragraph in question reads:
Thinking we have stalls figured out, we might stall the airplane with the power on, wings level and the ball centered. We might expect the airplane to fall through the horizon with the wings level. The fear of stalls may return when the airplane falls to the right side. What happened? One of the left-turning forces we compensate for during climbs is the corkscrewing effect of the propeller slipstream. When viewed from behind the airplane, this invisible force is creating a clockwise swirling mass of air that strikes the left side of the airplane and the vertical stabilizer. At the moment of the stall, the slipstream lifts away from the vertical stabilizer. This results in too much right rudder for the new condition of flight and the airplane falls to the right.
To be exact, it the part that reads
At the moment of the stall, the slipstream lifts away from the vertical stabilizer. that I cannot fully understand.
I was under the impression that the spiralling slipstream was caused only by the engine's propwash, and that for a given airplane its intensity depended only on engine RPM and aircraft forward velocity (high RPM, more yawing moment - faster airspeed, less-tightly wound slipstream creating less yawing moment).
I don't understand how the stall (airflow separation over the wing) influences the amount of force the spiralling slipstream exerts on the left side of the vertical stabilizer.
Maybe somebody can illuminate me in this matter.
Any help is appreciated.
palgia