Gr8Shandini
Grtz. As 90 degree AoA is approached, the A/C undergoes a schizophrenic change. What you would swear is Yaw has become Roll and vice versa. Especially at low speeds, a "Yaw" (side to side "hdg." change) actually describes more of a Roll, relative to the airflow. The Roll effect is less corrupted but undergoes the same challenge. To extend the time spent in such a regime, power can be added, up to full burner. If you have seen an F-18 "Duck walk" down the Runway at seventy knots and 70 feet Alt. with an AoA of 70 degrees That's what I'm talking about, an exaggerated attitude that relies on the Strakes to prevent the Nose from flopping off on either side of the flight path. This manouver is probably 70 per cent ballistic, and you can imagine the VS/Rudders are basically hitchhiking.
Consider the strakes "fingernails in velvet"
I won't claim the strakes have no effect on VS authority in High A, but if that is true to the extent my two colleagues have proposed, why then does the F-16 fly rings around the F-18 with one less engine and one less VS/R ?? (And is equally adept in flight when the VS is simply Dead Weight.)??
Airfoil
Last edited by airfoilmod; 2nd Jun 2008 at 03:50.