ChristiaanJ, you quoted me...
fullyspooled, re accelerometers, I fully concur.
But you said...
Quote:
You do however correctly point out (in my lesson of the day) that the accelerometer will indicate temporary accelerations caused by pitching moments.
Negative. If the accelerometer is installed in the right location, pitching moments accelerations become second-order.
Of course.... if you install it under the pilot's bottom... that's a different story.
And I have pleasure in responding......
My Dear Sir, and I mean that most sincerely, but I think you are now guilty of splitting hairs, or dare I say it, having gotten slightly confused! (Should I say ooops now, I wonder?)
If the accelerometer is installed "in the right location," and by that I mean vertically on the instrument panel, it will indeed reflect accelerations occasioned by pitching moments! By the very nature of "pitching,"
assuming that one has sufficient airspeed to alter the trajectory of flight in the pitching plane, an acceleration takes place - and any such acceleration will be measured, and indicated on the accelerometer mounted as I have described.
The accelerometer, as has been previously mentioned, cares not at which attitude the airplane is, it simply measures acceleration in the "pitching" plane of an aircraft that is
IN MOTION. If the aircraft is in motion and pitches, there is undoubtedly an acceleration, and I promise you that it WILL be measured by an accelerometer installed on the instrument panel!
However, if the aircraft is
NOT in motion, you can pitch it all day long and no accelerometer in the World will notice a jot of change. An accelerometer does not in any way detect changes of pitch - that I know, and I can further testify that when correctly flown, several auto -rotational manoeuvres that involve massive pitch changes at VERY low airspeeds result in very small accelerometer deflections - due only to the fact that "directional" motion is limited to almost nothing. The lomcevak is a classic example.
Perhaps I was guilty of not qualifying my statement as thoroughly as you seem to do so naturally, but I trust that we now agree. If we do, I have another topic of discussion that I just
know you will love to debate.........once this thread has finished.
.