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Old 9th April 2010 | 16:36
  #36 (permalink)  
Crash one
 
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 1,434
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From: Scotland
I’ve been reading AFE PPL1 by Jeremy Pratt and in exercise 10b it says this:

“When turning there is an increased tendency for the wing to drop at the stall, but not in the way you might expect. In a balanced level turn, the higher (outer) wing has a higher angle of attack than the lower wing. Therefore the higher wing will reach the critical angle of attack first and stall, actually rolling the aircraft out of the turn.”

I thought that if you’re in a balanced level turn one would only be applying back pressure on the CC (the rudder and ailerons would be central). So how can the outer wing have a greater angle of attack? Surely it’s just higher off the ground than the lower wing.

I thought the lower wing would stall first as it would be going slower (less airspeed due to following a shorter track in the turn).

Jeremy or anyone else got an explanation?
Crash one, gpn01 - I think in general parlance, and almost certainly in the example cited, a 'balanced' turn is taken to be one where you are neither slipping, nor skidding - i.e. the longitudinal axis of the aeroplane is aligned with where it is going, no particular consideration of airspeed.
Sorry but I disagree just a bit. The original question referred to a balanced level turn. This would imply a constant airspeed, it would have to be in order to be both level & balanced. More power would be reqd than for the same airspeed in a balanced level cruise.
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