Tiddles,
Regarding your question about the forces acting on the aircraft, consider a pilot about to carry out a sideslip manoeuvre to lose height with the left wing down. With the arcraft banked a component of weight will cause a sideslip resulting in a sideways airflow onto the fin and the fuselage. The relative airflow on the fin will try and turn the aircraft in the same direction as the dropped wing. The pilot counteracts this tendancy for the nose to turn by applying right rudder. The force on the fuselage is generally in the opposite direction to that of the fin and will assist the pilot in preventing the nose turning; it is however, not as significant as the sideways force on the fin. All this will result in the aircraft being out of balance and consequently an increase in drag will occur which is what allows the aircraft to descend more rapidly.
The use of full flaps on some aircraft types is not advised during the sideslip because it distrubs the airflow and causes blanketing of the elevator reducing its effectiveness. There may also be other reasons too?
As mentioned above, another way to lose height would be to apply flaps and point the nose down. However, you'll then get an unwanted build up of airspeed, so alternatively you could raise the nose instead and descend with a high angle of attack and lower airspeed.
No. 2
Last edited by No. 2; 2nd March 2003 at 10:28.