Fokker 100 Rolling from Side to Side
Thread Starter
Joined: Mar 2012
Posts: 60
Likes: 0
From: Mansfield, UK
Fokker 100 Rolling from Side to Side
Hi all
I was onboard a red-tailed Fokker 100 the other week heading to Europe, and as I was sat over the wing and the aircraft had a strong shadow on the wing, I noticed something I hadn't noticed before when sitting further back. In the cruise, the aircraft was gently rolling from side. Not by much, maybe only a couple of degrees, and it wasn't noticeable when not looking at the wing, but was certainly noticeable when you could see the shadow moving up and down the wing.
Do any Fokker drivers or engineers know if this is normal for these aircraft, or whether it was due to wind conditions on this particular day?
Cheers
TCAS
I was onboard a red-tailed Fokker 100 the other week heading to Europe, and as I was sat over the wing and the aircraft had a strong shadow on the wing, I noticed something I hadn't noticed before when sitting further back. In the cruise, the aircraft was gently rolling from side. Not by much, maybe only a couple of degrees, and it wasn't noticeable when not looking at the wing, but was certainly noticeable when you could see the shadow moving up and down the wing.
Do any Fokker drivers or engineers know if this is normal for these aircraft, or whether it was due to wind conditions on this particular day?
Cheers
TCAS
Moderator
Joined: Feb 2000
Aviation Qualifications: CPL
Posts: 14,480
Likes: 178
From: UK
I don't know the type at-all, but agree that it sounds like a low amplitude neutrally damped Dutch Roll.
Quite a lot of aeroplanes do this, sometimes even with the yaw damper serviceable (which may have been programmed to only bring the DR characteristics into acceptable limits rather than remove them altogether). It is only a problem if the amplitude is great enough and/or the damping low enough to interfere with good control of the aeroplane.
I'm guessing that the period was probably somewhere around 3-5 seconds?
G
Quite a lot of aeroplanes do this, sometimes even with the yaw damper serviceable (which may have been programmed to only bring the DR characteristics into acceptable limits rather than remove them altogether). It is only a problem if the amplitude is great enough and/or the damping low enough to interfere with good control of the aeroplane.
I'm guessing that the period was probably somewhere around 3-5 seconds?
G
