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Old 01-11-2013, 11:43 AM
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a65l
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Default RE: do ailerons provide lift?

You guys can post all the charts and facts you want, I know, from personal experience, that if my r/c airplane is in a bank adding back pressure to the elevator does APPEAR to tighten the turn radius. I relate to the science behind it, but for all intents and purposes, at the user level, adding elevator (just back pressure, really) appears to tighten the turn.
As a bit of reinforcement for my observation, I have played around with a mini ultra stick using only the throttle and rudder. You play with nose up trim untill you reach a setting that allows the plane to settle at lower power settings and climb with the throttle higher. (try on a windless day at your own risk). It's excellent practice for power management on final, and requires patience and carefull planning when executing turns onto runway heading, as I find myself reaching for the elevator to help tighten the turn. Other than the few degrees up already set in the trim, though, no extra elevator pressure is required to complete the turn, but it IS noticeablly wider than one using elevator.

So while the experts and facts may disprove, my observations and experience would seem to indicate... at a fixed bank angle, adding back pressure can tighten the turn radius.