ORIGINAL: Sport_Pilot
The problem here is the laws of relativity. F=MA on earth and F=MA from a fixed point, and F=MA relative to the wind is not the same. We are always moving on spaceship earth. The Sun is pulling us in, but we are circling around the sun to cancel out the pull of gravity, we are pulled toward the earth, and the earth is rotating trying to sling us back out to space. To say that the turn is causing acceleration relative to the earth is not a valid point, because the plane is flying relative to the air. The acceleration of the turn is affecting the stall speed in the positive G in the turn, but has no effect in the down wind turn. It is like saying we are accelerating faster when we run to the west than we do to the east. But we do not feel a differance in G force because we are moving relative to the earths surface.
I was wondering if someone, somewhere was going to bring up relativity. Thank you Sport Pilot for not disappointing. It all makes perfect sense now seeing as how relativity describes motion at speeds approaching the speed of light (186,282 miles/sec) which is considerably faster than most turbines fly. Special Relativity (which is a theory not a law since nobody has yet travelled at the speed of light to confirm it - let alone that most folks don't even understand the coordinate system it uses) states that the laws of physics are the same for all observers in uniform motion relative to one another. In other words F=MA (force = mass x acceleration) from Newton's Second Law of Motion on Earth, from a fixed point, and relative to the wind are indeed all the same.
I'm guessing that we won't be seeing you on the podium in Stockholm to join your contemporaries (Planck, Einstein, and Fermi) anytime soon.
Cheers,
Jim
Edit: Changed "Oslo" to "Stockholm". I guess I won't be there either if only for the reason that I went to the wrong city
