ORIGINAL: Top_Gunn
Sigh. As many, many posts here have noted, a plane flying in a steady wind ''feels'' no wind, and therefore cannot be turned in any direction. Wind is a mass of moving air; a plane flying in that mass of air has no wind blowing ''at it'' from the side, and will not turn. Gusts, of course, are a different matter, so a plane flying in the wind may turn in any direction because of gusts.
The usual illustration of this is somebody in a hot-air balloon flying an RC model around the balloon. The pilot of course feels no wind. People standing on the ground do. Does the plane? Of course not. Same even without the balloon.
Stick and Rudder, p. 340. ''an airplane flying in a steady wind flies no differently from one in still air.''
I am fully aware of what you are talking about. But to be honest it really has no bearing here in this thread. It does not matter what the plane "feels." That concept is much more intuitive in full scale flying but in RC it is not. We have to react to what the plane is doing and from our perspective on the ground the plane is going to weathervane into the wind to maintain a proper
ground track. That is the purpose of crabbing in the first place. That is the only point I am trying to make here.