RCU Forums - View Single Post - Questions about three channel versus 4 channel and dihedral versus non-dihedral
Old 05-13-2021, 05:53 AM
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jester_s1
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Wow man. Punctuation is a really valuable thing. Look into it.
I think you want to know about what dihedral does and what flying 3 channel vs 4 channel planes is like.
Dihedral does 2 things: 1. It makes a plane self-righting in the roll axis, which means it will always return to straight upright flying on its own if disturbed. 2. It creates a roll coupling with rudder, which means rudder application will also result in a roll in the same direction.
Both of these effects become stronger with more dihedral.There are other aerodynamic design choices such as wing sweep and placing the wing above the vertical center of gravity that accomplish some of that too.
For flying: A rudder only plane with dihedral is easier simply because it's simpler. Old school trainers like the Sig Kadet or Telemaster could be built with ailerons for sure, but often weren't because they were so beginner friendly without them. 4 channel planes open you up to being able to fine tune your turning characteristics, cross control to handle more wind, and roll the plane without yawing in order to do rolling aerobatic maneuvers.
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