*heh*

I dunno that it's so much of a "crutch" as it is a "baseline" if you will. I mean, the "range" of tendencies will still be the same in either case...it's just that with thrust angles in the motor that range can approach true symmetry at some specific condition of flight. Granted, we don't ever STAY in that condition long, so hey. *shrug*

To me, it's not that using thrust angles is "bad"...you just have to understand what you're doing and why. I've watched guys take a new plane out, fly it, and notice that it's "pulling left on an upline...must be thrust angle!". So, they go change it, and go back in the air, and now the airplane is "drifting right" during level flight...so, of course, they fix THAT with trim. Obviously, they say, the thrust angle is right because it's straight in the upline!



It's just a matter of where you want your baseline of "0 pull" so to speak...idle on the ground, or at some precise condition X in the air. Since we so rarely achieve, and aren't likely to stay in, precise condition X in the air for long, I choose idle on the ground.

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BendR...when ya get it, holler at me As I said above, I'm always game to discuss that book. *heh*