Originally posted by mulligan
P-factor IS an issue with trikes. Although you don't have P-factor while rolling down the runway, once you rotate and begin climbing, you do. So the difficulty is mananging the transition from no effect during the take-off roll to the angle-of-attack proportional effect during rotation and climb out.
Of course, this effect is more prevalent in full scale planes, and much less noticable in models, especially when compared to the relatively large amount of torque we can apply to our planes during take-off.
- George
P factor is an issue with all planes. It is more so when the plane is pitched up but still moving forward in a climb. On models, there is enough power that the plane is flying straight, with its longditunal axis flying straight into the relitive wind (angle of attack is almost 0). With full scale, they don't have the power to climb like a model, therefore when they climb, the longditudinal axis is not pointed straight into the relitive wind and they have a larger angle of attack. The nose is pointed up, but the plane is fllying a flatter climb angle than it is pointed. When the nose is high the plane is moving forward, there is more P factor. When the plane has as much power as a model, the plane is flying straight where it is pointing (the angle of attack is almost 0) and there is no P factor.