stultus
New Member
The topic has come up with my instructor a couple of times and I need some advice. We've gone over it a couple of times now and I'm pretty sure that he doesn't have his facts straight... When he asked me to explain the 4 left turning tendencies I left out gyroscopic precession and he told me I was forgetting one. So I explained to him that GP is only a left turning tendency when the nose has a downward moment because during liftoff the impressed force would be on the prop at the 6 o'clock position (from pilot's vantage point) in an upward motion. 90 degrees in the direction of rotation would be at the 9 o'clock postion and the resulting force, now on the left side of the prop, would pull the nose to the RIGHT.
He looked at me like I had a third eye in my forehead, and asked me where I had EVER (his emphasis) heard that gyroscopic precession was a right turning tendency. Then he tried to explain it to me and basically said: yes the resulting force is 90 degrees in the direction of rotation, but the force being applied to the prop is actually the wind pushing on the bottom of the prop causing the nose of the plane to turn left.
Which left me kinda confused. I told him I don't think I understood it the way he explained it. He seemed kinda frustrated--annoyed with me is probably better. He shook his head and told me he couldn't teach me if I didn't want to learn, and that I better not explain it as a right turning tendency to the DPE on my oral. The way he acted left me feeling uncomfortable---he seemed offended that I didn't believe him. We've been flying together for 6 months now and this is the first time we've had some sort of conflict and I left our lesson feeling kinda bummed.
Basically I'm asking: what is gyroscopic precession? Where can I find out more about it?
He looked at me like I had a third eye in my forehead, and asked me where I had EVER (his emphasis) heard that gyroscopic precession was a right turning tendency. Then he tried to explain it to me and basically said: yes the resulting force is 90 degrees in the direction of rotation, but the force being applied to the prop is actually the wind pushing on the bottom of the prop causing the nose of the plane to turn left.
Which left me kinda confused. I told him I don't think I understood it the way he explained it. He seemed kinda frustrated--annoyed with me is probably better. He shook his head and told me he couldn't teach me if I didn't want to learn, and that I better not explain it as a right turning tendency to the DPE on my oral. The way he acted left me feeling uncomfortable---he seemed offended that I didn't believe him. We've been flying together for 6 months now and this is the first time we've had some sort of conflict and I left our lesson feeling kinda bummed.
Basically I'm asking: what is gyroscopic precession? Where can I find out more about it?