Originally posted by Benny Moore
Most of the people in this thread do not, as I suspected, know what a real ground loop is. Ordinarily, a ground loop is not caused by brake use! It is an event can happen with no pilot input. As I said, there are only one or two airplanes that can have this happen in Aces High II.
A ground loop is not caused by a wingtip hitting the ground. It is not necessarily caused by stomping one brake. All it takes, in reality, is letting your taildragger airplane's tail get more than a few degrees off center while on the ground.
Also the cause of most ground loops, The reason the aircraft has a left turning tendency is due to several factors affecting the aircraft. Will only discuss two here.
1). An aircraft with a standard undercarriage, that’s two main wheels and a tail wheel, was and still is called the standard configuration. The propeller itself is in an extremely high angle of attack (AOA). The result is that the prop develops more thrust on the blades downward stroke, which is on the right side of the aircraft (as the pilots sees it from the pilots seat) As you apply power you will need to apply right rudder to compensate for the induced left turning tendency.
2). Gyroscopic precession, That’s pure physics. The propeller which is a spinning mass with the same properties as a gyro. Any force applied to a gyro is transposed 90* to the direction that the force was applied from. Compensated again by ruder and aileron. Aircraft designers also use wash in and wash out of the wing and tail services.
As the aircraft accelerates down the runway use the rudder to maintain the center of the runway. Apply power slowly at first. As the aircraft reaches flying speed, the need for rudder will become less ( because the higher airspeed gives you a more effective rudder) As the aircraft reaches flying speed the wing becomes more effective and helps offset Gyroscopic precession. During the takeoff roll when you are able to move the stike forward to raise the tail . you decrease the high AOA and your need for right rudder is less.
Hope this helps
CFII
