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During flight training rolling on a point aka dutch rolls are an exercise to develop coordination of aileron and rudder to avoid slipping or skidding turns.

Why doesn't the heading of the aircraft change when performing this exercise? According to textbooks, the horizontal component of lift turns the airplane - so why doesn't the nose move from side to side as the angle of bank changes?

Here is a video of the exercise

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  • $\begingroup$ Better demonstrated in this video. Not sure what is unclear, there are two forces counteracting: Roll in a direction and yaw in the other. $\endgroup$ Commented 22 hours ago
  • $\begingroup$ The instructor in this video said he was even leading with rudder - he's not opposing with rudder. When the student in the video performed the exercise he pauses at an angle of bank, and then the aircraft turns - why doesn't it turn as the angle of bank is increasing? Why doesn't the heading rock from side to side when smoothing transitioning from one bank to the other? $\endgroup$ Commented 9 hours ago
  • $\begingroup$ "he's not opposing with rudder": To initiate the turn and counter the adverse yaw, roll and yaw are first coordinated. When the turn starts and the heading starts changing, the rudder is sent in the reverse direction, the exact amount required to cancel the heading change. In both phases, the rudder is used to counter the heading change. Because if the opposite actions, drag is very large and altitude is lost. This is exactly what is described in the answer. $\endgroup$ Commented 1 hour ago

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Just to say it, "rolling on a point" or "rolling on a heading" are fine, but while a lot of pilots call it a Dutch roll, that's a bit confusing because Dutch roll is also the term for a particular kind of extremely uncomfortable tail-wagging behavior that large aircraft with swept wings can get into.

"Rolling on a point" is basically a de-coordinated turn -- you're constantly applying the opposite rudder from what you'd want in order to turn normally.

If you roll left, the lift from the wings is trying to make you yaw left, but you're simultaneously applying right rudder, so you're yawing right. If it's done correctly, you counterbalance the two forces and your nose stays right where it is while the plane rolls around it.

It's a bit of a complex maneuver because the timing of all the inputs, but this page explains it pretty well:

[...]

  1. Roll left using left aileron and rudder.
  2. Watch the sight picture. Before the nose starts to move left, release the left rudder and use the right rudder to hold the nose on point.
  3. At approximately twenty degrees of bank, smoothly move from left to right aileron. Do not extend the pause between the rolling moments.
  4. Right aileron requires right rudder. But wait—you already have right rudder! Watch the sight picture. Before the nose starts to move right, release the right rudder and use left rudder to hold the nose on point.
  5. At approximately twenty degrees of bank, smoothly move from right to left aileron. Again, do not extend the pause between the rolling moments.
  6. Left aileron requires left rudder. But by now, you already know that you have left rudder. Watch the sight picture. Before the nose starts to move left, release your left rudder, use your right rudder to hold the nose on point, and so it goes—left, right, left, right, and so on.
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  • $\begingroup$ Also not to be confused with "Point roll". $\endgroup$ Commented 14 hours ago
  • $\begingroup$ Sorry, but the exercise is done with coordinated rudder - rudder is applied in the same direction as the aileron input to cancel the adverse yaw. I think we've confused different activities, please reference the youtube video for the exercise that I mean. This answer doesn't explain why there is no heading change for that exercise. $\endgroup$ Commented 9 hours ago
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    $\begingroup$ @Chomeh The explanation is the same. Except your plane has high aspect ratio wings thus has adverse yaw. Your plane, without any rudder input, will turn the opposite direction when you roll. This is adverse yaw. The way adverse yaw work is that the drag of the wings are more than the horizontal component of lift thus the turn is in the opposite direction of lift. When you roll on a point you are correcting adverse yaw JUST ENOUGH to not turn at all. $\endgroup$ Commented 9 hours ago
  • $\begingroup$ ... in a regular coordinated turn you are correcting adverse yaw more than enough to turn in the direction of lift (the opposite direction of drag) $\endgroup$ Commented 9 hours ago
  • $\begingroup$ But the textbook says the aircraft is turned by the horizontal component of lift - if the aircraft is banked (without unloading the elevator) shouldn't it turn irrespective of yaw / slip / skid?. I don't understand how a force about the normal axis could counter a force applied along the normal axis - i.e. they are orthogonal. $\endgroup$ Commented 9 hours ago
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No, rolling does not turn the airplane

You say...

"the horizontal component of lift turns the airplane"

This is not true. The horizontal lift component changes the velocity vector ‒ it turns the flight path, not the plane. The horizontal lift component pushes the plane sideways, it does not actually turn the direction of the plane, as it does not impart any yaw-wise torque on the plane.

So why do planes commonly turn when banking?

Because that sideways motion ‒ in relation to the direction of the airframe ‒ makes the plane fly "dirty", with a β (yaw angle) that is not 0. And since the common layout of a plane is such that it has lateral stability by design, it flies like a feather-cock, always turning the nose in the direction of travel. This means that the β-angle does create a yaw-wise torque. And that torque is what turns the plane.

So it is not the lateral component of lift vector that turns the plane, but the plane's tendency to align itself with the flight path. And since you have turned the flight path, this makes the plane follow.

...in the common case. This exercise is an uncommon case.

Because just as you as you can manually force a β that is not 0 with the rudder, so you can maintain the induced beta that the banking causes. That then keeps the plane pointing in the same direction, even when you are, in effect, "side-stepping".

And if you listen in the video, the instructor is indeed saying that they are "using coordinated aileron and rudder inputs". The trick here is that they use opposite rudder input compared to making a common turn. Here they are opposing the feather-cock effect instead of helping it, as would be the case for a clean turn.

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