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Old 02-16-10 | 10:08 AM
  #6  
jccaclimber
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Joined: May 2005
Posts: 2,335
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From: SFBay

Bikes: n, I would like n+1

Not quite. even if there was nearly no sail area on the side of the plane you would still have that issue. The problem is that planes need to fly with air speed rather than ground speed. This leaves them turned. The fix to fly not quite in line with the wind is some rudder and elevator/aileron correction. At some point though, you can't correct enough to prevent the plane from having a roll offset. This is why passenger planes with the engines under the wings have flat spots on the bottom, better clearance for that roll offset. The turning wheels allow you to have more yaw error between the wind and runway vectors when landing.
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