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P38 airplane-why isn't this configuration used anymore?
writes:
To climb an aircraft, you increase the wing angle of attack by raising
the leading edge.
nope. you climb an aircraft by increasing power, thereby increasing
lift. pitch up results in a climb only at the expense of airspeed, at
a constant power setting. one thing drilled into me during flight
training was "power=altitude; attitude=airspeed". if you want to go
up 1000ft, goose the power.
This can be argued endlessly among pilots, but it's really an argument
about control. If you want to climb, should you increase power or
pitch? Your instructor will tell you one or the other, but they really
mean that it's more effective to control X with Y, not that Y is the
only way to get X, nor that Y affects only X.
The real truth is that you can climb by increasing power while keeping
airspeed constant (or keeping pitch attitude constant, which isn't the
same), or you can climb by pitching the nose up a modest amount while
keeping power constant. Either one works. But for the most effective
climb, you increase power *and* pitch the nose up *and* decrease the
airspeed to the best rate of climb speed.
However, we're talking about P-factor in this thread. This is caused by
the propeller disc not being perpendicular to the airflow, i.e. the nose
being pitched up. Adding power without pitch will indeed cause a climb,
but it won't create P-factor, so it's not so interesting for this
thread.
Dave (private pilot single engine land)
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