Would like to see more discussion on this subject.
Negative, Larry...ailerons control roll...the engine is offset in our airplanes to minimize yaw....and pointed downhill to minimize P-factor.
Best,
Pierre,
This is an interesting subject, and I'm open to discussion, as I mentioned in a different thread. I've spent many hours in the last month researching this phenomenon, as well as looking at many aircraft rigging specs, and talking with many pilots about the need, or perceived need to correct for torque roll, while in flight..........with the exception of low air speed & high engine power.
I've been doing this research for the purposes of flight simulation design. From what I've seen, the early P-51 didn't have an offset engine, and we know it's strong with yaw. Same for some aerobatic designs that use torque as an advantage.
It appears that some early designs used different wing incidence to counter torque roll. This later went to the offset engine design, because the differing incidence or aileron trim tabs will cause the opposite effect, when power is pulled back. I've seen explanations that the offset engine is moving more air across the left wing to produce more lift, which counters roll. And of course, this varies with throttle, which is a nice benefit. Is this exactly correct? I don't know.
I've reviewed hundreds of in-flight photos of my RV6A in climb, cruise, and descent. Once I got that heavy right wing problem solved after the initial flights (left trailing edge radius larger than the right).......you can see that I'm not using aileron to correct for roll during the climb or cruise. I had aileron trim to correct for minor imbalance, as I prefer perfection in trimmed flight. But, I was not correcting for a constant roll while on the climb or cruise.
Most of us know, what will happen with low airspeed & high power. The RV will immediately yaw hard to the left, and perhaps want to roll to the left also. A P-51 Mustang will simply want to roll over on it's back, as has happened to some unfortunate pilots.
Just today, at an FBO open house, in which the Liberty Foundations "movie Memphis Bell" flew in, I asked the B-17 pilot about torque, as well as a friend who owns a single place Pitts, Cessna 180 taildragger, and a Cub clone; and some other flight instructors.
I did this because of a desktop flight simulator, that has always promoted itself as having very real "on the fly" flight dynamics. The "sim" problem is..........is that you're always correcting a roll with "ailerons" during the climb & cruise, and anytime you change throttle settings. The B-17 has four props that all turn the same direction. The pilot said that they do not have to correct for an inherent roll. Same response from my friend, and those flight instructors as well.
Knowing that my RV was built straight as an arrow, and had excellent trimming qualities that were often mentioned by other pilots, and the fact that the wing incidence is the same...........I'd have to say that ailerons are not correcting a tendency for torque induced roll........except for perhaps right after the wheels leave the ground.
In conclusion, I'll say that the flight simulator is wrong. I know that aileron rigging can be used to compensate for rigging factors. The same with trim tabs. I know that with your crop dusting business, that you have many more flight hours than do I, and I'd certainly like to see some more discussion on this subject. In the meantime, I'm not agreeing.
L.Adamson -- RV6A with no offset vertical stab. Used a hand adjustable rudder tab.