Left-Turning Tendencies Explained: Why Your Plane Pulls

Left During Takeoff

By Colin Cutler | 01/03/2023 | Previous | Next

Boldmethod

Have you ever felt like you're veering toward the left edge of the runway during
takeoff?

It's not because you're a bad pilot. There's a reason your plane pulls left. Actually,
there are 4 of them, and they're called left-turning tendencies. Here's how they work,
and why you need right rudder during takeoff to correct them.

Torque
Torque, which is the first left-turning tendency we'll cover, comes from a pretty famous
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 guy named Sir Isaac Newton. Newton's third law states that "for every action, there is
an equal and opposite reaction".

TorqueEffect

LeftGearForced EngineTorque(Action)
•Downward(Reaction)

boldmethod>

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Most western aircraft have engines that rotate clockwise when viewed from the
cockpit. That's where torque comes into play.

As you throttle up your engine for takeoff, the right-turning direction of your engine and
propeller forces the left side of your airplane down toward the runway. When the left
side of the airplane is forced down onto the runway, the left tire has more friction with
the ground than the right tire, making your aircraft want to turn left.

P-Factor
P-Factor, which is also called "asymmetric propeller loading", happens when the
downward moving propeller blade takes a bigger "bite" of air than the upward moving
blade.

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 Boldmethod

This happens in two scenarios:

1) Your plane is flying at a high angle-of-attack (takeoff and slow-flight are good
examples), and
2) You're taking off in a tailwheel airplane.

In both of these scenarios, your downward sweeping blade is at a much higher angle-
of-attack than your upward sweeping blade. And with a higher AOA, the downward
sweeping blade creates much more thrust (or lift), making your airplane want to yaw to
the left.

Gyroscopic Precession
A spinning propeller is essentially a gyroscope, which is a spinning disc. That means it
has the two properties of a gyroscope: rigidity in space, and precession. We won't
make this next part a physics lesson, but we will quickly (and painlessly) explain
precession.

Precession happens when you apply force to a spinning disc.

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 Here's how it works: you apply a force to one point of the disc, and the effect of that
force (the resultant force) is felt 90 degrees in the direction of rotation of the disc.

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For the most part, this only applies to tailwheel airplanes when they lift their tail off the
runway during takeoff. As the tail comes up, a force is applied to the top of the
propeller. And since the propeller is spinning clockwise, that force is felt 90 degrees to
the right. That forward-moving force, on the right side of the propeller, creates a
yawing motion to the left.

Spiraling Slipstream
Spiraling slipstream is the fourth and final left-turning tendency. It happens when your
prop is moving fast and your plane is moving slow. And there's no better example of
this than takeoff.

During takeoff, air accelerated behind the prop (known as the slipstream) follows a
corkscrew pattern. As it wraps itself around the fuselage of your plane, it hits the left
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 side of your aircraft's tail, creating a yawing motion, and making the aircraft yaw left.

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Spiraling slipstream is, of course, dependent on an aircraft's design, as well the phase
of flight you're in, so it's hard to quantify how much effect it really has on your plane.
Here are a few pictures to help you visualize it.

Why You Need So Much Right Rudder

The four left-turning tendencies create the forces that make your airplane veer left
during takeoff. Step on the right rudder to cancel them out, and you'll maintain a
perfect centerline throughout your takeoff roll.

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 You'll learn strategies, tactics, and fundamental principles that you can use on your
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 Like 656 Share

Colin Cutler
Colin is a Boldmethod co-founder and lifelong pilot. He's been a
flight instructor at the University of North Dakota, an airline pilot
on the CRJ-200, and has directed the development of
numerous commercial and military training systems. You can
reach him at colin@boldmethod.com.

Images Courtesy:
Boldmethod, Boldmethod, Boldmethod, Boldmethod, Boldmethod, Boldmethod,
Boldmethod, Boldmethod, Boldmethod, Boldmethod, Boldmethod
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