During a trip to the flying field, I flew my giant-scale Sopwith Camel and Extra 300. Even though they are quite different, both require aileron differential. For these particular models, the down-aileron induces greater drag on the wing than the same amount of up-aileron, and this causes the aircraft to yaw outward from the turn. Without aileron differential, most airplanes require a certain amount of coordinated rudder to prevent—or at least minimize—adverse yaw. Adverse yaw is present if the tail of the model drops in a turn or it is quite challenging to roll in an axial fashion. The addition of aileron differential will help correct these tendencies and, in the case of the Extra 300, will also contribute to axial rolls. Let’s talk about aileron differential and coordinated turns. Setup should really start on the building bench before the actual flight tests. Proper program mixes are also important things to take advantage of. Let’s get started!
In the most common form, aileron differential simply means that one will make the down-aileron movement less compared to the up-aileron movement.
While this beautiful Sopwith Camel and this Extra 300 are quite different in many ways, they also share numerous…
