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Old 04-20-2011, 04:46 PM
Viper2000 Viper2000 is offline
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If you accelerate very gently then you can get into a situation where small amplitude oscillations aren't damped but large ones are, such that bits wobble without falling off.

However, the window between a pilot-detectable wobble and rapid spontaneous disassembly of the aeroplane tends to be pretty small, which is why flutter testing is done with mechanical or pyrotechnic exciters and heavily instrumented aeroplanes in a very careful programme, such that you can plot the declining damping on a graph and put sensible placards in the manual without actually going there in flight.

Since people reach 500 km/h IAS in the 110 when diving, usually because they're chasing something or being chased, the chances are that if the problem was flutter then it would be fatal.

This would then be a clear modelling error because flutter below VNE = new pilot's notes & many heads from both the airframer and the customer's test organisation presented to top brass on silver platters at very high speed.

The general character of the behaviour as I have experienced it in flight is of divergent directional snaking, as explained in the link I posted earlier.

It's basically a yaw problem, with roll due to coupling.

It makes sense that this would be a problem for the 110 due to the relatively complicated rudder control run, which would likely be subject to cable stretch, friction, backlash etc. simply due to its geometry.

However, research is clearly needed to find out if this was a real problem in service.

Does anybody have a copy of Wings of the Luftwaffe lying around? Mine's at home...
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