i discovered the reason why everybody turns left after playing rof
 

if you fly a fokker dri you only turn right due to huge gyroscopic precssion from the rotary engine

so some how everybody in il2 game found subcouncioulsly the slight advantage of turning left over right and did so though they explained it rationally with nonsenses of stick ergonomy

so seems its good to let the heart rule over the mind

People generally like to turn left more than right, goes for aircraft, downhill skiing, skating etc... In a landing pattern at an airport the normal pattern is always turning left for final etc because of this. I remember taking my first flying lessons and at lesson four or so the teacher said "let's do some advanced flying, turn right" :)

Don't know if it's different in the southern hemisphere?

/mazex

In the southern hemisphere, they fly inverted of course ;)

Like it! Actually, I think flying left traffic patterns has more to do with the captain/student sitting on the left. Left turns generally give a better view of the ground. I agree with you though, I remember flying right hand circuits and not liking them nearly as much :grin:

That's exactly what pigeons do when they fly over Mexico...

And to clarify why I started talking about if it's the other way around down under is because I have always had a feeling it has something to do with the Coriolis effect that all pilots that has studied meteorology knows about (and many more certainly) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coriolis_effect

Looking around on the net there seems to be some understandning that the "normal" righthandedness has something to do with it. Look at golfers... Almost all do the swing in a rotation "to the left" where the club starts on the right. And like I said, go to the Alps and look at the standard "stop turn" for people going downhill skiing. Left in almost all cases.

And even though I have many hundreds of flying hours IRL it still feels better to turn left :)

Haha...i never noticed it, but that's right! I much prefer turning left :grin:
Even in ROF. But i don't fly DR1...
Here in southern hemisphere it's the same lol

Musashi recommended to "always chase your opponent to the left". That way you are advancing from your strength, and he's retreating into his weakness, along with several other advantages.

I once took a pistol class with a left handed Japanese guy. It seems that it's bad luck to be left handed in Japan, so all his life he had been forced to do everything right handed. He is now effectively ambidextrous. He embarrassed all of us in the weak hand drills.

Actually here in Australia, instead of flying circuits the traditional holding pattern is vertical loops with an Immelman onto final. its also traditional to do a low flypast to scatter any roos or sheep that have wandered onto the runway.

It reduces pilot boredom, one of the known factors in aviation accidents.

For the same reason we have banned turbines ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkcX0KGIBwk

As a result Aussie aviation is one of the safest in the world.

Lol :) I have practical experience that you should always expect unconventional stuff from aussie pilots :)

When I was taking my gliders pilot license at the age of 16 (in 1986 so it's been a while), I was going to have my first flight in a single seater (a Pilatus PC11 B4). I got the instructions to be careful with the horizontal stability as the elevator is extremely more sensitive than the Bergfalkes I had flown before that... Enters the Aussie tow pilot that is doing his first tow flight in Sweden, but with tons of flight hours. We take off and realizing how extremely sensitive the stick in the Pilatus was I tried to be a bit careful to not get into the horizontal oscillations I was warned of. I got a bit over the normal tow position but gently started to easy down the nose... This was right after take off so we where at 150 meters over an Industrial area that is next to the airfield...

And then suddenly "smack", I see the tow line getting disconnected from the tow plane... There I am, with 15 hours in my book having to decide the eternal "aborted take off" question. Shall I try to land ahead in the place where I have the best chances of survival, or make a tight 180 degree turn at low altitude an hope I don't stall and make it back over the ravine at the end of the airfield? I had not done a turn in the plane type so after a split second thinking I did a tight left turn (naturally ;)) and got back to the field for a downwind landing with 25 meters left when I passed the boundary of the field...

Still strapped into the aircraft my instructor who had been a voluntary fighter pilot in finish winter war briskly said: "Well done, don't get out of the plane, you are going up immediately again so you don't start having any funny ideas about flying being dangerous! ". At this moment the tow plane was landing as I naturally came down before him. The Aussie pilot seemed a bit shaked and wondered why the heck I had been 30 meters over my normal tow position? (this conversation screamed with the Pawnee still running and us both strapped in).

The instructor screamed: "Hey, you do realized we tow ABOVE the prop wash in Sweden? ".

Aussie tow pilot : "Argh, sorry, I'm not used to that so I disconnected as I thought he was going to pull my tail up so I was going to crash... "

Ex finish winter war veteran instructor: "OK, we can talk about that tonight over a beer, let's get the reserve tow line connected - you both stay in your aircraft and don't think more about this now! " (last part with "it's an order " tone).

Off we went and it went well the second time :) To the tow pilots defense I was a bit above the swedish tow position so for him it nust gave been scary... But... I would not be surprised in the future if an Aussie pilot did a looping holding pattern ;)

And had it been today I would have landed straight ahead trying to minimize the damage... Tight 180 turns at zero altitude are dangerous stuff!

/mazex