Why One Wing Acts Like a PARACHUTE During Turns

Added: 2026-05-27

[00:00:00]From a top-down perspective, we're rolling left, but guide your eyes over to the trailing edge of that right wing.

[00:00:06]You see those red drag arrows? Because the right wing is doing the heavy lifting to bank the airplane, it's taking a massive penalty in induced drag. It is essentially acting like a parachute, just hanging off the right side of the plane, violently pulling the nose to the right.

[00:00:20]It's actually not just the drag from the ailerons causing this. There's a second factor at play, relative airflow deflection. As you roll, the left wing moves down and physically strikes the airflow from below, which tilts its lift vector slightly forward. Meanwhile, the right wing is moving up, hitting the airflow from above, tilting its lift vector slightly backward. This opposing tilt creates an extra twisting force, a yawing moment to the right. But here is the absolute key takeaway. This specific twisting force only happens while the airplane is actively rolling. The second you stop moving the yoke and that rolling motion stops, this part of the adverse yaw completely vanishes.