aerodynamic damping

aerodynamic damping

Whenever in-flight maneuvers result in rotation of an aircraft about or near its center of gravity, a restoring moment is created by the changed relative airflow. This restoring moment opposes the control demands, and it arrests maneuvers as and when the control demands cease. The effectiveness of the restoring moment (known as aerodynamic damping) is dependent on the dynamic pressure (i.e., indicated air speed). As altitude increases, true air speed increases for the given equivalent air speed, resulting in decreased aerodynamic forces. Thus, at higher altitudes the pilot must apply greater opposite control movements to arrest rotation.