ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Yakovlevian torque

Imagine you are sitting on a spinning playground roundabout with your friend pushing you with a stick in a certain direction. You will notice that you will start to tilt to one side and your friend might find it hard to keep pushing you in the same direction. This same thing happens when a plane is flying through the air. The spinning propeller at the front of the plane pushes air in one direction, causing the plane to tilt to one side.

This tilting force is called Yakovlevian torque. It's named after a Russian aircraft designer named Alexander Yakovlev. He noticed this effect on his planes and studied it carefully to understand how to control and counteract it. To do this, he placed the engine and propeller on top of the plane rather than on the front, and used a combination of small wings, called ailerons, to control how much tilt the plane was experiencing.

Yakovlevian torque is important to pilots because it can affect the stability and control of the plane. They need to be aware of it and make adjustments to their controls to keep the plane flying straight and level. It's like riding a bike - you need to lean in the opposite direction to maintain balance. Pilots need to do the same thing with their controls to keep the plane flying safely.