Quote:
Originally posted by Eric Coffey
The only thing that comes to mind is maybe the AP is compensating for a nasty crosswind (crabbing w/ right aileron + left rudder), and the spoiler is countering the rudder-induced yaw? Still that looks like a lot of deflection for trim. Are you sure you weren't in a gradual right turn? Even the wing vs. horizon in the picture kinda looks that way.
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No crabbing required in cruise. A crosswind once established on course is compensated for by ROLLING the A/C HEADING onto whatever offset is required to maintain COURSE, and then the plane is ROLLED level again. Autopilot is a wing leveller ONLY. No yawing possible.
In flight the wings flex upwards several FEET at the tip, and from the cabin, they appear as depicted in the photo.
No crosswind, COURSE and HEADING are the same. Crosswind makes HEADING diverge from COURSE in the direction that the crosswind is coming from. Autopilot doesn't care. It ROLLS A/C to new HEADING to maintain COURSE, and then levels wings again to keep zero error on COURSE.