[geoschmo]

Originally posted by Krakenup:
It's not a big difference, it's a HUGE difference. For example, an F-16 can perform a 9-G turn (until the pilot blacks out) using aerodynamic forces. Its thrust-weight ratio, however, is generally less than one so its acceleration using just the engine is less than 1 G.

Heh, I was pretty much talking out my behind there wasn't I?

Aircraft almost exclusivly change directions by use of aerodynamic forces. I didn't mean engine thrust there at all. Or if I did I was nuts. I was trying to differentiate in my mind between the amount of vector change that is a result of manipulating the control sufraces, and the amount of vector change that is a result of banking so that the lift of the wing surface is pushing the aircraft in the direction you want to turn. But it's all so interrelated you would need to know a whole lot more about it than I do to separate those two elements.

I was trying to contrast that to a space ship in a vacuum where the "control surface" is a retro, and there is no lift. Got my self a little tied up. Thanks for pointing that out Krak.

Geo