So I'm still fairly new to the program and aircraft design in general.
My current plane is suffering from a fairly fast loss of pitch while in the air. The plane require constant correct to keep the nose from dropping.
What are the most common causes for this?
@Andrewtheplane where will i add the rotator? Inside the plane?
Tip go to your back wings make sure trim is on and then add a rotator and set the input to Trim then you can use the trim slider to adjust the pitch finely during flight
Your CoM is too far forward. Move it a bit closer to the CoL.
It could also be that you’re just flying slow and your wings aren’t generating enough lift to keep your nose up.
@xiaofootball Yeah I read the changes, good things to know. Modified, basically finished plane uploaded. https://www.simpleplanes.com/a/7TlArO/Marquette-Airworks-PR-8-Protector
@Tensen01 I'm glad it worked out. The design itself looks cool, so I didn't want to make any major visual alterations. Check out the comment (if you haven't) in my upload to see the changes made to improve handling. Flight characteristic is similar to how FW-190 behaves in WarThunder - Fast roll, but terrible rate of turn
@xiaofootball Thank you, that worked. Handling much much better now. And I didn't even really notice any changes visually other than the added blakc on the inner portion of the wings, and I actually really dig it. Thank you.
@Tensen01 https://www.simpleplanes.com/a/Ta85gQ/X20-Red-Airplane
@randomusername I don't know what any of that means...
@xiaofootball https://www.simpleplanes.com/a/PSi5g9/aircraft1-ver-1
@Tensen01 Up to you. I think you can unlist the upload and link to it or something.
@xiaofootball yeah I'd be cool with that. I can upload it as a version 1?
@Tensen01 Welp, in that case, with your permission, I could take a look at the design to figure out what's wrong. I'm down for solving some puzzles.
You might not have enough lift. Try increasing your wing area.
@xiaofootball Thanks for the Info... Sadly none of the proposed fixes worked... it would seem it is simply a flaw of the design as a whole.
@xiaofootball this helps me too
@xiaofootball yes
These are all I can think of at the moment:
Plane is too nose heavy. This can be gauged by checking the distance between CoL and CoM. If CoM is way forward of CoL, then chances are, the plane is nose heavy.
Engine(s) are mounted too high, causing CoT to be above CoM. Fix this by either lowering the engine's position or rotate the engine enough to counter the nose down moment. Alternatively, try increasing lift produced by the wings to counter the nose down moment.
This assumes that the plane has a conventional design. The plane's main wings are not producing enough lift at leveled flight. Try converting the main wings' airfoil shape to semi-symmetric or flat bottom. Both of those choices increases lift. Alternatively, try increasing the AoA of the main wings by rotating them. (Real life airplanes does this, look up wing washout on google)
Again, this assumes a convention design. The horizontal stabilizers are producing too much lift, causing a nose down moment. Reduce the size of the horizontal stabilizers.
This assumes a canard design. Canards are too weak. Increase the size of the canards, move it further forward, or change its airfoil shape.
Note that it is impossible to design a perfectly balanced plane flying perfectly leveled under all conditions. Real life planes are trimmed to fly level for a specific speed, altitude, payload, ...etc. It is fine to have a little pitch up or pitch down when flying your designs.