How do you maintain low speed maneuverability while also having stability and control at high speeds. If I make the wing loading really low and put large ailerons on the wings but at high speeds I turn, then pitch and yaw and spin out of control. Is there a balance I haven’t found or is there something silly I’m missing?
how bout swing wings?????
@randomusername Sounds like I should do some digging, thanks.
@Tkdmlg In real life, when they first built supersonic planes the answer was delta wings. Thin, symmetric, triangular wings. The triangular shape keeps the wing out of the shockwave cone above the sound barrier and reduces drag. The synmetric airfoil produces no lift at all unless the angle of attack is changed (usually via trim or pitch controls). Delta wing planes cruise around nose-high (3°-5°) with the wing providing lift, but if they need to go supersonic (or just plain fast) they can kill the angle of attack to zero in order to reduce drag.
The main drawback to delta wings is they lose a lot of speed in turns. That huge wing catches a lot of wind when the air isn't coming straight on.
Using some of that info I managed to make my plane I’m working on stall, that’s great. It means I can go slow enough without just dropping slowly, more work needs to be done though, obviously.
@Tkdmlg Sure. The stuff I wrote is just basic. I assume you already know some of it, but I can answer any questions you've got.
@randomusername I've never really looked into the effects of moving around the COL vertically. I'd imagine it makes the plane less laterally stable, improving roll response but that's just a guess.
it’s getting kinda late but I will read this like crazy in the morning. Thank you very much! @F104Deathtrap
@randomusername Yeah, but nose-droop is literally the best case scenario in the event of a stall.
But scientists have discovered tricks to allow wings to squeeze extra lift from lower and lower speeds. The most powerful trick is angle of attack. Basically, if the trailing edge of the wing moves downward relative to incoming wind, it provides more and more lift. In other words, nosing up gives more lift. A good way to use this is by installing elevators controlled by the trim tab, allowing you to fully control how much lift you have at any speed.
The other trick is flaps. They change the shape of the wing so it gives a lot more lift, but aren't safe to use at high speeds. You can install these on your main wings and they go well with AG activation groups or the VTOL slider.
The next and simplest issue is weight. Lighter planes accelerate faster, turn tighter and require less lift to stay in the air. It's that simple.
Heavier planes need more lift to keep flying. They can get that lift by either moving faster (more powerful engines) or having more lift (more powerful wings).
Wings are usually designed to work within a certain range of speeds. The lowest speed is called the stall speed and I think you know what happens there. On the other end is the maximum speed, above that bad stuff happens (controls stop working, wings rip off, all kinds of fun stuff). Engineers try to spread the range as far apart as they can, but high-speed wings tend to have the nasty habit of stalling at higher speeds anyway.
@Tkdmlg
First off: stability. As you know, center of lift (yellow) goes behind the center of mass (blue). The further apart they are, the more effort it takes to turn. If they get too far apart, the nose will feel "heavy" even at very high speed. The closer together they are, the easier it is to turn. If they are too close together, the plane will stall easily and spin out of control in turns. The main idea here is balance, check out this image. If you think of lift as a rope holding up the plane, think of mass as another rope pulling down. You control the elevators in the tail, balancing the plane out. The further forward that mass goes, the harder you have to pull on those elevators to keep things balanced.
Please let me know everything you wish to tell. @F104Deathtrap
There's a variety of issues at work here. On the one hand is lift vs weight, another is control surface strength and finally you've got stability. I can break down each issue and talk about it if you want, but it's going to be a lot of reading for you. Let me know if you're interested.
@Squirrel that seems like my best option, thanks a lot.
Consider having 2 sets of ailerons which are set with activators. Some aircraft (albeit mainly airliners) use 2 sets of ailerons which gradually swap over depending on speed. Low speed uses outboard ailerons and inboard for high speed.
Don’t make your wings too long and don’t make your ailerons too big I guess. Try lowering the chord a bit.
Which platform do you use?