@evilbadger34 XML modding is not the only advantage computers have, the increased precision of a mouse is one thing. Much larger screens, more computing power, and the ability to edit the airplane code directly are others.

@SledDriver
That all sounds so great and I'm very glad to get all these tips :)
But the XML modding thing updated a while ago and I can adjust the drag scale down to a 0 on any part. Can't I do this on those big wings or does that really mess it up?

@evilbadger34

First of all, you're building on a phone (or maybe a tablet), so you cannot possibly compete with someone building on a PC -- so don't feel bad about that.

Second, your RedHunter actually flies quite well, and quite realistically.

SimplePlanes is like a restaurant where the menu only has burgers and fries, but you look around and some people are eating top-notch gourmet food. You ask around and it turns out all the best dishes are secret, and you have to learn about them before you can even order them. I'm talking about XML modding, which is 99% of the game and the best part of it. Keeping it "hidden" and undocumented is a weird decision on the part of the developers. I often feel like grabbing them by the lapels, and in my best Sgt. Hartmann voice, yell WHAT EXACTLY IS IT ABOUT BEING SUCCESSUL AND MAKING MORE MONEY THAT YOU DON'T LIKE???

Anyway, to your questions.

Wings

The default wings are lousy, don't use them at all. The type you want is the "structural wing" which doesn't fall off in more than a moderate breeze, modded to enable control surfaces by setting allowControlSurfaces="true" on the Wing.State.

Next, one of the wonderful things about SP is that wings can be scaled, so that you can use a huge wing, scale it down, and it still has the same lift. Another wonderful thing is that a wing part always acts as a wing, regardless of whether it's partially or fully covered by fuselage blocks or other parts. This means that you can have an airplane that looks like an SR-71, but has the wing area of a Boeing 747, giving it tremendous roll stability and increased maneuverability. What if you don't want the increased roll stability that comes with a gigantic wingspan? Simple, you scale the wings' length down, moving their center of lift closer to the centerline of the aircraft.

Note that the larger the wing, the greater the drag, but again, SP has more wonderful tricks up its sleeve. You can do either or both of these:

• adjust the dragScale of the wings.
• increase the power of the engines to match the increased drag.

Maneuverability

To build superbly-flying aircraft in SP, all you need is an understanding of high school-level physics -- but that understanding needs to be good. You need to completely and intuitively grasp things like momentum, angular momentum, the lever principle, and the relationships between force, mass, drag, and acceleration. If your pitch authority is too weak, you can increase it by using any or all of these strategies:

• increase the size of the control surfaces.
• place the control surface at a greater distance from the center of lift (make the moment arm longer -- the lever principle).
• add another set of elevators (canards) at the opposite end of the aircraft.
• increase the maximum deflection of the control surface, although this affects handling negatively past a certain point.
• use thrusters to apply the required force
• move the center of lift closer to the center of mass, though if you move it too close, the airplane will become unstable.
• decrease the wing loading by either making the wings larger or the aircraft lighter.

Lastly, if all of that sounds like too much work to you, you can always take one of my flight modules, install it in your plane built according to the instructions, and enjoy the perfect, otherworldly handling of a SledDriver build :)

@evilbadger34

This type of stuff is my dream, I can't download this because of my outdated device though but I would've been thrilled to be able to make this stuff, my most stable plane is my RedHunter1 and even that is a bit wobbly with slow pitch :( . This Brute III is another inspiration on the site that I can't compete with at all, How is it even possible to tame the SP wings? Do you just ditch them and stick to thrusters? How do you do it??

Thanks, @CRJ900Pilot

@1234planebuilder Same way it moves in any other direction -- using a thruster.

@AWESOMENESS360 Yeah, this seems to be the ultimate flight module to me -- I can't think of anything else I could want from one.

Neat!

@SledDriver How on earth does it go backwards

Damn, that's some real precision right there! The new flight module is pretty cool too, definitely opens up new ideas for future creations, doesn't it?

Thanks, @Treadmill103. "How much more precise can a flight module be? None. None more precise."