Ernie Misner

Greetings!

I have a question about the height of the nose gear on tricycle setups. Should the plane (fuselage) sit perfectly flat, slightly nose up, or slightly nose down?

Thanks for any input!

Ernie

MinnFlyer

My Feedback: (4)

There are different schools of thought on this, but I have always set them so they sit about 1 degree nose up.

jettstarblue

Yes, different strokes for different folks.
I used to set my trike gear a degree or two down so the nose would stay planted on landings, but it's not a crucial setting by any means.


Jetts

LoboFlyer

I think the official recommendation of the manufacturers is zero incidence, but if you are flying a trainer or similar you won't notice if it is off a little.

A.T.

o incidence preferred for smoth take off and landings.
If nose high then the model tries to take off before flying speed has been reached and is likely to stall unless nose is kept down until speed is achieved. Also much more likely to bounce like a rabbit on landing as it tries to keep taking off again.
If nose down then take off speed has to be much higher so as to get more airflow over the tail to rotate the model for take off which will then leap into the air, again with a higher posibility of stalling than if level on take off.
regards
Alan T.

jettstarblue

Actually, they would lift the front wheel, and then I would just fly off. It helped to make sure I had enough airspeed.


Jetts

MinnFlyer

My Feedback: (4)

Let's debunk the theory of "Nose up will cause you to take off too soon". First of all, I am suggesting maybe 1 degree of incidence, not enough to make what miniscule ground effect there may be to come into effect. Second, it is nowhere near enough to cause the plane to lift off prematurely. The wing will fly only when it has reached flying speed, and will NOT leap into the air. The only reason I say 1 degree of positive, is to avoid any negative. Zero is optimum, but you're better off with a hint of positive than negative. If having negative keeps you from bouncing your landings, one would suggest that you learn how to land properly.

jettstarblue

MinnFlyer,

Yes, one might suggest that I learn to land properly, but this was when I was a "newbie", uh, 15 years ago, so I have learned to land properly. But thanks for the "advice" anyhow.


Jetts

Flypaper 2

Another good trick is to keep the mainwheels as close to the CG as possible without sitting on its tail. Makes for easier rotation.

Johng

My Feedback: (4)

IT DEPENDS ON THE AIRPLANE

Positive incidence on the landing gear setting can be the only way some jet models get off the ground, while on short wheel-base models like Cessnas the same incidence will contribute to bucking (uncontrolable bouncing between main and nose gear - like a horse). In that case a bit of negative incidence is the way to go.

Gotta love this:

So, what skill does one need to learn if they prefer to have positive incidence? Obviously, cheap shots have already been mastered.

- Don't see any reason why avoiding negative incidence on all airplanes should be a priority. Of course too much of either positive or negative will not be good. It's a tuning thing.

My personal preference is to have a bit of negative incidence where I can - leaves a greater control range for the pilot to determine the angle the wing operates at instead of the geometry. When elevator power does not allow the pilot to raise the nose until faster than stall speed - adjusting gear length longer makes sense.

MinnFlyer

My Feedback: (4)

Please read:

http://www.rcuniverse.com/showthread...02&forumid=220

Now set your plane to negative incidence if you so desire..