Originally posted by majortom
Even then, if it measures right but flies wrong, it's wrong. When you get it so it flies right, there's no point to measuring it.
I entirely agree with that, BUT ! The big problem with most design is that you can't adjust the incidence, so you can never get it "right " !
What I mean is, balancing an airplane is just that, balancing. When you balance something, you have 2 sides, Most of the time, when we balance an airplane, we adjust one side, never touch the other....
The difference of Angle of Attack between wing and tailplane, or incidence, is the other side. Each time we move the CG, we should adjust this incidence. Without doing that, the setting is always a compromise ( cheated with trim on the elevator), but never "right".
Bernard