ORIGINAL: Terry Holston
Depends on the flap location and whether the wing is swept or not. When flaps are applied, most of the time, they will add lift to the wing. The added lift causes the aircraft to rise unless down elevator is added at the same time. If the wing has a sweep back to it, then flaps may cause the nose to drop as they may be behind the aerodyamatic center enough to act like the elevator, then you will need to use up elevator to counter act the flaps........................Clear as mud????
edited for typos
I think you are right to a point...different degrees of flaps create different amounts of lift AND drag. For example, the first 20 degrees of flaps (depending on the airframe) may create more lift than drag and cause a rise. However the last 20 degrees create more drag than lift causing the nose to lower.