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Old 10-24-2007 | 11:45 AM
  #13  
da Rock
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From: Near Pfafftown NC
Default RE: Attitude on the Ground?

The incidence angle of the wing in the fuselage is set for cruise speeds. Setting it for takeoff and landings is not the usual practice. Of course, the discussion is ground attitude, but the discussion is pulling in other things.

So back to ground attitude...................

With our models, a couple of degrees here and there aren't going to make a lot of difference.

When you're taking off, if the airframe is down in the nose, it's tail is angled up. Most times, anyway. And what does that do to the AOA of the stab/elevator? And what does being at a negative AOA do? It brings the tail down when the tail starts flying. So you MIGHT get an automatic rotation. Then again........... It's not that simple.

And when you're landing, the wing has to be producing close to it's max lift. And to do that, it's got to have a positive AOA. So until the gear, all the gear, is down, the nose gear is just along for the ride. And the length of the nose strut really only decides when that wheel is going to touch. And unless it's really too long, it will be like the tail wheel. It won't touch until the wing stops carrying enough of the airplane so that the mains have an effect on the attitude.

IF the wing is carried along on the takeoff at an AOA that does not produce positive lift, you COULD be in trouble. Maybe so, maybe not. Try it and see. The beauty of our hobby is that the pilot doesn't die if the builder or designer makes a mistake. The elevator probably will pitch the wing at some velocity down the runway. It might pitch the heck out of it, or not.

BTW, you might consider something about the takeoff situation. The wing is going to lift down, into the mains and nosegear. And the mains probably will compress, and the nosegear probably won't. Should we try to figure out the angles for that? Nah............ go test fly the sucker. Nobody can give you any numbers to use, and certainly can't cover all the bases generally.

Will what you've described wind up as a fatal flaw? Nah...... Worst case is you won't be able to rotate and you'll have to chop the throttle. Then what can you do? Bend the mains and try again. Or put a bigger nosewheel or smaller main wheels.