cappaj1

My Feedback: (1)

What would too much nose weight cause as far as flying characteristics, especially in regards to landing? I just purchased a plane that I had to remove alot of weight from the nose on in order to get the cg perfect.

The specific plane I'm asking about has a 72" wingspan, weighs 11lbs 12 oz without fuel, and had 391 grams of excessive weight in the nose.

MinnFlyer

My Feedback: (4)

The biggest thing you will notice on landing is that the plane doesn't want to slow down. You'll find yourself over-shooting the runway a lot.

Being nose heavy will also increase the stall speed. So, for example, let's say that "Plane X" has a stall speed of 20mph, and you can land it comfortably at 25mph (5mph over stall speed, or think of it as a 5mph cushion). Well, now it has a stall speed of 27mph, but at 32mph it still want to fly when you try to flair. You find that at 29mph you can get it down, but it's faster than you want to land, and now you only have a 2mph cushion.

It can really drive you nuts and cause you not to like an otherwise perfectly good airplane.

snuts

It will increase landing speed.
Reduce elevator authority, usually run out of elevator as the plane slows.
Promotes nose overs when taxi ing
Also once you start to bounce on landing, usually drops the nose hard and fast on the last, slow bounce from 4ft. No elevator authority. (extreme example)

That did seam excessive, if that is what it took to get to the manufacturers starting point.
*Check to see if your C/G information is correct* Some plans have been sent out in the past with wrong C/G on the original kit plans. Have you flown the plane since? If so please forward the results for others.
-Snuts-

cappaj1

My Feedback: (1)

That's why the fella sold it to me; hated the way it landed and didn't like the way it flew. I saw him land it a couple times and both times he had to go around several times before he could get the plane at the correct speed and stable enough to land in a straight line. It seemed to want to 'fall' out of the sky when he got it slow enough to land, ie., plopped down on the ground and bounced a lot.

I referred to the owner manual and it is very specific, to the millimeter, as to where to balance it. When I removed the weight and checked the cg at the specified location, it was perfect, without the extra weight I removed. A couple other people have the same plane at our club and said they didn't have to add any nose weight to theirs and suggested I remove it.

I haven't flown it yet, but if the weather cooperates hope to in the next couple weeks. Snow, snow, stay away!!

jester_s1

Elevator control is weak throughout the flight, and the plane fights you on turns and loops. A nose heavy plane wants to go straight, and the faster you go the stronger the tendency is. As mentioned above, a nose heavy plane likes to drop its nose when going slow, hence the faster landing speed. You know you have the CG right when the plane just does what you tell it to at any flying speed above stalling.

ArcticCatRider

My Feedback: (6)

It's better than being tailheavy.

Did the guy have a camera in the back or something that he needed all that extra (almost 1 lb.) of ballast up front? That's quite a bit.

With that being said...all my non-performance aircraft (Ugly Sticks, 4- Stars)....are actually on the nose heavy side. I actually didn't even bother to balance my 4 Star. It's nose heavy....but not enough for me to care.

(I guess I'm a bad example)

daveopam

My Feedback: (9)

I have flown a few nose heavy trainers. They land terrible is what I notice. Could not get a smooth touchdown without 3 or 4 bounces.

David

foodstick

From the sound of this airplane , getting a bad back carrying it around could be another effect !

SharpProp

You'll notice that when you are at full throttle the plane will climb and when you chop throttle the nose will drop. Better than tail heavy though!!!!

MetallicaJunkie

I like my planes slightly nose heavy, they fly better in windy conditions....but not too nose heavy....also on maiden flights i try to place the battery(s) as far forward just to get a feel for the plane then make adjustments.... For example i have 1.20 yak55 and maidened with the battery strapped to motor box, and it would not slow down and was "stally" so i ended up mounting it in the turtle deck area, now it lands like a trainer

Villa

A nose heavy plane may require up elevator trim to hold altitude. It therefor follows that if you fly in knife edge, the plane will tend to track toward the canopy side. Everything is relative.

Lnewqban

cappaj1,

While you wait for weather improvement, I would suggest verifying the CG location specified in your manual against the location that this on-line calculator can compute for your model:

http://www.geistware.com/rcmodeling/cg_super_calc.htm

I suggest using that calculator to you because I have estimated the location of the CG with and without that nose weight for a model similar to yours, and the position shift is around 1”, which seems to be as big as the range between nose and tail heavy conditions.

The calculator can give you a more precise location; however, If I have correctly assumed the cord of your wing to be 12”, then the CG should be somewhere between 3” (25% cord) and 4” (33% cord) behind the leading edge of the mean aerodynamic cord.

If incorrectly added, that extra weight could have moved the CG to 17% of the cord.
That would make the model very stable and self-correcting in pitch.

At the same, it would produce the following negative effects:
1) Higher wind loading (Higher flying and landing speeds).
2) The tail must push harder downwards, especially for positive loops and tight turns (Less maneuverability and more drag).
3) Reduced range of up deflection of the elevator (Less effective).
4) Horizontal tail may stall at landing when trying to force the wing to flare at low airspeed (Poor or impossible flare).

Regards!

jester_s1

I've seen lots of advice on the online forum to run planes nose heavy for fear of being tail heavy. I heeded it too, for awhile. The truth is, it only takes one or two trimming flights to get the CG exactly right, and the reward is a plane you don't have to fight. Start in the middle of the recomended CG range, and see how it flies. If it's twitchy, stalls suddenly in tests, and seems to go beyond your controls, then go forward. If it's mushy, drops its nose quickly in a stall test, and doesn't want to flair on landing, then go back. Aerobatic CG tuning goes further, but for basic flying that's good enough until you want to tune knife edges and vertical lines.