Plane constantly climbs

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reedrosa
Airman Basic
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Joined: 31 Aug 2017, 04:23

Plane constantly climbs

Post by reedrosa »

I only fly this plane occasionally. Am I doing something wrong because it constantly wants to climb, to the point it stalls. I have to keep significant pressure on the yoke at all times to keep it flying level. Thanks.

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Killratio
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Re: Plane constantly climbs

Post by Killratio »

This is correct behaviour. Many (most?) WW1 aircraft were "trimmed" to fly tail heavy at cruising speeds as they did not have adjustable trim (SE5 is one exception I can think of). You do NOT want to be fighting the aircraft to maintain control at low speeds on landing, so THIS is where the trimming was set most "neutral".

From memory of testing, there is a crude control lock that can be used as a sort of "autopilot" to relieve some of the strain.

As a side note, the Sopwith Camel flew quite tail heavy and had the added bonus (??) of the control inputs to fix this at cruising speed resulting in a turning moment (due to gyroscopic forces). So flying at cruise speed and straight and level required contant forawrd pressure AND left rudder!


Darryl
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lucas
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Re: Plane constantly climbs

Post by lucas »

Most of the WW1 planes were slightly tail heavy due their construction, wing incidence and airfoils.
The Oeffag-Albatros has a feature allowing you to "lock" the stick in a desired position. There was a lever attached to the stick, allowing you to do it. Set the stick on the desired position and click a button mapped to your trim key (no matter "up" or "down"). The stick should be locked. To unlock it, press the button once again. Keep in mind that it was a very primitive device.
Oh, and you may wish to reduce throttle a little bit during the flight, so the plane will not climb that much.

Lucas

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