Flaps on airplanes

[Wjolcz]

Do they actually work as intended or am I doing this wrong?

The idea of flaps on wings is to increase their lift, but in KSP deploying them makes you pitch down.

In comparison to IL-2 (the game and not the soviet attacker from WWII), deploying them made your airplane slightly pitch up, which I presume is the sign of increased lift, right?

Edited May 20, 2015 by Veeltch

[legoclone09]

You can turn the Elevons off in the Tweakable menu for them. Just disable Yaw, Pitch, and Roll.

[Wjolcz]

You can turn the Elevons off in the Tweakable menu for them. Just disable Yaw, Pitch, and Roll.

That's exactly what I do.

[ajburges]

Hopefully someone who understands them better will also reply...

Control surfaces work by adjusting the lift vector towards the direction they move. They also generate additional drag when in operation. Deploying them re-centers them near the edge of their operating range.

Traditionally placed ailerons will be near the CoM. They have low pitch authority so deploying those surfaces down generates more lift. (and drag)

Deploying elverons alow you to use the surfaces not use for pitch authority to generate more pitch authority than normal operation. This is useful in reentry where high AoA is needed for lift and deceleration as well as the flare for landing.

Deploying paired rudders sacrifices some yaw authority for an air brake. It is weaker than the dedicated part, but most people include rudders.

Canards paired with elevators can produce lift by canceling each other's pitch authority. Or they can function like deployed elverons on their own.

[Wjolcz]

Hopefully someone who understands them better will also reply...

Control surfaces work by adjusting the lift vector towards the direction they move. They also generate additional drag when in operation. Deploying them re-centers them near the edge of their operating range.

Traditionally placed ailerons will be near the CoM. They have low pitch authority so deploying those surfaces down generates more lift. (and drag)

Deploying elverons alow you to use the surfaces not use for pitch authority to generate more pitch authority than normal operation. This is useful in reentry where high AoA is needed for lift and deceleration as well as the flare for landing.

Deploying paired rudders sacrifices some yaw authority for an air brake. It is weaker than the dedicated part, but most people include rudders.

Canards paired with elevators can produce lift by canceling each other's pitch authority. Or they can function like deployed elverons on their own.

This actually explained a lot. Next time I place flaps on the wings I'll look at the CoM. Thanks!

[RocketPilot573]

Yep, jus place flaps along the center of mass, they make taking off and landing a lot smoother (no more tailstrike on takeoff).

[legoclone09]

That's exactly what I do.

Oh, ok. From what I see now is that you want them to deploy up. You just have to invert the controls on them I believe and they pitch up when deployed. I haven't looked into this much, so I can't be sure right now. I'm at school and I'll check when I get home. Never mind, I just saw you got what you wanted.

Edited May 21, 2015 by legoclone09
Realizing you got your answer already