Hoe to control a plane...

[Krist]

Hello,

Maybe I'm missing something obvious. But...

How do I fly a plane.

Let me explain:

I have FAR installed, and i'v build a nice plane, that will be balanced, and that will take off without falling apart.

But I have so far never been able to get back to the runway. My planes just won't manoeuvre. Stock planes as well.

I can't seem to make turns. At least not in a controlled matter. I'm used to planes to start turning when you bank them. However, here when you bank a plane, it will just keep straight, starting to lose height beause of the reduced lift. In order to realy turn I need to bank to 90 degrees and pull up. That's not really realistic, and hard to align your plane with something. Basically I have no control whatsoever over the bearing of my plane. Getting to altitude is fine. And this both with planes I design, as with stock planes, or the planes that came with the B9 pack. And I've also tried without FAR. Same problem.

So basically, flying is a big fail for me at the moment. A pity, as I really would like to do more with spaceplanes.

Ot am I overlooking something blindingly obvious?

[relin]

Even in real life, simply rolling the craft doesn't cause it to turn very much. You need to combine some roll with some pitch to make it happen (and you already touched on the method): roll it part-way, and then pull up to keep your elevation steady. Optimally, you'd also add a bit of rudder to keep the craft pointing where you'd like, but that's a bit tricky to handle without a joystick or some practice.

Say you're trying to turn left. First, use 'a' to roll your craft a bit to the left, then use 's' to pull the craft through the turn. If you wanna perfect the motion, use 'e' to yaw the craft back toward the horizon.

[sjwt]

I would recommend a Spade over a hoe, much more aerodynamic =>

[Claw]

I don't know about FAR, but stock wings are all symmetric airfoils (no camber). Symmetric airfoils need AoA to generate lift. I'm not sure if KSP is actually modeling all this in bank, or if it's just coincedental.

Anyway, when you fly a symmetric airfoil craft (such as a T-38, F-15, F-16, etc) you do indeed have to pull back on the stick after you roll into bank. Otherwise the nose just drops because of the lift loss. (Swept wings do other wacky stuff too, but that's a whole separate topic.) When you want to stop turning, you have to stop pulling then roll out.

It works the same way for cambered wing aircraft too, except that you can get some turn without having to pull back. If you don't pull back, the nose will still want to drop some. If you do pull back, you will turn faster.

EDIT: Oh, I forgot. Also, even if you do design a craft that is capable of turning on it's own in bank (which is possible in stock), if the SAS is on, it isn't going to turn anyway. So this could also be what you're running into. SAS is trying to hold a set attitude, so normal aerodynamic behavior of the aircraft sometimes gets nullified. Like rolling into bank, often your nose will stay up (or only drop slightly) but your prograde marker will sink. Realize this one example assumes you have enough yaw control authority to actually hold the nose up in a bank.

Edited February 8, 2014 by Claw