Jet nosing up

[yvon]

 ???
Hi everybody!
 
    I have been crusing with lear jet for quite a time and now started with B737 however one thing i cannot manage to fix is that, also i think i managed to deal with the chart balance, the aircraft keeps zooming up for two or three degrees which doesnt occur with lear jet .I have tried others jets like B747/B 777 under automatic pilot and it ends the same :keep flying few degrees above skyline .Would someone be as kind as telling me how to resolve this annoying problem.
 Many thanks in advance,
     Yvon,Paris,France.

[Chris_F]

Somebody just answered the same question for me so now I can pretend to be the expert!    :D

That's normal.  The real life aircraft typically fly a bit nose up.  If the plane is too nose up (I've had the 747 cruise at 10 degrees nose up) then you're trying to fly at too high an altitude.  2-3 degrees is normal and realistic though.

[eno]

Welcome to the forums.

In answer to your question.

Its the way they fly for real.


cheers
eno

[yvon]

Tkank you Chris for you reply.Just one thing,how is it that lear jet flies perfectly horizontale?
Yvon

[Chris_F]

Tkank you Chris for you reply.Just one thing,how is it that lear jet flies perfectly horizontale?
Yvon

It's a different airplane with different flight characteristics.  There are lots of things which contribute to this angle that will vary from aircraft to aircraft.   Also, the lear is designed to cruise with a pretty high ceiling.  So at the same altitude as a jumbo the lear probably doesn't have to work as hard to fly level.

Essentially it boils down to weight and lift.  More angle of attack means more lift.  So an empty plane will need less lift and thus less angle then a full plane.  Some planes will require a nose up attitude, some a level nose, and some a nose down attitude.  Also, wings generate less lift at altitude so the higher you go the more angle you need.

I've tried to cruise too high in the 747 and ended up almost 15 degrees nose up just to maintain altitude.

[beefhole]

I remember when I used to be totally anal about this and even the fact that my b747 was nose up at the beginning of my trans-pacific route and had leveled out by the end could not cue me in that it was the fuel levels.  Ha i was such a noob then...  :P Good thing I know everything there is to know about everything now  ;D

[chomp_rock]

More angle of attack means more lift.

Untill you reach critical angle, then you stall