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pitch of an aircraft

Posted:
Sun May 29, 2005 6:43 pm
by airlinefly
I have a question here. Once my aircraft reaches a certain altitude and the highest speed possible, the pitch doesn't seem to level out. When I look at my side views and spot, it looks like my plane is "climbing" when it's not. This happens when I have it on autopilot.
Is there anyway to level out the pitch of an aircraft once it reaches its highest speed possible (without overspeed) and its altitude?
Thanks :)
Re: pitch of an aircraft

Posted:
Sun May 29, 2005 7:29 pm
by jknight8907
I'm not sure if there at the end that you meant that you climbed as high as you could? If so, that explains the nose-high attitude, you just need to descend a little. What plane are you flying?
Also, check the weight and lower it a bit.
Re: pitch of an aircraft

Posted:
Sun May 29, 2005 8:40 pm
by GA_Pilot
I may be wrong about this, but I think jets at high altittudes maintain a little nose up pitch, due to the decreased air density...someone else can probably explain this better than I can........
Re: pitch of an aircraft

Posted:
Sun May 29, 2005 8:51 pm
by airlinefly
Well, I'm flying a 737-700 at an altitude of 28000ft. at around 400 knots. I can try lowering the weight. That noise pitch at high altitudes seems to happen to all my jets. Props, not so much.
Re: pitch of an aircraft

Posted:
Sun May 29, 2005 9:38 pm
by JRoc
5 or so degrees nose up is normal. You needn't worry about it.
Re: pitch of an aircraft

Posted:
Sun May 29, 2005 9:56 pm
by jordonj
Depends on the plane I do believe...
Re: pitch of an aircraft

Posted:
Sun May 29, 2005 9:59 pm
by airlinefly
I've fixed the nose pitch, but that 5 degrees sound right then.
When I downloaded the aircraft, the author must have really overloaded it above it's max gross weight. So I modified the aircraft.cgf file and it weights properly now (underweight). That right there made the nose pitch better.
Re: pitch of an aircraft

Posted:
Sun May 29, 2005 10:49 pm
by beaky
In thinner air, just about any airplane will want to "mush"- that is, fly nose-high to increase the angle of attack and get a little more lift, so it can maintain the altitude you're asking for. If you've got a lot of weight aft of the center of gravity, it will increase that tendency.