Therefore: to make a plane climb, increase thrust. So that means lift is directly proportional to drag, and thus to thrust. L/D is generally a fairly constant number based on aspect ratio and other factors. Lift = 1/2 * density * airspeed^2 * wing area * lift coefficient Lift coefficient is proportional to angle of attack The general situation for steady-state flight: (It's different for direct thrusting climb, like a rocket or a fighter climbing straight up with T>W). This is how all airplanes work in cruise. Increase throttle and your plane will usually "settle" for the same velocity but with a higher rate of climb pull the stick and your plane tends to stick to the same rate of climb but with a lower velocity.įlying with full throttle controls in MS Flight Simulator or X-Plane (or in a real aircraft) is a fun exercise that comes fairly natural after a little while but it's very different from how you control planes in KSP. In a similar fashion, pulling the stick will pull the nose up, increases lift, plane climbs, loses speed. Increase throttle will indeed increase speed at first, but that will result in more lift and the plane starts to climb, losing speed again. So when you're done climbing to a desired altitude you usually can cut down on RPM (less power needed) but increase the pitch to maintain velocity.įinally as most small ("general aviation") airplanes are self-balancing, the controls work reverse of what you'd expect. To make the "game" more difficult, usually your engine will proved more power at high RPM's, but that also heats up the engine a lot. Throttle up at low pitch, and the engine's RPM will increase until the resistance of the air beating the propeller matches the engine's power. High pitch gets you high velocity, but also high resistance. Pitch we discussed - it's the "gear" of your propeller. Cut back on fuel, on the engine will work less hard. Add more fuel, and the engine will work harder. Throttle is just that - how much fuel is going to the engine. In most internal combustion airplanes you'll have (sets of) three levers from left to right: throttle, pitch, mixture. The problem with KSP's control model is that effectively you control RPM, not throttle. Should you ever turn down the rpm on your engine while flying, or should you change your speed only with blade pitch? Also, assuming that you do change engine rpm, how do pilots change their speed? Do they have two throttles or is it automated in some way. I also have another question: how should you fly a propeller plane in ksp. Changing blade pitch appears to change the speed just like changing years on a bike, not the rate of acceleration like pedaling harder. Thanks for the analogy, that is what flying a plane in ksp feels like. Of course, engine power also needs to be adjusted to match, because the power that the propeller puts into the air has to come from somewhere. The reason for this is because tip speed is an extremely important design parameter, and it's easier to design the propeller for constant tip speed than to avoid variable pitch. Very simple setups change rotational speed, but other than that propellers are usually run at constant speed and change the amount of power they put into the air by changing pitch. My best guess as to why this is not true is that ksp's physics engine cannot simulate rpm's high enough for propellers to throttle by changing rpm like my drone appears to.Īctually, most propellers do use blade pitch. This is also how planes behave in simulators like real flight 9. Also, in rl I have flown drones that can definitely throttle and definitely don't have pitching propellers. I have seen many things propeller planes and most don't appear to have propellers that can change pitch. My question is how do propellers throttle? I can't imagine they use blade pitch like in ksp. See this page for more infoĬommunity Teamspeak Server is a simple question, but I know very little about how these things work. Refrain from submitting images that involve real life space disasters that resulted in loss of lifeĭon't post/discuss mirrors or torrents of any version of KSP See the discussion on misc posts for more info No posts unrelated to KSP or memes and image macros. Please remain kind and civil at all times
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