gohsthb wrote:Flaperons causing pitching might be dependent on the plane. My Tower Hobbies uproar, I can use the ailerons as elevators if I would like. One time I tried experimenting by having both ailerons go down (like flaps) with the elevator up. So maybe I could make faster loops. I was surprised in flight when I enabled it and pulled full back. The ailerons actually had more authority than the elevator and it went nose down instead of up! So really you will just have to test what it does on you particular plane to see what happens. Kaos, can I suggest doing taxi runs to test your ideas, might save a few crashes.
-Gohst
Definitely. On the delta I mentioned, the ailerons were a long way behind the CG and functioned as elevons in pitch. So down flap means down pitch. Very predictable.
On the other hand, if they are close to the CG, as on a conventional plane, the situation is much less clear. They may have less direct pitch authority and affect the attitude mostly through the change in lift. In other words, down flap increases lift and raises the nose. So it could go either way. There's really only one way to find out -- in the air, carefully!
Regardless of pitch effects in the air, it's predictable that down flap will increase lift. Whether this will cause the model to pitch up when on the ground or nose over, it's not desirable and needs to be compensated with elevator. At the very least, as gohsthb says, some ground testing would be in order.
