Aerobraking the 262

[mjolnir]

Beta 25, I decided to try aerobraking in the 262.  The plane was a bit too eager to comply, as it promptly started dragging the tail along the runway.  I even got what sounded like scraping sounds.  However, no damage was done to the tail section of the plane.  Don't know if this was intentional or not, but since it's almost the only plane in the game with tricycle gear (think the 234 does also), I wonder if it wasn't simply overlooked.

[WilldCrd]

p38 has ticycle gear too so does the b26

[mjolnir]

True enough Wildcard, thanks for the correction.  Anyway, I managed to repeat this with both full fuel and less than 25% fuel, so that doesn't seem to be a factor.  If left in the aerobrake all the way until stopping, the plane stays on the rear wheels until you add power and tap the brakes, forcing the nose to come down, even with the stick released.

[WilldCrd]

umm I miss somthing? airobrake? where the heck is the control fer dat? or ya saying hold ur stick all the way back kinda like forcing a stall but not since ur still on the ground

[flakbait]

Aerobraking is short for aerodynamic braking; you use the drag of the aircraft to slow down by pitching the nose up. It only works on tricycle gear AC. Based on that shot, I'd say there's one of four problems. It could be: CG too far aft, too much control authority at low speed, not enough drag, or too much lift at low speed.



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Flakbait [Delta6]
Delta Six's Flight School
Put the P-61B in Aces High

[Darkish]

I remember in a documentary about late war jets that the 262, on takeoff, had a tendancy remain firmly glued to the deck.  Pilots reported having to push stick forward to further compress the nose gear in order to bounce the nose off the ground.  
Although, this was not before a few 150mph field ploughing sessions had occured though.

Admittedly my memory is worsening, however I belive it was due to the angle of thrust from the engines being less than the aoa of the wing, or the nose gear was too short.  However on its wheels, the 262's thrust would actually push the nose down with a force strong enough to overcome elevator authority.

Sorry that this is probably the wrong forum but this thread caused a few neurons to fire, a rare event these days.

[mjolnir]

flakbait, I was thinking along those lines also, and my guess is that there's too much control authority at low speed.  Like I said, fuel weight didn't make a difference, so either the CG is permanently too far aft, or it's not a CG problem.  Likewise, the plane did slow down at a pretty decent rate with the stick full aft, so I don't think it's a lack of drag.  The part that I really couldn't understand was that when the plane came to a full stop and I released the stick, it stayed sitting up on the tail.  Normally, the nose should have fallen back to the earth long before the plane stopped, somewhere under about 100 knots.  Hitting the brakes seems to be the only way to get the nose to come back down once you've managed to make the tail strike the ground.

[Morpheus]

Try dragging your tail in a 38 and its curtains fer ju!

Instant flip nose over smash bang crash!