Hey guys,From all of the reading I've done (I'm not a real pilot), if you're trimmed for level flight in a retractable gear aircraft and lower the landing gear, shouldn't this result in a descent? The books I've read say that a 500fpm rate is common.I ask this because I have a Cessna Cardinal 177RG (Dreamfleet) - FS2004. When I'm trimmed at say 90 knots and lower the landing gear, there's a temporary pitch and speed change, but then the plane settles back into level flight. Should this be the behavior of a retractable gear aircraft?If not, is there a way to edit the aircraft so the appropriate amount of drag occurs?Thanks,

Not necessarily. Pitch change and attitude change are separate events, but can be linked by the interaction of events. Gear extension MAY cause the nose to pitch down initially, but the pitch change alters the airflow over the wing and the aircraft may actually then pitch up in compensation. The increased attitude increases lift and the aircraft carries on without descending, just slowing slightly. That's the simple explanation! There are also the complexities of Centres of Mean Effective Pressure and the location of the gear relative to the fulcrum point and the C of G, and the relative drag of gear extended versus retracted, but the Cardinal was designed with reference to real aircraft and given DreamFleets attention to detail - and the complete approval of the flight model by real life Cardinal Owners - I think it's safe to assume it's right as it is.If you edit the flight model to change drag you won't alter the aircrafts pitch response, just its fuel consumption and speed, and that makes it less realistic, not more.Allcott

Thanks Allcott, very informative. I followed your explanation in the first paragraph, but you lost me a little bit in the second. No matter, I'll file it away for the day I can comprehend it. :-)>>and the complete approval of the flight model by real life >>Cardinal Owners - I think it's safe to assume it's right as it is.That's all I needed to know. Thanks again.

From my experience flying a 172RG, you will need to trim nose up after lowering the gear due to the change in CG. I don't think FS models the CG change when the gear is raised/lowered, so all you get is the added drag. With the drag and lower airspeed the aircraft should descend a little. It's been a while since I flew the DF 177RG, but I swear I had to add a little nose up trim after lowering the gear.What I did in the real 172RG is lower the gear followed by lowering the first 10

More hanging out in the wind = more drag = descent, all else being equal. The real C-177 RG will begin a slow descent in the situation you describe. It is, after all, the whole reason for retractable gear! The loss of drag offsets the gain in weight. I don't remember the pitch response, I only flew an RG a few times, but there's a definite increase in drag and it will start down. I remember I had to add a tad of throttle to stay level (the IP was making me do slow flight tricks). I then bought a fixed gear C-177, so I never actually needed to remember the details.Jim

The copy of the DF C177RG I bought produces an approximate 250fpm descent after landing gear extension.

Assuming you do nothing else after lowering the gear, the a/c MUST decend because it is trimmed to a particular airspeed. The a/c will attempt to maintain that speed; if you do nothing then the a/c will begin to decend to maintain the trimmed airspeed.Mike

That slight change in pitch attitude makes sense because a drag moment is created between the extended gear and the verical CG. That's probubly a bigger factor then any actual change in the CG which in most cases would be very small.TonyDigital-Flight

Both the Debonair and Duchess I fly will do approx. 500 fpm descent when gear is put down with little trim change-handy for when you hit the glideslope.Also, Bonanza's are known for being "slippery" when going downhill-in winter months especially-descending even at 500 fpm (with gear up) will have you right on the yellow airspeed. However-put the gear down (after slowing to gear speed) and it doesn't fly too different from a Cessna-e.g. gear acts almost like a speed brake on this plane. If I need to get down fast-gear comes down-the drag keeps it at a reasonable airspeed in descent at that point.http://mywebpages.comcast.net/geofa/pages/rxp-pilot.jpg

Hey guys,My information on this topic was based on mainly these two sources:http://www.planeandpilotmag.com/content/pa...ybynumbers.htmlPositive Flying, by Richard Taylor:http://www.avshop.com/catalog/product.html...&categoryid=172I came up with this question while doing the testing recommended in "finding the numbers" for the Cardinal.One thing I did notice with the Cardinal (in FS2004) is that when I extended the gear at extension speed (about 125IAS), the rate of descent was about 250-300fpm. But at what these sources say "approach speed" (typically 80-100IAS in the smaller aircraft) for a particular aircraft, the Cardinal, and some others in FS don't show much of rate of descent. This is consistent with tests in the Taylor book which says that the lower the speed the gear is deployed at, the less rate of descent you will generally get. I verified that with the Cardinal. I still think it's strange there's no descent at ~90IAS, but I'm just trying to nail "the numbers" down so I don't have to guess when I'm practicing IFR approaches.

"This is consistent with tests in the Taylor book which says that the lower the speed the gear is deployed at, the less rate of descent you will generally get."Precisely. This is because the a/c is trimmed for a particular speed. The higher the speed, the greater the descent must be in order to maintain that speed. Conversely, the lower the speed the lower the descent will be.Mike

Also remember that the TOTAL DRAG affecting an aircraft in flight is comprised of different types of drag.FORM DRAG .... this is the basic shape of the structure causing a disturbance in the laminar airflow, which causes dragINTERFERENCE DRAG