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Old 11th May 2003, 08:33
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john_tullamarine
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The original question needs a little bit of qualification as the answer will depend on the resultant of all the things going on with the aircraft at that time .... i.e. there is no way we can answer the question without a lot more information... or putting a lot of qualifications in with any answer.

If the intent of the question is to ask something like "what is the pitching tendency of the aircraft, other things being unchanged" - which is what I think AfricanSkies was looking at - then the question revolves around longitudinal stability.

For a certifiable aircraft, if the speed is a little below trim speed (doesn't really matter how it got there) then the pilot must require a pull force to maintain that off-trim speed, i.e. the pitching moment (what the aircraft wants to do if you let go of the stick) is nose down.

For some aircraft, this presents a problem in some circumstances (commonly seen in the missed approach situation with small turboprops) if engine intake lip/prop forces provide a significant nose up pitching moment sufficient to overwhelm the basic aircraft's pitch stability. In this case, the aircraft would normally have one of a number of flight test fixes, commonly a stability augmentation system (SAS), to counter the problem caused by having the engine at high thrust/power with a significant nose up pitch angle.

Similarly, if the off-trim speed is a little fast, then the pilot must require a push force to maintain that off-trim speed, i.e. the pitching moment is nose up.
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