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I am building a Space plane. Its very simple, I have a completely symmetrical design with the center of lift near the edge of the center of mass sphere (so behind but not WAY behind).

The problem I'm having is that when I start to turn my plane, if i turn too quickly (turn to greater than 10 degrees off my current velocity) my plane goes crazy and turns all over the place (towards the opposite of where I am heading).

Why is this happening?

Extra Information:

  • I use Ferrum Aerospace.
  • Further fatalities have uncovered that the plane actually tends at a 90 degree angle to its heading (and not opposite).
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    Instead of adding details in comments it's better to edit them into the question
    – Zommuter
    Commented Jan 3, 2014 at 11:42

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Does the Ferram status window start saying "Minor Stalling Detected" at any point? I suspect that your wings are losing lift due to stalling, and if your wings are stalling, then your control surfaces are also likely stalling, which means they can't bite the wind to bring the plane back under control. Without video to see exactly what you're doing wrong, or how the plane is behaving, that's about all I can tell you.

With Ferram, you have to start out simple, and increment your designs. It's unforgiving in its realism, just like real aeronautical engineering. If you're having a lot of trouble with this type of thing, take a look at Scott Manley's videos on aircraft design (part 1, part 2, part 3). He shows how to improve inherent stability, among other things.

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  • I love that guy. Yeah I watched them. I'll try watching them again. It could be stalling, not sure how to combat it... more lift rating? I'll also check what Ferrum has to say about the stalling.
    – Sellorio
    Commented Jan 3, 2014 at 22:41
  • Are you using B9 parts, or just stock parts? B9 by default includes the Ferram parameters, and are better aircraft parts in general.
    – MBraedley
    Commented Jan 3, 2014 at 22:49
  • I use a bit of both. I think I may have fixed the problem by increasing my wing area. I had very little in comparison. Now for the next challenge: not stalling in high atmosphere.
    – Sellorio
    Commented Jan 4, 2014 at 1:00
  • @MrUniverse: The primary factor I think is having a high lift to weight ratio. Obviously it needs to be greater than 1, but that number's determined partially by speed.
    – MBraedley
    Commented Jan 4, 2014 at 1:08

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