I’m working on a fixed-wing drone with a wingspan of 3.8 meters. I’ve already done the tuning for ground steering (nose wheel) in Mission Planner, but I’ve been facing an issue during takeoff.
The aircraft doesn’t maintain a straight line on the runway—it tends to deviate to one side. NOTE that my plane, needs a relatively long distance to take off since it’s a bit heavy.
I’m not sure if this behavior is due to incorrect ground steering tuning or if it could be caused by a mechanical issue (e.g., alignment of the nose wheel or structural asymmetry).
Has anyone experienced a similar issue, or could you point me in the right direction to troubleshoot this?
Thank you in advance for your help and suggestions!
During takeoff, the counter-torque caused by the rotation of the engine is applied to the fuselage, and the left wheel is strongly pressed against the ground. This increases the friction between the left wheel and the ground, causing the nose of the airplane to gradually turn to the left.
To prevent this from happening, you can do the following:
Slowly open the throttle.
Steering the vehicle so that it runs in a straight line.
Your nose wheel seems to be too sensitive to RC4 inputs to keep the vehicle running straight.