I need some ideas for creating the physics for an aircraft. I am using OPAL. I am not looking for advice for any specific physics engine, but just some basic theory. I am developping an air combat game, so I am looking for speed rather than quality precision physics. I have been pondering different ways of doing an aircraft for a while, and I have come up with several solutions. The first way would be the simplest and least realistic. Basically, I would apply force to the the node(aircraft) as a whole object. However, I doubt this would achieve the results I want. The second way would be to create a ragdoll aircraft; the wings, tail, wheels and fusalage would all be separate. I could then apply force to say, the wing, and thus power the aircraft and then steer by applying force to the rudder or tail. This seems a lot more work, but more accurate. The third one may be really not possible. I thought it would be really cool if I could apply "wind" to the wing and thus power the aircraft. Maybe the wind could be small invisable nodes with a high physics weight? I could send them on both sides of the wing, and their force would keep the aircraft in the air. By sending them from behind the aircraft with different velocity, I could dynamically change the speed of the aircraft! Or how about adding a physics engine to the propeller and then have the propeller force the "wind" past the aircraft?
Maybe I am way off on the last idea; but it would be the most realist. However, I think that the second concept is probably used in most flight simulators. I need some tutorials/ideas for actually using the physics in my app. Is there a good place for such resources and tuts?
I am rather lost right now, and any help would be great!
I have sent you my e-mail address via a PM(personnal-message) Thanks so much for your offer!