CS-9 — what the canard does to the wing

Whole-aircraft RANS, 486k cells, 36 m/s. Traces are released ahead of the canard at its own height and coloured by the induced vertical velocity — the aircraft's own disturbance, with the freestream's vertical component removed — so undisturbed air reads neutral at every angle and only the wake shows. The boundary sits exactly at the canard tip — inboard of it the wing flies in disturbed air, outboard it doesn't. That interaction is what a component build-up (and X-Plane's per-surface model) cannot see.
The streak paths are the computed flow. The shimmer is stylistic — a steady solve carries no turbulence to animate — so its amplitude is tied to the local vertical velocity, meaning disturbed air visibly jitters more than clean air.

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CG neutral point

At this angle of attack

Lift coefficient CL
Drag coefficient CD
Pitching moment Cm
Lift-to-drag

Static margin, solo pilot

Polar

The build-up predicts +12.4% static margin. Measured, the neutral point sits essentially at the centre of gravity, and the destabilising slope quadruples between the low- and high-angle bands — a pitch-up tendency that strengthens as the nose rises. Removing the canard restores +13.6%.
angle of attack