The source of the problem here is that when an aircraft is spawned as AI, or as another player’s plane in multiplayer, the sim uses the static_cg_height value in flight_model.cfg rather than calculating the correct contact points. The static cg height value is normally set to match the height of the cg on the ground with the plane’s gear fully extended. This is used I guess because it is much cheaper to run, but it comes with issues.
To make it look correct for multiplayer on water you can set the static cg height to zero, since the correct position is provided by the other player’s connection, but then you’ll have quite a few problems when entering and exiting slew mode, as well as probable “crashes” when using active pause on the ground, and possibly issues in the aircraft configuration screens as well. All of these cases rely on static_cg_height rather than proper contact point data unfortunately. These can be mostly worked around, but it’s a big pain.
For AI use I’m not sure what the best solution is, but you could try setting the static CG height to zero, or to the rough position of the normal waterline on the plane, and see how that goes.
Really hoping the core issue can be addressed on this, as it’s quite an eyesore in multiplayer and the workaround is a bit shaky.
