I made this aircraft based on real life commercial jet design. First try speed over land reached over 210 m/s before flipping in the last second. Ideally, the wings should be tilted upward at an angle about 3-5 from the fuselage for optimal lift-to-drag ratio.[1]. The rudder is mostly used when landing and when attempting to line up a shot (in a fighter plane). Increasing the number of intakes will not allow you to continue using your jet engines at higher altitudes. ), Stable aircraft: "Untitled" (lost the file upon loading after aircraft), Stable jet car: "Untitled" (Lost the file), Speed over land > 350 m/s before veering off the runway, Sometimes Stable Spaceplane: "Hypersonic Experimental". You should be able to navigate fairly readily, and with the superb efficiency of jet engines, you should have plenty of fuel to go anywhere you need to go. That way you can use aerodynamics to lower the tail, rather than trying to raise the nose. That, combined with a Unity joint bug, makes your plane bounce. When your nose is stable at about 10 degrees above the horizon, pull up hard and keep it pulled. Display as a link instead, Here, the. I removed them and it works fine now. Keep in mind that as your altitude increases, your control surfaces and winglets will become increasingly ineffective and will no longer work at all once you leave the atmosphere, so you may need to add alternative control systems like reaction wheels or RCS thrusters. You can either go with four "LY-O1 Fixed" or a tricycle of two LY-01 near the back and one "LY-05 Steerable" at the front; either is fine for now. https://wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com/index.php?title=Tutorial:_Your_First_Plane&oldid=103052. DO NOT ANGLE THEM! Kerbal Space Program 2's simulation is a lot more in-depth than its predecessor, where it was feasible for any wannabe Goddard to punch through the atmosphere with overwhelming thrust. Rapiers generally provide less thrust than a Whiplash at speeds below mach 2, but provide more thrust at higher speeds. Go on, and take the plane capsule which looks like a converted fuel storage device Contents 1 Making a fuselage 2 Understanding Lift 3 Control Surfaces 3.1 Elevator 3.2 Aileron 3.3 Rudder 4 Landing gear Making a fuselage Any plane needs speed - so you need thrust (usually). Bit late i know, but i had the same problem. My first test of the plane parts in KSP2.Like and Subscribe for more Kerbal stuffs!#kerbalspaceprogram #ksp2 #kerbalspaceprogram2 #shorts #spaceplane #nasa All rights reserved. Before you can make a successful plane, you must understand what makes a plane go in places other than the ground - the wings. You cannot paste images directly. You should have something called an "Elevon 1"; this will be the moving part for your wings. But, likely guess is your craft is not producing enough lift. Now for the engines. But regardless of that, try very hard to let the plane fly itself off the ground without you applying any controls. Temperature tolerance is the primary consideration for fuselage choice. You're going to have a bad time. How to Fly a Plane - KSP Beginner's Tutorial - YouTube 0:00 / 25:53 How to Fly a Plane - KSP Beginner's Tutorial Mike Aben 30.6K subscribers 78K views 2 years ago KSP - Absolute Beginner's. 2022 Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. So you want to make a plane but all your contraptions explode on the runway, crash into the runway a few seconds after taking off, crash into the side of the runway, crash into the ocean after doing a tight turn or otherwise fail to do what you intended? LV-N has less than 25% of its full power at Kerbin sea level. If you pull up and cause the tailwheel etiher to hit the ground if it was already up or push it into the ground if it was still in contact, you will create bounciness. Or adding a RATO boosters. However, I want to place my wheels where i want to and not only on X parallel surfaces. Note: This tutorial was last updated for version 1.7.2. This is good for spaceplanes operating in low-oxygen atmospheres where jet engines can't be used. Either put more engines or reduce the amount of rocket fuel. All the weight is pushed on the middle and it can't pull up. For this to happen, I'm assuming you're using rocket fuel tanks. While all other cargo bays are fine for making spaceplanes, the Mk3 Cargo Ramp produces obscene amounts of drag, which can easily prevent reaching orbital velocities by itself. I don't have any mods but sometimes a problem may be a simple bug. LV-N "Nerv" nuclear thermal rockets are commonly used on SSTOs for the rocket stage if Rapiers are not used. Remember how you want your center of lift/drag to be behind the center of gravity? It is usually placed back because it can be placed further back than it is possible in the front (if it is placed in the front, it can obstruct the view of the pilot, which is undesired) as well as making the plane unstable (by the same effect that you would get if the center of lift (horizontal lifting surfaces) were in front of the center of mass, but with vertical surfaces). When your spaceplane rolls shortly after touchdown, veers to one side and then explodes on the runway, you have a problem with landing stability. Spaceplanes generally ascend best on a 10-30 degree incline, often leveling out towards higher altitudes to pick up the maximum horizontal velocity before switching to rocket motors. https://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/index.php?/topic/124380-wing-lift-amp-wing-lift-to-drag-ratio-charts/, https://wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com/index.php?title=Tutorial:_Spaceplane_basics&oldid=100619. To survive re-entry, it's recommended to start your approach back into the atmosphere at a shallow angle, ideally with a periapsis of around 30-35 km. If you keep all of the fuel in the front, you may find that your center of mass drifts backwards as your fuel drains. It Flips Up And Towards The Opposite Direction. Alright, it's late where I live so I'm gonna hit the hay and come back to it tommorrow, I read on the guide someone sent me and I think it is taht it doesn't have any way of pointing the up, so I'll tinker with some of the wings and see what I can do. 3. make sure your center of mass is slightly in front of center of lift force. By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform. Edit: I made a simple easy plane in career mode that is both stable and cheap: A trick i've used before is to put modular girders on the sides of the fuselage and putting the gear on the bottom of the girders. As with everything in KSP, experiment, experiment, experiment. Unstable Aircraft: "FAR Firehound" (Stock). When flying straight the plane is pretty stable but pitching up causes a sharp roll and I cant figure out why. You can also use parachutes on landing, but care must be taken to ensure that an adequate length of runway remains since you'll only get one chance to use them. This is generally an issue of not spacing your landing gears out far enough apart. This makes design easier, eliminating all concern for balancing jet fuel against rocket fuel. When landing, you can achieve the highest lift for a given speed by raising the total angle of attack of your wings to 30 degrees (although this induces a great deal of drag). A Ravenspear Mk3 taking off from the Runway in version 1.0.5. All lift-rating means is that the wing section will resist motion perpendicular to its plane. I have no problems using Mechjeb to launch rockets into orbit, rendezvousing and docking with other craft. As you would expect, spaceplanes need wings: they have various shapes and dimensions, and they differ basically in lift rating: you will want to have enough lift to keep your fuselage approximately prograde during your ascent to orbit. A good example of this is at the KSC runway when landing on a 90 degree bearing. Yours is a very light plane, and the standard suspension settings are for a medium heavy plane -- so your suspension is too stiff. My plane usually take off at a little over 120m/s. Next you need landing gear. Note: This is ONLY to be used to report spam, advertising, and problematic (harassment, fighting, or rude) posts. Those and the fixed main gear are NOTORIOUSLY bouncy. There are multiple ways to place them: Ailerons control the roll of the aircraft, and are (almost) always placed on the wings, as far out as possible and as centered (compared to the center of mass) as could be. Tell ya what, I'm gonna try to recreate that thing in my sandbox and see what I get. It is also said that a good landing is one you can walk away from. Here is your convenient solution to this problem! Conversely, if you keep all of the fuel in the back, you may find that your center of mass gradually drifts so far in front of your center of lift that you can't keep your nose up anymore, also potentially resulting in a fatal scenario. How do I fix this? I've had stability issues in planes where I'd have proper gear setup, balanced weight and lift. The issue is my plane rolls very sharply to the left any time I pitch up. You need to make sure that the Orange axis on the rotate sphere is parallel to your, nose-tail axis. Lift maxes out at 30 and declines beyond that point, so avoid excessive fuselage tilt.[1]. Try disabling friction control with on the front landing gears. Just like with rockets, get some courageous Kerbal in the cockpit and let's get started! And, of course, try to take off and land as slow as possible. If the problem has to do with lift then travelling very slowly, possibly even slower than that, should counteract the effects of lift and you won't drift nearly as much. Any ideas? This tutorial will help you with the basics of spaceplane flight, and will help you avoid the most common errors that could ruin your day as a spaceplane pilot! Privacy Policy. The issue is my plane rolls very sharply to the left any time I pitch up. Do you have new pics after you moved the rear wheels forward? First, I'm sure this is WAY overengineered, but I haven't gotten to the point of caring about that yet. Keep in mind that lift rating and control surfaces are not connected: lift rating is basically the capacity of your wings to sustain the weight of your spaceplane, while control surfaces are parts of wing that can be moved to change the flow of the air around the plane and through this change a plane's direction, angle of attack or inclination. For a Mk1-based aircraft, your rear landing gears should not be tightly tucked together on the fuselage. A relatively low-drag alternative is to use an inverted cargo bay and some hydraulic cylinders with structural panels as a cargo elevator. When dealing with high-speed landings, you may touch down too quickly and cause the front of the plane to smack into the runway. First of all, since the launch happens horizontally, you will have to include landing gears, and you will most likely want to include jet engines for the first stage for excellent fuel and cost efficiency. Description: "Originally called the Cockpit-plus-two, the 5 seat "Cockatoo" is a second-generation command pod that provides both safety and comfort It is rumored to have enough room to pack several days of emergency snack rations and board games" Useful stats: As the description states this large command pod holds 5 kerbals @TheEnvironmentalist There is one more method I'm sure would work in your case, although I didn't write about it because I think it's cheesy and wouldn't solve the root problem. It doesn't really matter if you angle them or not, there is not a single configuration for the wheels that can work on all plane parts. Create an account to follow your favorite communities and start taking part in conversations. So I have played the game for 200 hours and I love it. I believe the issue is there is not enough control surfaces to offset this issue, but it comes up very easy so it is not a very big deal. Set up for a long glide path, and watch rate of climb indicator at top of screen, aim for -5 m/s. More mass will mean it takes more drag to slow down on reentry, which will mean you go faster at lower altitudes and experience more reentry heating. Here is your convenient solution to this problem! As such, you will need various control surfaces. Landing speed (minimum speed for level flight) can be reduced by adding components to increase maneuverability, by using larger wings, by increasing wing angle of attack on the fuselage (3-5 degrees is the recommended range for a spaceplane to achieve the best lift-to-drag ratio [source]), and by decreasing the weight of the aircraft. Then you want to put something called a "Small Circular Intake" on the front of the tank, and a "J-20 Juno" engine on the back of the tank. 6.4K Downloads Updated Jun 7, 2017 Created Jun 7, 2017. . Cure: Draw a mental axis from the nose to the tail of the plane and use the rotate tool (summetry on), on one of the wheels. One FL-T100 tank can't power any rocket into space, yet a Shock Cone Intake, a Mk1 Inline Cockpit, a half-filled FL-T100 and a J-X4 "Whiplash" Turbo Ramjet Engine aimed in the general direction of "up" will let you laugh your way past the 70km mark at nearly 1200m/s. I have created a score of other aircrafts with different designs but deleted them because they didnt work even on the runway. First thing you're going to want to do in the SPH is turn on your centre of mass indicator (this is the point that the plane will rotate around when rolling, pitching, or yawing) and your centre of lift indicator (the Aerodynamic Overlay). Besides the good advice others have given, I would also be very careful with that little tailwheel. . For an example, see the A-10 Warthog's landing gears: link. I thought after buying this I would have all the parts I need to build a small plane that can at least get off the ground, but I'm having trouble. It's said that takeoffs are optional but landings are mandatory. Necessary for heavy/long spaceplane. The FedEx plane pulled back up in time to avoid a collision. When flying straight the plane is pretty stable but pitching up causes a sharp roll and I cant figure out why. All I have are the parts from the Aerodynamics tech and the gear bay (wheels). Secondly, it would suggest that your spaceplane's center of lift is too far forward compared to its center of gravity (causing the uncontrollable spin). Wow, if you need 200 m\s to take off, you should think about adding more lift. When you are near the end of the runway, quickly activate then detach them to get the nose pointing up. In fact, nothing will happen at all, and that's probably bad, so put an air intake on your plane anyway. Thank you and happy landings. If you're planning on landing on a somewhat uneven surface, like an open grassland somewhere on Kerbin or an island on Laythe, consider packing some parachutes for deceleration. Depending on which surface you place them on, they might not be parallel to the axis in which case. This is all right if their high efficiency saves enough fuel, but that may not be the case in small spaceplanes with limited fuel capacity. wings, unless they're very well braced). This is just a general briefing section with lots of "to do" or "not to do" things: when you think you've got it, check the Aeris 4A tutorial mission to learn how to get into space easily. Is there a way to place landing gear so that i can guarantee my plane can remain stable on the runway even at high speed in excess of 200m/s? They all had landing gear placed at the front and at the back. One idea I haven't noticed here yet: "wire up" the landing gear, with strut connectors. With a tail-dragger, the plane is already angled up just sitting on its wheels so once the speed is high enough, it should just float up by itself. If that's not an option, you can still recover some value by landing at any suitable flat place on Kerbin. This tutorial was created primarily based on a Reddit post by the incredibly helpful u/AnArgonianSpellsword. I have doubled the max stress value for aerodynamics failure in FAR for every category. Plane spins/lurches to the side during takeoff? Firstly, inadequate air intakes for the number and type of engines you're using (causing some engines to shut down before others). You want an elevon on each set of wings. One final point to consider is the mass you're planning to store in the fuselage. You probably won't have much luck landing the fuselage intact if your Mk3 plane gets its wings scorched off on reentry. I wanted to develop a plane to check how are the aerodynamics physics working, and went back to the KSC VAB to design a little plane. Control surfaces are heavier than wings. You can also angle the wings themselves slightly upwards (using WASDQE) in order to make them generate more lift when horizontal. My Space Plane Keeps Flipping Backwards On The Runway. KSP handling death investigation High Winds Cause Widespread Power Outages Ohio . The SSTO I took to Laythe recently has only one minor flaw using this design, I have to raise the landing gear and pull back slightly to take off. Check out the following guide for some good info: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/52080-Basic-Aircraft-Design-Explained-Simply-With-Pictures Alternatively, if you're returning from a high orbit or from an interplanetary trip, you can try repeated shallow passes through the atmosphere. This is most likely the standard jitterbugging problem. Keep your spaceplane pointed about 90 degrees above prograde so that the wings and body of your aircraft slow you down as much as possible. It can be helpful to use a slightly taller front landing gear and slightly shorter rear landing gears so that your fuselage points slightly upward on the ground, thereby increasing the angle of attack of your wings while on the ground. Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible. Wing shapes do not appear to have a significant impact on drag or drag-to-lift ratio at this time, but swept wings are still an easy way to help ensure that your center of lift stays behind your center of mass. For heavy rockets, it might be required to use structure to space the gears away from the body to allow more pitch. if mounted on not struted part) 2. put your main gear slightly behind center of mass. * Unlock steering and disable brakes on front gear. If you have seen the examples above, I have planes that have angled landing gear and they work perfectly, yet some planes with straight landing gears don't. Even if you can takeoff, landing will usually destroy tat aircraft so survival rate on an aircraft for a typical kerbal is nearly zero. Such as not producing lift, which is not what you want with a plane. 200 m/s runway stability just doesn't seem to have a worthwhile purpose to me, and is inducing counter productive engineering challenges. Keep at around 15 degrees to allow the plane to accelerate past 1000m/s. The Mk1 fuselage parts only tolerate up to 2000K, while Mk2 fuselages tolerate up to 2500K, and Mk3 fuselages tolerate up to 2700K. I managed to successfully takeoff and land this aircraft at least 20 times in a roll now and I haven't even lost a single pilot flying this. In contrast, if you attempt a landing at the KSC runway on a 270 degree bearing, you run the risk of colliding with the upward slope shortly beyond the runway if you can't slow down initially and then can't speed up fast enough. 4. This is also the same reason why planes start rolling toward the middle of the runway; because both ends of the runway are further from . - Make sure you have enough control authority to lift the nose up. If you can maintain level flight at about 30-40 m/s, you should be able to perform an ocean landing if needed. Note that no wings will tolerate more than 2400K, so the difference in temperature tolerance between Mk2 and Mk3 fuselages isn't terribly significant. As lift increases you remove some strain on the gear, however you've just increased the amount of sag. Landing is hard. Sometimes taking things off and re-attaching them does it, or you may have to go so far as to scrap the design and rebuild. So if I start encountering wobble it's time to pull back on the stick and get in the air. This ensures that your aircraft will go up once it achieves a high enough speed, and also helps with placing ailerons. This aircraft handles smoothly, no matter how you turn, roll and flip this aircraft, it will never lose control. These occur at their worst when your center of gravity is far ahead of your rear landing gears and you have a heavy plane at high speeds and a high angle of attack on landing, resulting in your front landing gear rapidly striking the runway after your rear landing gears touchdown.