Maritime Elcano Challenge KSP 1.2.2

[gilflo]

 

 

 

KERBIN MARITIME ELCANO CHALLENGE (MODDED)

Main mods used: OPT mod for the refuser, B9 mod on the Catamaran

Engines: 2 J-X4 "Wishpash" turbo ramjet engines - Weight: 62T - Liquid fuel: 44236L or 8.847T - TWR: 0.43 (1.5 Empty) - DV: 49121

Sorry, no spoilers used for DAY 1

1st DAY

Planting the flag for a Departure date DAY 2 at 01h45.

The RoverCatamaran "Gliding Cheetah" is waiting departure time. Standing behind is the OPT Hydro tanker that will feed her at her first stop after around 1000kms

Here is the track on which you can see the waypoints that are represented by numbers, 0 being departure.  Flag will be planted only on ground track. We made the choice for sea refueling, just because it so easy to land on sea were we will be during most part of the challenge... It just take more time to approach the tanker and stop really near it.... We expect Refueling between WPT 2 and 3, WPT 8 and 9 and just before arrival around WPT 11

Gliding Cheetah will sail East and North East from Departure to reach a point as near as waypoint 3 which is the entrance to the only land track (WPT 3 to 5). The idea is to cross the land during day light. Leaving at 01:45, a great part of the maritime track will happen during night and WPT 1 and 2 are set to avoid reefs during night and check track. She should arrive at sunrise around WPT 3 with just enough fuel to maneuver to the tanker.

Pulling up at 01:45

We are entering the sea

I don't set full throttle, just taking time to take the right heading, check fuel is balanced for all tanks, except the 2 front wings B9 tanks that will be kept full until all fuel is used. During the attempts in the sea, we realized that Gliding Cheetah was better balanced at low weights, as fuel is used,  with some weight staying in the front and using carefully the pitch trim to give a little lift at the front to speed up.....

Last glance at the nearby islands

Checking the Scansat Mapand the small Zooming map to the next waypoint, WPT 1, which is around 290 kms far

 

At the beginning our Grossweight is 61T and speed between 120 and 130m/s (250 kts) at full throttle and as weight will decrease, speed will increase but at a certain limit we will have to throttle down to keep our stability. All settings allow max speed at TimeWarp 4!

Approaching WPT 1, weight is 47T and speed 164m/s (near 300kts) still at full throttle and it's really nearly our maximum speed

Passing WPT 1 at max speed

To set course on WPT 2 at 630 kms I just play on the thrust of each engine, leaving 80% on the left one to change smoothly the heading from 99° to 54°. It's less dangerous than using the yaw, even with 50% deflection

Speeding up to 170m/s, max speed after WPT 1

WPT 2 is at 272 Kms, speed only 141m/s and half throttle with pitch trim near up position. As weight is lowering, we must decrease speed to avoid crash, to much speed and the catamaran is shaking around yaw axis. 

Too much shake and I must throttle down and pitch down immediately or use SAS which pitch down also....to avoid crash

Approaching WPT 2

Passing WPT 2, day is rising, maybe we should have left Kerbin base 15 or 30 mins earlier....

Sun is rising, max speed is falling, throttle 1/3 and we get still nearly enough range to reach WPT 3 at 300 kms

Our 1st stop is at 76 kms from WPT 3, time 04:35, gear down and speed brakes up to stop as quickly as possible and stay stopped...

It's time to call for refueling and we set Gliding Cheetah position as waypoint for the tanker.

REFUELLING

It's night at Kerbin Airport and the OPT Hydro Tanker is ready for take off with its 75000L of liquid fuel.

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Taking of from the runway, the tanker will follow the heading to the Gliding Cheetah, distance to target is 990km 

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After take off, left turn and climb to 18000m

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We are limited by the temperature of floating tanks that cannot exceed 1200°. Max mach is 4.4 and we use pilots assistant to cruise and warp 4. Flight enveloppe is thin, not far from stall speed and limited by M4.4.

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Leaving continent at rising sun over mountains

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We begin descent 200kms from target using Pilot assistant and here we are at 44 kms from the target

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Passing over the Gliding Cheetah (under right wing) we need to touch sea with a vertical speed not over 5m/s speed around 110, still using PA for vertical control

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Flare and landing

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The tanker is set as waypoint and Gliding Cheetah begins her approach

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Not easy to lead the catamaran near the tanker, because the tanker is waving non stop on its pitch axis (we never found the trick to stop that) and it could damage the catamaran. There's fuel lines on the front of each floating tanks and also near each door of the tanker.

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ladders are extended on each crafts and Jeb swim to the tanker to take the fuel line

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and brings it to connect it on Gliding Cheetah

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The line is long enough and the refueling can start

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Unpluging line after refueling is completed and the line will retract automatically.

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Once everything is finish we realized that we forgot to fill the 2 front B9 wing tanks, so final fuel will be 91%, but it's not a big deal to cross the land....

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On calendar Time is 05:25 on day 2, it looks 50 mins to make the flight and refuel.

 

SECOND PART: Crossing continent before south east ocean

Departure  heading to beach to cross the continent part.

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Entering the mouth

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Approaching a small sand inlet to cross before a small lake to cross

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Planting 1st flag on the inlet, it looks like the sun is going to leave before we finish to cross the continental part....Bad calculation at departure!!

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In water again for a short time

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Now we are going to head North East to the next lake. I put a lot of way points on this track that need to be very accurate to avoid accident, because Gliding cheetah is not so easy to drive on land..

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Night is falling and we will have to cross with the help of headlight only and we get the GPS map we can zoom...

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Max speed will be 70m/s. Driving here request a lot of concentration to avoid accident.....

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Mountains in the background...

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New lake with an isthmus to cross ahead

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Slowing down when approaching isthmus

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Still in water approaching the end of the lake

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Out on the beach of the lake which is the last one before sea, Jeb plants a new flag

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Still in 1stDay

Calendar DAY 3 Time 0:25, starting for the last land crossing, 45Kms to reach the sea

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Really dark here: Jeb wanted to do it at daylight....that's not really a success!!!

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Jumping at 7m in the dark night, mountains in background

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Last slope to sea

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We can hardly see the Ocean

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Here is the Ocean, we stop to plant the last flag before Kerbin base....Now it's sea navigation until the base...We did the most dangerous part in the night..!!!

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Right engine at 3/4 throttle to take the heading to the next waypoint which is 413 km ahead...It's a small island we must avoid before crossing a large Ismuth to the next Ocean

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Abeam the island, the isthmus is now 391 kms ahead of us, heading 126°

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2nd DAY: We have Passed Day 3 01:45

Approaching the isthmus, sun is rising

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Crossing the isthmus, the shoreline is on background, we have enough range to continue a little far before the next refuel...

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DAY 3 Time 02:49 , Time since departure: 1DAY 1H 04mns 

Stop for the next refuel with 5mns range....we are 1018 kms from our tanker...

 

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2ND REFUELING

Departure of OPT hydrotanker from his last refuel place,near WPT 3, where we refueled Gliding Cheetah last time , before land crossing, and our goal is near WPT 8 in the south east. The catamaran stopped at time 02:49

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Take off from sea, it's night here. The pilots know the procedure: Take off then take 25 to 30° pitch until reaching a vertical speed of 100-130m/s, then keep this vertical speed until  altitude18 km. Reaching cruise altitude reduce throttle to keep Mach <4.4 to avoid overheating.

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Climb to 18000m

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Cruise around 18000m at M4.4 maximum

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Sunrise during cruise

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Descent just 200kms from goal, here we pass west of WPT 7. Procedure is to keep 100m/s to 8000m then 50m/s

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20 kms from gliding Cheetah, the crew is preparing the Tanker for sea landing

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Reducing speed and VS just before landing, we have passed Gliding Cheetah. landing speed around 120m/s VS<5m/s

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Landed, the catamaran is behind us....We are going to turn by the left, reducing left engine to help 

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Approaching the Catamaran

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We stopped at distance and the Catamaran made his way to the tanker

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Jeb is swimming in the water toward Gliding Cheetah with the fuel line he sized on the nose after climbing the ladder.. There's 1 line each side of the nose and 1 on each OPT floating tank

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Refueling in progress

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Refueling completed,  nose fuel line is retracting

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Day 3 03:32:17, refueling is finished, the Catamaran is ready for departure. The refueling mission took less than 45mns

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Here is a short HD Vid from the refueling mission

 

Edited April 21, 2017 by gilflo

[gilflo]

END OF THE KERBIN MARITIME TOUR

Time to leave for the last leg. Gliding Cheetah will mainly head East to the Kerbin base peninsula. Time is DAY 3 03:32

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Timewarp 4, speed over 140m/s

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Abeam the waypoint, the next goal is the end of Kerbin base peninsula

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We carefully avoid this island in the middle of nowhere in the night

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Approaching the peninsula, Mun is rising. 1/3 throttle as we become lighter we must reduce speed for stability and our range increases

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Sun is rising

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Earth in view as we pass along the shoreline, with less than 15% fuel we are sure to make it to Kerbin base

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Kerbin mountains in background

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42 kms from base

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Beach in sight, ready to land

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On the sand, the catamaran steers right we don't know why and we need to apply nonstop left input

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We made it, stopping near our departure flag

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Jeb goes out to the flag. Time is Day 4, 00:33, we made it in less than 2 DAYS

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Leaving Jeb and his catamaran we ask our Tanker to come back home

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During cruise, overheating makes the OPT outer floating tanks explode and we lost them with some fuel, we are not sure to make it to the base

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Fortunately we comes out of fuel just in sight of Kerbin peninsula, as you can see no more floating tanks, the tanker glides in the sky

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Approaching ground with great vertical speed to keep speed

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The tanker is very light and the crew can flare it easily

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and land it safely

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Time is day 4 00:57

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Small  HD Vid - Return to Kerbin

 

Edited April 20, 2017 by gilflo

[4d4Garrison]

Wow that was a fantastic mission, I love the way you refueled it with the aircraft.