I am having a problem where I want to launch rockets from a high-altitude airplane to lower costs. The airplane has a detachable rocket with enough delta-V to get to orbit from high altitude, but not enough to get to orbit from the ground. Currently I am doing my best to put the airplane in level flight, hit stability control, switch control to the rocket, then launch, but I find that in the time it takes to put the rocket in stable orbit, the airplane eventually hits the ground destructively. I'm not even sure if I can switch back to the aircraft from the space control center if it survived (anyone know?). Perhaps this type of project is not even possible in KSP?
Does anyone have any ideas to allow the airplane to survive with low cost, or implement some career-mode-allowable autopilot functionality without mods, or mods that enable this functionality via coding or otherwise without seeming like complete cheating (mechjeb)?
