KestrelAerospace

I think I can throw my hat into the "Kerbal Transport" ring with one of my airliners. This one's a bit unusual as it's a flying boat, which could also place it into the "Classic Recreation" category a bit. It takes a lot of cues from the flying boat craze of the '30s and '40s.

Just off the Kestrel Aerospace slipway comes the "Exmouth" Class flying boat! Four turbine engines propel the Exmouth class to a leisurely 125m/s cruising speed at an altitude of 4800 metres. The high-mounted, open cockpit gives pilots great visibility while taxiing, and the luxurious Mk3 cabins accommodate 48 passengers in true old-timey "sleeper" style - ready for cruising down river deltas and hopping between tropical island paradises. Engineers will be happy to note that there is easy roof access on top of the cabins, allowing engines to be serviced from atop the wing structure, and pilots will love the docile but maneuverable air and water handling, with the option to shut down left or right engines for more precise water taxiing. The Exmouth class is capable of very short landings on water, provided a shallow landing angle and good speed management are employed. It's recommended that pilots touch down at 60m/s or less, with the hull running as parallel as possible to the water. In case of emergency, or exceptional circumstances, there is the option to land on terra firma - A conventional tricycle landing gear is provided. Recommended speed for ground landings is, as before, 60m/s or less. The procedure for water takeoffs is to activate the flaps, using Action Group 3, and accelerate the vessel to 38m/s. Then, gently pull back and the 'boat should start to gently ease out of the water. Once completely airborne, more speed can be applied as necessary. The range of the Exmouth class is estimated using the provided formula to be around 1050 kilometres, but has been somewhat greater in real-world testing, sometimes reaching as much as 1300 kilometres. Your mileage may vary! Technical Data: For luxury, style, and go-anywhere class, there's only one option. Choose the high seas. Choose Kestrel flying boats. More at http://kerbalx.com/crafts/60979.

The "Exmouth" class is the first flying boat mass-produced by Kestrel Aerospace, and its unique design lets it operate from places where ordinary airliners simply couldn't. Take off and land on bodies of water! Travel in old-school luxury with 48 seats onboard! And see the sights in style! Find out more at KerbalX!

The launch of a new aircraft from Kestrel, this time a seaplane! More video to come soon...

New glider! Greenhayes Model 9 "Albatross" The Albatross is a small, single-seat featherweight glider, ideal for advanced training or personal fun. Its small size allows it to squeeze through gaps in the mountainside that would be impassable with normal gliders, and its excellent control response means that sharp turns and aerobatics are a breeze.

It is - I greatly recommend gliding as a sport/pastime, the sense of freedom and escape you get from staying up in the air the way the birds do is fantastic. It can be more exciting than relaxing at first, especially if you get launched with a winch - it's a much faster takeoff than most light aircraft perform. If you've never flown in a glider, consider looking up if there's a club near you! It's a very cheap way of getting airborne and well worth your time.

Stock Glider Catalogue Although KSP lacks wind and thermals, or indeed any means to actually maintain altitude in a glider without self-propelling, I have still found a tremendous amount of fun in building "sailplanes", aircraft with very low stall speeds and very good glide ratios. I think there's a lot of fun to be had in throwing them off cliffs and seeing how far it's possible to go, or what dangerous aerobatics you can perform. Thus, I present the Greenhayes Aircraft Glider Catalogue: four different sailplanes, each with their own handling characteristics and visual appeal. General Advice As a rule of thumb, the best fun can be had when you launch your gliders off a large hill or mountain. A good starting point is the mountain range east of the Kerbal Space Centre - you can use the new "Set Position" cheat to place your craft on the perfect peak. All of the gliders in the catalogue come equipped with three glide extension rockets (or a reusable self-sustaining rocket on the "Stork"), mapped to the space bar. These are to be used at your leisure - to gain speed before maneuvering, or to gain a little bit of altitude and go further, or even to take off from level ground - the choice is yours. An important difference that the gliders show from normal KSP aircraft is their tandem landing gear - they will rest with one wingtip on the ground before takeoff. Thus, it is very important to keep the wings level on takeoff and landing, to avoid any crashes. Remember to start trying to level out as soon as your aircraft begins to move! Greenhayes Model 16 "Cumulus" The Cumulus is a fairly docile, easy-to-handle two-seater with three pairs of Glide Extension RocketsTM strapped to the side, so that you can get yourself out of a pickle, or self-launch in a hurry. Recommended for beginners and for long, calm flights. The wheels don't retract on this one - no need to remember to put the gear down. Greenhayes Model 33 "Vulture" y The Vulture is a single-seat, tailless glider with excellent acrobatic potential - it is highly maneuverable on the pitch axis, and will flip around quite easily due to its wing configuration. It is Be gentle on takeoff and particularly landing, as the fragile fuselage is easily damaged. Not recommended for beginners, but good fun in experienced hands. Greenhayes Model 05 "Seagull" The Seagull is one of the first gliders built at Greenhayes, and its handling reflects its age - very stable, with a good glide ratio and a low top speed. The rudder on this glider is particularly powerful - use it in your aerobatics, or to keep your turns coordinated. Greenhayes Model 15 "Stork" The Stork is a durable, high-performance single-seat sailplane which can be put to just about any use the pilot wants. This is the only glider of the catalogue to feature permanent self-launch engines and flaps, allowing experienced pilots to control their approach speed and angle. Flaps are mapped to Action Group 1. Download link for all four gliders: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/10FbzVH22yt68R8dIGcphNB6VCL_8YvcM?usp=sharing

Servo, you madman, no sane person would try to replicate the shape of a semi-angular, semi-curvy flying boat hull!! But you handled it very well, as usual. I just wonder how it's going to handle in the water, KSP physics often don't play nicely with my flying boats...

Today I built a functioning airstair! I always wanted slightly more fidelity (and nice looks) from my aircraft and as I'm building a small Avro RJ-style airliner at the moment, I decided to give it a crack with the new robotic parts. It works quite well and doesn't interfere with the aesthetics of the craft as much as my crude stock "landing can-clipped-into-fuselage" doors do.

I've finally resumed construction of my outsized cargo plane with the aid of Breaking Ground hinge parts: The cockpit section now stays on almost 100% more than it used to, which means flight testing can begin in earnest. Part count is also thankfully low (thanks, fairings!)

I've been testing out gliders recently. As there are no thermals or indeed any wind to speak of in KSP, they're never gonna soar, but I'm having great fun optimising glide ratios and throwing them off cliffs. The large conventional sailplanes are nice and docile to fly, but the hang gliders are a fun challenge: You may notice that I've put little "glide extender" rockets on these, just to get a bit more airtime out of them!

The fidelity just keeps getting higher on these craft!

The stock Mk3 cargo bays always seemed a bit... skinny, to me. At least for the purposes of carrying wide cargo like big rovers or large crates. So, enabled by the new BG hinge parts, I've set to work creating a larger, more versatile cargo aircraft that can carry physically wider loads than its Mk3 counterparts. Seems to fly fairly well, and the new electric hinges really help keep the part count and complexity down from a "true" stock hinge.

The KC-200 'Silverback' is a cargo aircraft capable of lifting nearly four times its own dry weight. As with all other Kestrel aircraft, the design focuses on performance and simplicity, as well as a good aesthetic quality. Part count is low at only 64 parts, meaning complex loads can be carried aboard without negatively impacting KSP's performance. If a light load is carried, a range of well above 3600km can be achieved, but even with moderate to heavy loads the KC-200 will achieve good range and takeoff/landing performance. Large flap surfaces and powerful turbofans allow for high-AoA, short-field takeoffs and the thrust reversers enable drastically shortened landings to take place. Short of exceptionally long or wide loads, the KC-200 is intended to carry just about anything a long way, and if your space program is in need of a simple, rugged airlift vehicle, the Silverback is for you. Feel free to post any feedback, interesting flights, or criticisms in this topic! Download it at KerbalX: https://kerbalx.com/Kestrel/KC-200-Silverback-Heavy-Cargo-Lifter ACTION GROUPS: 1 - Turns engines on/off. 2 - Toggles reverse thrust. 3 - Toggles flaps stage 1 4 - Toggles flaps stage 2 5 - Opens cargo bay door 6 - Toggles cargo bay light

I'm testing out my new flying boat. Here's Bill out on the wing sunbathing making sure the engine hasn't fallen off. That tripod looks fantastic, like something out of a retro sci-fi show. This DLC really is letting some cool things get built.