Search the Community

Good day. Since there is an official VTOL thread, but no dedicated STOL thread (or at least not a more recent one, or me not looking hard enough), I thought it would be nice to discuss small, cute planes that can take off and land at low speeds. Mainly because in the last days, I tinkered a bit with these kind of planes. Some of you might know the Fieseler "Storch", a plane used by the Luftwaffe in WW2 as recon machine and by many other organizations since then because it can take off at around 50 km/h (which is like 16-17 m/s) and land at zero with wind blowing against it. I tried building a similar small and light plane and got this "glider" from it. It takes off by itself at almost exactly 30 m/s, has a range of around 270 km (triple that with drop tanks), a top speed of around 135 m/s if you go all out at a height of around 7 km (didn't try going higher) and has very calm and forgiving flight characteristics. It is basically 100% "stock", I just used the struts from Ven's Stock Part Revamp to lower part count (I once made a similar ultralight SSTO with around 40 of the cubic struts). Also, I realized how ugly the stock wings are and how lacking they are in every regard. The second one is basically just a turbine with canards. It can take off at around 12 m/s, but flying it requires a steady hand. https://imgur.com/a/R02qP9s Feel free to post and discuss your creations.

I am having trouble with the pitch of my plane. The plane takes off perfectly however 3-4 seconds after launch the airplane tilts down. I have tried moving the COL behind the COM but that doesnt seem to help.

Time to announce my first mission that took several hours to test and put together. A mission called "Around the World in 80 Minutes?!". What is the objective of this mission? Well, just circumnavigate Kerbin within an 80 minute (1 hour and 20 minutes) time frame. You can play four of your favorite kerbals (two who are pilots) or you can play even a guest Kerbal. Who is this guest Kerbal? Why, it's none other than Chuck Kermanl! In fact, playing him we'll lead to quite a few interesting easter eggs. Play the mission and find out! In terms of overall difficulty, it can range from normal to difficult depending on skill and aircraft design. I decided to classify it as a hard mission as circumnavigating and then landing can be a difficult feat. Even more difficult is doing it in an 80 minute time frame. However, it is possible to do as I tested it. There is even a special reward (which admittedly, I haven't even got yet.) that gives you points for doing it in 60 minutes! This is actually quite possible depending on design and skill. Here is the long awaited link: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Wll6qYMPojKb5dMH-mcw3IUONOKVUzpK Feel free to use this mission as a foundation for your own missions or even ideas from the mission. Heck, this could even encourage a pack of missions dealing with Chuck Kerman and his life as a highly skilled test pilot!

EDIT: I redesigned this to look much better and with a slightly improved control scheme. Pictures updated. Did you ever sigh wistfully as you admire the aerobatic antics of pilots piloting their magnificent machines through barrel rolls, hammerhead stalls, and the Immelmann turn, and finish off with a perfect vertical landing on a helipad at the top of a high building? You need the Brikoleur Aerospace Kombine (BAK) Karmilla. The Karmilla is the ultimate teach-yourself-to-fly (and hover) machine. It makes any kind of take-off or landing easy – horizontal, vertical, or just jet-assisted short – and is so easy to fly that it gives even a novice pilot the kind of confidence that will end in a smoking hole in the ground. Just remember: the hover jet bays have to be OPEN before using the hover jets! NOTE: Brikoleur Aerospace Kombine does not endorse the kind of hotdogging depicted in the publicity shots. Controls: Gear - Toggle gear and hover jet bays 1 - Toggle forward jet 2 - Toggle hover jets 3 - Toggle thrust reverser 6 - Toggle hover jet bays 8 - Control forward 9 - Control up The BAK Karmilla is inspired by the beautiful de Havilland Vampire, with which it bears a passing resemblance. Craft here: https://kerbalx.com/Brikoleur/Karmilla

Alright, here is the second Modern Fighter Jet Challenge! Now with MOAR REALISM! REQUIRED ADDONS BDArmory 1.0.0 Ferram Aerospace Research(FAR) Advanced Jet Engine(AJE) Kerbal Weapons System (KWS) Dynamic Deflection ALLOWED ADDONS B9 Procedural Wings. DCK Camo AirplanePlus Tweakscale RULES: Engines: Structural/Aerodynamic: Weapons rules. AI limits: General rules No space-grade parts(RCS, reaction wheels, RAPIERS, oxidiser tanks, Radiators, heat shields, etc) RTG's are allowed. No drones No Sci-Fi planes No armor. No unreasonable part clipping. *For those who don't want to have BDA, AJE, or FAR installed* I will put BDA weapons on your craft for you. For FAR, if I can fly properly in FAR (last times second place plane was originally stock, it happened to work in FAR) I will take it. Since the only real user-noticable change In AJE is reduced thrust by about half, I will remove fuel to the minimum for your airplanes class, unless you want otherwise. I will try to keep the CG in the same location. LEADERBOARD: 1. 2. 3. 4.

As the shadow of war falls over Kerbin, the VAB and SPH have become prime targets because of their advanced building capabilities. Therefore, only a month into the war, hardly a day goes by without the sound of explosions being heard coming from the airspace over the KSC. But now, the KSC has begun building and testing new planes to defend their airspace, waiting for the day that they have a respectable fleet.Now they have commissioned you to design the top-notch air superiority fighter. Rules 1. Any Mods allowed, just don't go too overboard. If possible, please use no more than 10 mods. Leave a list of mods if the link is not to KerbalX. 2. Any designs allowed, including SAS, RCS, helicopters and prop planes (firespitter, not stock), and large payloads of weapons. Keep in mind that more RCS, SAS, and Weapons affect performance. Also, part count max of 200. All craft will be flown by AI in combat. 3. Battles will start from a 15Km distance between the two teams and will be best out of three matches of 3v3, and a mutual final death in one match when both plabes are tied will result in a SUPER DEATHMATCH!!! SuperDM is 8v8. Will always try to post matchups. (Special thanks to @exbyde for the help in running these) 4. Weapons must be BDA only! Also must carry its own ammo, infinite ammo will not be enabled. Turrets, moving machine guns, cannons with a 360-degree firing arc, autocannons, and lasers are absolutely BANNED!!!!! 5. Only participants who have made it into the top 5 will receive the badge. (Once I make it, of course) 6. You can post an infinite amount of times, just please don't post a modified version of a plane that you have already posted without putting a Mk. x as an indicator. 7. Feel free to run your own contests with these planes, as testing against future competitors is useful for R&D. 8. The scoreboard will show the top 5 planes. When a new plane is submitted, it will have to work it's way against the current fighters on the list, from bottom to top. There will also be an honorable mentions list for best looking, heaviest payload, fastest speed (to island airfield and back), Best VTOL, and most maneuverable (can it get under the R&D sky bridge, and how fast can it go while doing so). I will post a notification when a new plane makes honorable mentions. 9. A plane will run up the Leaderboard once, so in a KOTH matchup style, but you can request an unofficial matchup with another fighter. 10. A link to a spreadsheet with the entire leaderboard, all the planes, their creators, the number of mods used to build them, if they've ever made an honorable mention category and which one, and the link to the download. 11. If there are any settings you want changed from default on the AI or weapons manager, leave them in the comment submitting that craft. 12. Tell your friends! 13. Have fun! Afternote: If you are interested in one of these using FAR, check out @Mukita12's challenge below. Top Five Place Creator Craft Name # of Mods (excluding BDA) 1 @drtricky The Cool Ranch Dorito 0 2 @NotAnAimbot F-25 0 3 @Thor Wotansen Sangrigor Drone 0 4 @Thor Wotansen Bryntröll Interceptor 0 5 @53miner53 Fighter 3 Mk. 2 0 Honorable Mentions Best Looking Heaviest Payload Fastest Speed Most Maneuverable Best VTOL Creator @FleshJeb @drtricky @Eidahlil @Thor Wotansen Plane Name Thwop Thwop (helicopter) AB-17 Moses Monstron Bryntröll Interceptor # of Mods 0 0 0 0

I've got a bit of a desire to get a Redbull air race type course set up in KSP. I know it's possible but I'm not sure exactly how to do it. Also, KAX is the only mod I know with a similar type engine but it's severely under-performing. Is there another mod with a better engine?

Kerbal Express Airlines is in need of updating its aging fleet of regional jets and turboprops. It's a big client, operating at hundreds of airports around Kerbin, and that means big fleet sales. Does your aircraft company offer the right kind of aircraft for the job? Kerbal Express wants profitable aircraft. They're looking for aircraft that meet or exceed their requirements for fuel efficiency, speed, range, passenger load, ease of training, and cost of maintenance, for the right price that gives them the best return on investment. They also want a design that's flexible, offering variations of the same design for a variety of different routes. The Rules: KSP version 1.3 or 1.2.2 (Craft file must import into 1.3 for judging). Stock parts + Airplane Plus (optional) only. The Mk1 and Mk2 Crew Cabins count as 8 Passengers Mk3 Passenger Module and Size 2 Crew Cabin count as 24 Passengers Small aircraft must have at least 1 pilot in a cockpit, and medium-large at least 2 pilots. No command seats. No reaction wheels. Air breathing engines only. No overly wacky designs or "spaceships", it must look like a modern aircraft. Minor clipping is allowed, within reason. A rolling runway takeoff is required. Takeoff & Landing speed of no more than 80 m/s (Use flaps to achieve this, if necessary) Flaps must be set to toggle on action group Custom 01 Your aircraft must stay intact. [No drop tanks, etc.] Model variants may only have minor differences between them to be considered. 15,000m altitude limit. Mach 1 speed limit (343 m/s) TweakScale is allowed, just please don't ruin the spirit of the challenge with it. Submission Deadline: 9AM PST, 7/6/2017 What is a variant? To improve your design's competitiveness, your company can submit a variant of the same design (See Wants section below). A variant is built on the same model platform with minor changes in design to give it, say, extra range, or extra passenger room. This is most commonly achieved by adding fuel tanks or lengthening the cabin, sometimes with minor changes to wing and emmpanage design. To qualify as a variant, it must generally have the same structural layout, meaning engines, gear, and lift surfaces must be in roughly the same location & design. Basically, if you make it too different, it will be considered a separate model/submission. What Kerbal Express Air Wants, By Category: For all categories, Range will be calculated by total fuel capacity divided by fuel burn rate at the recommended cruising speed & altitude. Turboprop Range of at least 800km Cruising Speed of at least 130 m/s 24 Passengers, and optional 32 Passenger variant Small Regional Jet Range of at least 1000km Cruising Speed of at least 220 m/s 32 Passengers, and optional 40 Passenger variant with an extended range of at least 1200km. Medium Regional Jet Range of at least 1500km Cruising Speed of at least 240 m/s 72 Passengers, and optional variant with extended range of at least 2000km. Judging Criteria: Every submission that meets the requirements will be ranked w/ feedback from Kerbal Express Jet test pilots, but how well it ranks depends on: How well it meets or exceeds the category requirements How well it meets or exceeds the requested variant Cost of Aircraft Fuel Efficiency at recommended cruising speed & altitude Ease of maintenance; fewer parts and fewer engines are preferred How to Submit (See Example Submission in post below). Your post must include the following: The name of your aircraft company and model names for the designs you're submitting. At least one screenshot of your designs. A link to your craft files in your submission post. No PMing me. The price of your aircraft times 1,000,000. (If $23,555 in-game, submit as $23,555,000. This is just for fun to make prices more realistic.) The recommended cruising speed and altitude for your aircraft. This is the speed and altitude you've fine-tuned your designs for, ensuring the best balance of speed, range, and fuel efficiency. It's also what the test pilots will be testing your aircraft at for judging. (Optional, but will help in review) Pitch your aircraft to the Kerbal Express Airlines executives, selling them on why it should be purchased for their fleet. Include any notable features (even if fictional). ========================================================================== Challenge Submissions & Rank Turboprop Kramer - 50-100/150 Avery, A well balanced turboprop with good all-around performance and handling characteristics. Small Regional Jet Kembraer ZO-135, While unconventional in design, the Krembraer ZO-135 performed excellently, besting the competition in every way. Pizio & Hartmann Co. - Bluebell A+, Well featured, and meets all of our requirements at a reduced price. Osprey Regional Jet ORJ400/500, A well-rounded aircraft, meeting our requirements in all areas. Kerbolde Supersonic Jet - AAA072-1, An efficient, high-performance aircraft, but its supersonic speed significantly restricts its use over populated areas. ScarsTarsProducts - Vulture-01, A beautiful looking aircraft with excellent flexibility, but it burns fuel like a mofo. Medium Regional Jet One More Booster Co. - Kerb Ferry 72, Sturdy for cargo use, but its high fuel burn rate and steep price make it expensive for commercial passenger use. Kramer. - 150-100 Baltimore, Expensive, inefficient, loud, and too big. The Baltimore fails to be competitive on all fronts.

I've been working on a little project as of lately. It's a replica/model of the Gulfstream G-IV. It's still somewhat of a WIP as there are still some rough edges, but the aircraft is perfectly flyable. I've spent around three hours getting things to work and trying out different cockpit configurations. (and I'm still kinda upset that the Hawkspeed air-stairs mod isn't Tweakscale compatible ) Anyways, here's some images of the plane: https://imgur.com/ Hope you all like it!

The challenge: Build an aircraft that can pull a Crazy Ivan. If you don't know what a Crazy Ivan is, watch this awesome scene from Firefly: Simply, a Crazy Ivan is a mid-air 180. It works best with aircraft which have two engines mounted rather far apart and best if those engines are reversible. At full throttle, one engine is reversed, producing a dramatic torque that results in a 180-degree yaw. Then the engine is switched back to normal and the engines fire together, stopping the aircraft in midair and then taking off in the opposite direction. Rules: Aircraft engines only (no rockets) Aircraft control surfaces only (no RCS or reaction wheels) Must be capable of normal rolling takeoff and landing Goals: Pull a Crazy Ivan Using reversible thrust on both engines, fly your plane backward Take off and land backward or forward Good luck!

As of lately, I have been working on a project to replicate all major post WW2 fighter/attack aircraft of the US/USSR/Russia. All new ones will appear here. If you have any suggestions, post them here. They were built in KSP 1.2.0. All require BDarmony, a lot need TweakScale and Airplane Plus, plus other mods as needed. WW2. None Available Korean War MiG-15 https://kerbalx.com/dundun92/MiG-15 F-86 https://kerbalx.com/dundun92/F-86 Veitnam/Early Cold War. F-4E https://kerbalx.com/dundun92/F-4E MiG-21 https://kerbalx.com/dundun92/MiG-21 Late Cold War/Modern Era F-16C https://kerbalx.com/dundun92/F-16C MiG-29 https://kerbalx.com/dundun92/MiG-29

Planes not flying right? I can help turn your Christmas Bullet into a Spitfire. Post a screenshot with all three SPH indicators on (like below) as well as a short description of what it's doing or not doing, and what you want it to do. I'll read it over and do my best to offer some tips and tricks to get it flying purrrrrfect. Some other examples of my planes:

I've made a cool plane that flies straight and is well controllable, Yes the name is a bit strange but i thought it sounded supercool and wanted to use it xD https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B-EtYAa62qrdR1lUb1pxaml2MlE I used some mod to make not important parts of it but i don't honestly think that those make the plane incompatible Some photos of it: http://imgur.com/a/Go4Gf

Hello admirers of technology and Welcome! To the majestic world of: Oliverm001x's Pinnacle of Construction The first question: What is this? From the discovery of combustion, the invention of the wheel, the iconic moon landing with the impeccable Apollo 11 landing module, to the planned manned missions to Mars by 2024, our human civilisation has progressed at a monumentally rapid rate. Engineering pinnacles have cast a conspicuous shadow onto the people doubting the ability of modern day man, and his ability to progress within the realm of engineering. On this Spacecraft Exchange we will display some of the pinnacles of engineering, all constructed in the majestic and fun, world of KSP. Here (regular uploading not guaranteed) vehicles of all sorts will be uploaded and described, with a background, statistics, and plain scientific fun! Hope you enjoy! The Different Categories: Aircraft: The K340-100 The K325- More Aircraft Coming Soon! Rockets: Maritime Vessels: Land Vehicles: UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle): Space Stations: Satellites: And More!

Here is a picture of a little portion of all my aircraft creations, I think that along all the time, I have created more than 100 different aircraft models.

Sector 7 Space Laboratories LiL Bit This craft comes with an incredible challenge to land. This was something I stumbled upon during testing. When attempting to land electricity, speed, angle, no air brakes and the touch down force all come into play at very intense precision. I think even Top Gun Pilots will find this craft very challenging and most will not land without damage. I've landed twice and both times the engine was destroyed, at this point I don't no if LiL Bit can be landed without damage. I could have tweaked this craft for easier handling but decided to leave it as is for the challenges it brings. It is a fun little craft to fly hope you enjoy it. Craft File: LiL Bit Parts: 21 Mass: 0.945t Height: 1.5m Width: 3.6m Length: 2.8m Operation: Full Trottle at Takeoff, small taps on the S key near 35 m/s then reduce speed if you are planning to make maneuvers otherwise hold a steady course and LiL Bit will get close to 325 m/s. Edit: Here's some extra instruction that may help with flying LiL Bit. Allow the craft to calm itself at the runway before takeoff with full throttle. Kill the engine a long distance out to allow speed to reduce and when nearing the runway do a quick save in order to make multiple attempts. If I do succeed I will post a video.

I've been planning to set up a base on Laythe, and one of the things I intend to send there are plane-rover hybrids to explore the myriad of islands across the moon. However, upon designing such a plane and testing it on Kerbin, it displayed severe flight issues, such as: • Flipping out of control when taking off - airplane must taxi at ~70m/s and make a jump, then shove throttle to 100% to accelerate quickly. It will spin out and crash when doing a conventional takeoff. • Easily losing control when turning around on the atmosphere - When turning around, it'll wackingly spin around and then go back to its initial position. To steer, you must do so slowly and carefully. • Hard time landing - It's hard to properly orientate the plane because it will not budge when steering unless doing a full bank turn, and when trying to land, it will bounce right up and start spinning uncontrollably. I'd like to fix the problems I have with the plane, so if anyone could point out some bad design choices I did, it'd be welcome. I have taken five screenshots from the plane in order to help.

Check out my new plane, it can't get out of the atmosphere but can go to the north pole and back (in some hours of flight) It has 55000 DeltaV and 12Tons of mass, it uses only 22570 funds This is the dowload link for the .craft file

Heres my first go at a tutorial. Today i show how i build a fighter jet style aircraft explaining how to use basic and slightly more advanced tools on KSP I hope you like it

- 1.1.2 - Airplane - Control: Keyboard I've get back to KSP after a bunch of time, about a year, the game still amazing and very funny, while you still on rocket, but airplane become a torture. In older version they was much more playable, and for Playable I mean, that in landing-phase they wouldn't explode as they touch the ground (with the wheels ). Also, during the flight when the fuel decrease the plane become pretty unstable, in some unpredictable way, for example as soon as you push Q and E it start rolling as hell !!! I've also decreased the sensibility on ailerons at half of the value and used the caps-lock but the crazy rolling rest, so try to align the airplane to the runway and land is a real mess! Squad should think about it, 'cause there are a bunch of many causal-gamers out there and crashing the plane so easily it's very frustrating.

In the title lads. I have an SSTO I've built to land on Kerbin and/or Laythe. It works and performs brilliantly (reasonable rate of turn, good lift and enough fuel for take off into orbit, as tested on Kerbin). I have one problem though. No matter what I do (or where I put the landing gear), on landing the aircraft flips forward. It's particularly odd, given that I don't have brakes on, the lift is generated just behind the centre of mass and the weight is concentrated in the centre to rear of the craft (not the front). I've prepared a small video demonstrating the issue (trying to land again and again on Laythe, bouncing almost every single time). If you're wondering about the terrain it's immaterial - the bouncing problem is apparent on the KSC Runway too. Any ideas on how to solve this? =/ PS - The video is below, just click on the spoiler link!

I give up ! All I want to do is make an airplane that has a tendency to return to wings - level if disturbed to a few degrees of bank angle, one that does not constantly need to have uncommanded roll angles taken out by hand, and can stay on a steady 90 degrees due east heading without continual course corrections. I build a simple test plane big tail fin, yaw stability plenty of dihedral Despite the above, roll angle gets bigger the longer i leave it uncorrected, plane would spiral dive into the ground if i let it. However, the smallest elevons are having trouble putting any bank on that i do ask for, it's almost impossible to turn this plane at all without the rudder - so maybe it is doing something after all?

I love the rocket physics, but airplane are still unrealistic. Real airplanes should recover the roll and pitching moments, with a decent design of the center of mass and lift, and use the engine thrust to increase or reduce the altitude. Right now it is more like an arcade game to struggle with the controls while the airplane spins uncontrollable.

I've been working a little on a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, it was not really supposed to be a KSP mod, more like some personal modelling and texturing training, but I thought about it, and I came to the result that it might not be a bad idea to also make it a KSP mod, so here we go! I will make some simplifications here and there (flaps for example), but will try to make it overall close to the real thing. I will probably use the stock gear though. I will also try to do an IVA (never did that before), but I will first need to set up everything else, which could be a bit harder because I've never made plane parts for KSP before. I'll keep you informed about my progress here! So, I finished the models I think (note that the engine fan is still missing, I will texture that): Hope you'll like my little project!

KSP 1.0.5 Ever good at building airplane / rocket ? How about balancing it for a change The challenge : The goal is to pitch to max of 10 degree and stay stable for more then 10 Second without falling below 0 degree In other words you cannot use SAS or mechjeb or any mod that control the craft, ( no triming either ) Look mom, I'm flying with No hands Rating : There's no easy mode for this at it is hard enough already so, To be qualified for the challenge you should last more then 10 second in stable flight and the rating will be based on total weight of your craft Da rulezzz : The challenge is open for all mods and all cheats, Feel free to do it in anyway you want Here's my example and try : Skylon M Please submit a video or screenshots on this thread to enter the challenge Check me out here