Kerbal Express Airlines - Regional Jet Challenge (Reboot Continued)

[TaRebelSheep]

@tonimark your album link is broken.

[tonimark]

@TaRebelSheepwhat k k i need some help to upload an image property from imagur!!!

@TaRebelSheepi think its fixed now check it out!

[neistridlar]

 

Test Pilot Review: @hoioh's R-wing 32

 

Figures as Tested:

• Price: 33,526,000
• Fuel: 1,200 kallons
• Cruising speed: 236m/s
• Cruising altitude: 8,100m
• Fuel burn rate: 0.08 kal/s
• Range: 3,500km

Review Notes:

Uhm, we were only supposed to be testing one aircraft today right? Then why are there two of them on the runway? Oh, wait, they are joined in the middle, ok, siamese planes, that is a new one. Our pilots were a little reluctant to board the aircraft. What if one of the planes wanted to go one way, and the other one wanted to go the other way? The engineers did manage to convince them that the two fuselages did not have minds of their own though. Well, until the pilots got on board at least, where they found one of those scary mechanical pilots, and came screaming out again. “Get me a notepad, and I shal remove that little bugger” said one of the mechanics. And with a notepad in hand he skillfully and lovingly removed the creature, and carried it into its natural habitat.

With that debacle out of the way, now it was finally time to get some flying done. The aircraft was found to lift off at only 40m/s in just a short piece of runway. Interestingly it seemed the aircraft accelerated quicker the faster it went, which is somewhat unusual. Climb to altitude was over in less than 3 minutes, which is rather good.

The aircraft cruises with a 5 degree nose up attitude, just as described in the flight manual. We are not entirely sure why this cruise attitude was chosen, but at least the aircraft is nicely trimmed out for this attitude, which makes it a pleasure to fly. The only real handling issue was a slight adverse yaw effect from the improperly set ruddercontrolls, combined with weak yaw stability, which allows the aircraft to wobble in yaw if the pilots are not on top of their rudders when maneuvering. We recommend the aircraft be fitted with yaw dampers.

Now for the landing performance. Our pilots were quite torn about whether they liked the flaps or not. On one hand they really helped slow the aircraft down, but on the other hand they introduced quite the big trim change, meaning the plane wanted to nosedive everytime the flaps were deployed, which is more than a little bit disturbing when you are just about to land. Other than that the landing performance was excellent, touching down at 40m/s and coming to a stop in no time at all. Waterdichting tests also proved rather successful. Taking off again from water proved absolutely impossible though, as the propellers were just not able to get up to speed, splashing in and out of the water all the time. It made for an amusing water fountain though.

The rather unconventional engine placement makes for a comfortable ride, but the view from the regular seats is completely blocked by the giant wings. As for the honeymoon suite though, wow, that is a great view. Out test passengers found it a little awkward that they had to share a bed though.

What does it all cost? Well, the aircraft it self cost quite a bit. Mostly the cost comes down to the engine, which is quite frankly overkill for this small of a plane. But at least there is only one of them, and with a part count of 32, at least maintenance should not be too big. The fuel economy is not bad either. And with the aircraft being mostly easy to fly, we expect to make back the investment soon enough.

The Verdict:

Two for the price of one! Well, not quite, but it has great range, decent economy, and good comfort. We think this will do well on long thin routes, and would like to buy 7 of them.

[tonimark]

I present you a medium class regional jet that can carry up to 96 passengers. Company kerbcraft model: A5 (similar to Boeing 777) here it is:

link:https://www.dropbox.com/s/2p93xbyacqhizbb/KERBCRAFT A5.craft?dl=0

specs: class: medium regional jet 

passenger capacity 96

fuel burn rate: 0.14 units per second

cruising speed:250 m/s

cruising altitude 10000 metres

distance:5700km (as calculated, not so sure)

fuel capacity:3200 units of fuel (32 kallons)

cost:84524000

take off land speed 60 m/s 

enjoy!CAUTION: level of engines are very low so land the plane softly  and on a completely straight runway to avoid engine damage and crash to terrain  

Edited July 17, 2018 by tonimark
fixing price

[neistridlar]

Looks nice @tonimark. Looks to me like you calculated the range correctly. Over 5000km is really good.You are supposed to multiply the price by 1000 though, and please use , as a thousands separator. Much easier to read that way.

[Dark Lion]

On 7/14/2018 at 5:00 AM, neistridlar said:

If you really want to know how things are going, you could volunteer to fix up the judging spreadsheet so we can make it public .

I may be "biting off more than I can chew" here, considering the large numbers of submitted/reviewed planes, but I'd like to help if I can. If no one else is already on it, of course. DM or link the spreadsheet to me with a shopping list of what's expected... I've got a few ideas in mind already, but I need to see this thing to know what I'm truly dealing with... if it's as messy as claimed.

[neistridlar]

@Dark Lion PM sent with information.

[tonimark]

@neistridlari multiply the price by x1000 also check out my Antonov AN-12 at the previous page

[neistridlar]

9 minutes ago, tonimark said:

@neistridlari multiply the price by x1000 also check out my Antonov AN-12 at the previous page

All looks right to me now.

[tonimark]

here is a bonus image showing the kerbcraft A5 boarded with kerbals:

[Dark Lion]

On 7/16/2018 at 5:18 PM, Dark Lion said:

On 7/14/2018 at 5:00 AM, neistridlar said:

If you really want to know how things are going, you could volunteer to fix up the judging spreadsheet so we can make it public .

I may be "biting off more than I can chew" here, considering the large numbers of submitted/reviewed planes, but I'd like to help if I can. If no one else is already on it, of course. DM or link the spreadsheet to me with a shopping list of what's expected... I've got a few ideas in mind already, but I need to see this thing to know what I'm truly dealing with... if it's as messy as claimed.

Nope, sorry. Lockjaw at first bite. TBH organization of the data isn't really all that bad, but I misunderstood what help was actually wanted. I'm no mathematician. I'm more like the guy who played Tetris too much as a kid and grew up with this weird skill of fitting lots of things neatly into small spaces people wouldn't normally try.  
 

[hoioh]

Test Pilot Review @CrazyJebGuy's GAI Skotts Horse

Figures as Tested:

• Price: 65,933,000
• Fuel: 9610 kallons (as delivered, 17160 kallons max)
• Cruising speed: 259m/s
• Cruising altitude: 7000m
• Fuel burn rate: 0.528kal/s
• Range:  4678km
• Passengers: 192

Review Notes:

After the last couple of test flights with large monstrosities of aircraft Jeb is back on the vape to keep his nerves in check, doctors orders, he says... Standing next to the control tower, where he's been reviewing his performance of late with Mortimer (we do this in the control tower because of all the cursing and screaming between the two of them), he's sucking his vape to calm down when he spots the clasically stylish GAI Skotts Horse. It looks like it's been transported through time from the 1920's to nearly a hundred years into the future from a distance. Up close it's a bit bigger than one would imagine, but that only excites Jeb. In theme with the other recently tested jumbo's this one too sports a LOT of engines, "Seven in total", Bill tells Jeb while Bob is instructing the ground crew to roll it onto the runway. The tailside steering makes the planes very maneuverable on the ground as it steers more like a forklift than a plane. This comes in especially handy when you're moving a plane that you think is small, but is actually rather large and contains a very large load of fuel. Seeing this all go on near the end of the runway Jeb becomes completely relaxed and walks over to his locker in the SPH to fetch his leather cap and goggles along with his dandy scarf for the occasion. Bill has fetched the old school wooden ladder for Jeb to board the cockpit in style and helps him strap into the fashionable 5 point harness before strapping in next to him.

Jeb gently pushes the throttle forward to activate the full force of the 7 engines, 6 Wheesleys and 1 Lotus to be sure, and the plane readily starts picking up speed. Right by the SPH the speed has reached the manufacturer specified 70m/s and Jeb pulls the steering wheel taking off to the skies easily and rather gently. The wings flex a bit as a he does so, but the strutting in between the two sets of wings is quite strong enough to take it. Immediately he rolls the plane and manages to buzz by right in front of the tower, flips it on it's other side and rounds the VAB before flying east 90 degrees at 30 degrees of pitch. Screams and cheers coming from the back, this was exactly what the test passengers expected him to do and the Skotts Horse takes it like a champ!

Up in the air the Skotts Horse flies like the planes of old. A little bit slow on the pitch authority during maneuvers, but very stable, good roll authority and yaw control to match. She can even do some stunts at low to medium altitude to Jeb's delight! For the passengers, due to the pitch authority being what it is, this is all very easy to take and the G-forces are quite manageable. As the aircraft picks up speed and altitude Jeb gently lowers the nose over the course of a couple of minutes untill he reaches the designated cruise parameters and cuts the throttle a little to maintain them. Bill is doing some calculations in the seat next to him. "So, I'm looking at these numbers, Jeb, and I think we haven't managed optimal performance yet. You may have noticed the Lotus can't keep up at this speed and is mostly dead weight now, but the Wheesleys can do better than this according to these numbers." he tell Jeb. So Jeb pushes the throttle to 100% and pitches up a little bit more to about 5 degrees from the previous 4 degrees, 90% throttle. The plane ever so gently rises little by little all the way up to 7km. "Better like this?" Jeb asks Bill. "Let me run the numbers again" Bill replies. Running the numbers again Bill discovers that the manufacturer may have been holding out on optimal performance, just to surprise KEA, we think. The final cruise parameters sport a whopping 1000km additional range with the standard fuel load! At full load this would increase the range by twice that, which is a significant increase.

Bill runs some more numbers. "This plane is surprisingly efficient! We could maintain cruise like this for the next 5 hours before we have to consider landing, Mortimer will be happy to see these figures!" he exclaims while Jeb is preparing for emergency testing procedures and completely ignores him. He shuts down all but the two wheesleys on the left hand side and the the plane starts to lose altitude and speed so quickly Bill let's out a little yelp. "What was that?!" he demands. "Oh just starting emergency procedure testing." Jeb coolly replies. Once the plane has lost speed and has come down to about 1km it stabilizes at about 90m/s and can pretty much maintain altitude for long enough to find a suitable runway, they discover. A single engine would not be enough, though still better than no engines at all unless, as it turns out, the Lotus is the last remaining. The lotus by itsself happens to be able to maintain a higher speed than the two Wheesleys at 1km and can keep the plane in the air for the next two days on a standard fuel load! Jeb and Bill are not looking forward to that, so instead they shut everything down for an emergency ditching test.

Not going very fast already Jeb pitches the nose down a bit to maintain 120m/s forward speed untill they reach 50m altitude form the water, flares the plane so it maintains that altitude and reduces the speed to 50m/s before gently letting it drop towards the water surface. Touching the water at no more than 40m/s horizontal and about 4m/s vertical speed it safely but abruptly comes to a stop, not a single part lost. "Perfectly safe" Jeb states dryly to Bill, who is happy with the 5 point harness he's strapped into. Taking off from the water turns out to be impossible as the intakes are sucking water instead of air which doesn't combust very well.

Bob tows them to shore, drains all the water and clears them for another takeoff, this time to test landing on the runway instead of water. The plane takes to the sky like a champion horse jumping a hurdle again and Jeb turns it around in a sweet swooping arc before approaching the runway. Coming in a little fast he makes a couple maneuvers and a good flare to reduce speed and flies toward the runway at about 140m/s, much more speed he doesn't manage to lose. The plane is nice and stable at this speed so he attempts a touchdown on the brakes only to find that the runway is'nt prepared for this kind of landing and some of the tarmac crumbles under the impact. Trying again a little further down the runway and a little more gently Bill and Jeb find that the plane really needs the thrust reversers to slow down enough to stop in time. Jeb hits the throttle and they come around for another try. This time Jeb shuts down the engines, activates the thrust reversers and comes in at about 100m/s. When they come in towards the runway he pushes to full throttle so the plane starts to slow down and manages to land at a little below 70m/s, much more gently this time around and the plane stops in about half the distance it took of in, not even reaching the SPH.

As they drive over to the SPH Bob and Mortimer come running over with the ladder to let them disembark while Mortimer is praising Jeb with as many explatives as he can muster for the efficiency of the flight and the fact that he managed to not crash the plane even though the runway sustained a little damage on the far end. "We don't use that end much anyway! I'm just happy you didn't break the plane! Such a beauty! Such efficiency!" Etc. Etc. Mortimer is beside himself. "Since I already had the maximum score on the performance review, I expect a raise now!" Jeb tells him confidently, but Mortimer ignores him altogether to go and admire the interior of the cabins.

 

The verdict:

An easy takeoff, great maneuverability, excellent efficiency and a great cost price, this is a great plane! 7 engines, one of which is not entirely neccesary, other than to keep the tail up, hold it back a little from absolute greatness though. The Lotus really isn't required and we recommend scrapping it. The far back placement of the engines is excellent for passenger comfort if it weren't for the air intakes over the cabins, which we recommend placing further back to perfect the experience. A choice of seats with a view, or without a view but in the shade of the over head wing, even though the cabins are a bit spartan, the flight is mostly entertaining and comfortable. Perfectly safe, perfectly stable and ditchable with just 1/3rd of the engines active and a good range to boot, not to mention an excellent lifetime cost per seat mile!

We wholehartedly recommend KEA buys about 10 of these and invest in the required pilot training for landing procedures.

Edited July 18, 2018 by hoioh
typos

[CrazyJebGuy]

1 hour ago, hoioh said:

-snip-

Fun fact, there is a switch under the right control column we forgot to talk about in the manual, it disables the lower intakes to allow for operations floating on water.

Also we strongly recommend not taking the full fuel load, since this will make the plane highly unstable. The standard should be considered the maximum safe amount. (The fuel tanks were so cheap without fuel that it was decided to use them as structural parts)

 

And as some high up executive (who cares what my actual rank is) of Gawain-KEA (Since we're playing companies, would not it make sense that me starting a continuum thread and being basically OP would be some kind of pretend merger or something?), I can just hire Jeb to be technically a part of the legal team, working no time but being paid a bit anyway. Mortimer has no control over the legal team!

Seriously though, great review! I'm hoping that Jeb's seemingly wholesome and drug-free flight might be the start of him kicking a drug habit. Or it might not. The Lotus is there mainly for low speed power and acceleration, reverse thrust braking and endurance flight. And a structural element, a revised version can be made.

I'm surprised you didn't mention the part count or comfort in your review.

 

[hoioh]

1 hour ago, CrazyJebGuy said:

I'm surprised you didn't mention the part count or comfort in your review.

 

I see everything up to and including the verdict as the review  (besides, it's long enough as it is)

1 hour ago, CrazyJebGuy said:

I'm hoping that Jeb's seemingly wholesome and drug-free flight might be the start of him kicking a drug habit. Or it might not.

Who knows? But he needs a vice to write about and a vape (I smoke, I know I shouldn't) was the most socially acceptable vice I could think of (alcohol abuse, Amsterdam grass, or something of the sort really wouldn't fly in my opinion, but maybe I'll trade the vape for an addiction to a weird food substance at some point)

1 hour ago, CrazyJebGuy said:

The Lotus is there mainly for low speed power and acceleration, reverse thrust braking and endurance flight.

I tried flying start to finish with the Lotus shut down, works great, it's a great plane! Really doesn't need that extra power on either takeoff or landing. On ascent the difference is something like 30 seconds to cruise alt which is still below the 5 minute mark and thus pretty quick

[Klapaucius]

K.R.A.S.S.H Industries (Klapaucius Reliable Air, Space, Sea & Hardware) proudly submit Ernest our entry for the supersonic category for the Kerbal Express Airlines challenge. 

 

95 passengers in comfort or 190 in Kerbal Airlines economy class.

Cost: 212,158,600

High cruising altitude: 17-18,000.  Action group 1 cuts 2 engines (economy mode), and it will cruise at around 660 comfortably.  However, it will happily do low altitude scenic flights at anywhere from 80mps to 1000, though of course fuel economy will not be as good.

Takeoff speed with full tanks: approx 77 mps. Stall speed, under 50mps.

Range: up to 2000 depending on how your fly.

Cruise at full throttle: 1000, economy mode: 660 It takes a while to get up to speed. The The best plan is to gain a bit altitude, level off and do a very very shallow dive. Once above 500, the acceleration takes off, and then you can climb back up.

Amble storage for excess baggage in the brightly illuminated cargo bays.

Named in honor of pilot, sailor and author Ernest K. Gann, who wrote one of the best aviation books ever, Fate Is the Hunter.

 

Edited July 19, 2018 by Klapaucius

[CrazyJebGuy]

Introducing the GK*-12 Skots Horse Mk II

A significant redesign from the ground breaking predecessor is this. This has undergone a number of changes, including an increase in maximum fuel load from 9,610 kallons to 11,040 kallons. The takeoff speed has decreased from 70m/s to 51m/s, price has decreased by $1,054,000 and fuel efficiency has been increased further from the already respectable Mk I; this at the same time as speed increasing by about 35m/s to over 290m/s and part count decreased by 10 with it has one less engine. It also sports a more prominent button to disable the lower intakes to allow power while floating in water, more powerful rudder, faster climb rate and strengthened main airframe. (not that it was weak on the Mk I)

Due to the extra fuel, speed and efficiency gained, the range has increased by an estimated 1,400km to close to 6,000 km.

Now join us and party like it's 1924: https://kerbalx.com/BristolBrick/GK-12-Skots-Horse-Mk-II

 

*After a merger with KEA our company is called Gawain-KEA. The asterisk is not part of the aeroplane's name.

[neistridlar]

@Klapaucius@CrazyJebGuy It seems you are both missing cruise altitude in your latest submissions. Also Klapaucius, prices are supposed to be multiplied by 1000.

[Klapaucius]

30 minutes ago, neistridlar said:

@Klapaucius@CrazyJebGuy It seems you are both missing cruise altitude in your latest submissions. Also Klapaucius, prices are supposed to be multiplied by 1000.

Post has been edited. I actually had to go back and fly it again because I had forgotten!  I just did 1700 ks, but that was a pretty inefficient flight. I've added some bling which also added a bit of drag. But style is important!

Edited July 19, 2018 by Klapaucius

[CrazyJebGuy]

25 minutes ago, neistridlar said:

@Klapaucius@CrazyJebGuy It seems you are both missing cruise altitude in your latest submissions. Also Klapaucius, prices are supposed to be multiplied by 1000.

Cruise altitude is unchanged from previous version.

[neistridlar]

35 minutes ago, CrazyJebGuy said:

Cruise altitude is unchanged from previous version.

I suspected as much. Still would be handy if it was stated in the submission post, so that future judges don't have to go hunting to find the numbers.

[kingstevenrules]

Been gone for ages. Anybody review my plane? Can't quite remember. (No this isn't me begging for you guys to review it, just pure curiosity)

Kingstevenrules

Phase Aviation Head Administrator

[Box of Stardust]

2 hours ago, kingstevenrules said:

Been gone for ages. Anybody review my plane? Can't quite remember. (No this isn't me begging for you guys to review it, just pure curiosity)

Kingstevenrules

Phase Aviation Head Administrator

Not yet, according to our records. It's a chronologically recent plane relative to the rest of the queue. 

Though it's good that you mentioned it, since it isn't present anywhere at all on our judging sheet.

Is the P-4-120 the only plane?

[tonimark]

ONE QUESTION!! do you have to use turboprop or jet engines at seaplane category 

[neistridlar]

1 minute ago, tonimark said:

ONE QUESTION!! do you have to use turboprop or jet engines at seaplane category 

Any category can use any engine, as long as it air breathing.

[kingstevenrules]

13 minutes ago, Box of Stardust said:

Not yet, according to our records. It's a chronologically recent plane relative to the rest of the queue. 

Though it's good that you mentioned it, since it isn't present anywhere at all on our judging sheet.

Is the P-4-120 the only plane?

Yup. She's the only one I've tossed up here. (Or built that is. Currently being a one-hit wonder.)

8 minutes ago, neistridlar said:

Any category can use any engine, as long as it air breathing.

What about... candles?

What, they consume air.

Lets light this candle *pushes button*