Longer/wider Runway

[kerbiloid]

Spoiler

If land across the runway, it gets wider.

 

[kerbiloid]

Just measured.
The KSP runway is 2.7 km long.

For comparison, the airport of Honolulu
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_K._Inouye_International_Airport

Runways
Direction Length Surface ft m 4L/22R 6,952 2,119 Asphalt 4R/22L 9,000 2,743 Asphalt 5R/33R 3,000 914 Asphalt 8L/26R 12,312 3,753 Asphalt 8R/26L 12,000 3,658 Asphalt 8W/26W 5,000 1,524 Water
Statistics (2018)
Aircraft operations 295,233 Total passengers 20,990,932 Total cargo (metric tons) 529,292

So, not that KSP runway is rather good, but it's normal for regional lines.

***

An-225 needs ~2.5 km empty, ~3.5 km loaded.
C-5 nearly 3.5, too.

Il-76 needs ~1 km to land and 1.5..2 to lift.

SR-71 ~2 km.

***

So, the KSP runway is definitely not the best, but it's normal for most types of planes except the heaviest ones.

What we really need is not a longer runway, but plane engines with reverse thrust mode like on real planes.
I.e. on the key press switch the thrust to the reversed direction and lower thrust.

Maybe this would require additional thrustTransform for that (reverseThrustTransform).
Or if the thrustTransform can't damage its engine part, then just mirror the object arrow when reversed.

Also something like that could be useful for helicopter autorotation.

Edited May 28, 2020 by kerbiloid

[Pds314]

1 hour ago, kerbiloid said:

Just measured.
The KSP runway is 2.7 km long.

For comparison, the airport of Honolulu
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_K._Inouye_International_Airport

Runways
Direction Length Surface ft m 4L/22R 6,952 2,119 Asphalt 4R/22L 9,000 2,743 Asphalt 5R/33R 3,000 914 Asphalt 8L/26R 12,312 3,753 Asphalt 8R/26L 12,000 3,658 Asphalt 8W/26W 5,000 1,524 Water
Statistics (2018)
Aircraft operations 295,233 Total passengers 20,990,932 Total cargo (metric tons) 529,292

So, not that KSP runway is rather good, but it's normal for regional lines.

***

An-225 needs ~2.5 km empty, ~3.5 km loaded.
C-5 nearly 3.5, too.

Il-76 needs ~1 km to land and 1.5..2 to lift.

SR-71 ~2 km.

***

So, the KSP runway is definitely not the best, but it's normal for most types of planes except the heaviest ones.

What we really need is not a longer runway, but plane engines with reverse thrust mode like on real planes.
I.e. on the key press switch the thrust to the reversed direction and lower thrust.

Maybe this would require additional thrustTransform for that (reverseThrustTransform).
Or if the thrustTransform can't damage its engine part, then just mirror the object arrow when reversed.

Also something like that could be useful for helicopter autorotation.

Hmmm... if only we had engines like that... We could call them "Wheesley" and "Goliath."

 

Just set action groups for "toggle reverse thrust" on any stock high bypass jets.

 

Of course, that doesn't make takeoff better. Especially because we often want something that has very little wing area and thrust but is extremely heavy and streamlined and will take, e.g. 6 kilometers to rotate and 8 to actually lift.

Edited May 28, 2020 by Pds314

[kerbiloid]

24 minutes ago, Pds314 said:

e.g. 6 kilometers to rotate and 8 to actually lift.

The longest runway irl is ~5.5 km.

Also what we lack in KSP is the "box", i.e. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airfield_traffic_pattern.

Irl one should not land/lift with 45 roll and tail vertically down unless he's a daredevil fighter.

Planes should follow the rectangular scheme marked on ground. It allows to correct pilotage errors more gently

KSC should have such scheme beacons. Then landings become craft rather than art.

And SAS should have "Keep wings horizontal" or "No roll" mode, as in KSP the roll management is rather rough and requires non-stop clicking.

As for lifting, the "Reverse" button for landing should have a counterpart for takeoff "105% thrust". Planes don't fly at full throttle, usually 85..90%. On start they can make 105% of throttle.
The option should overheat the engine, so its usage should last for a minute or (in KSP) less.
But this isn't necessary if not use "Z" as default throttle.

Edited May 28, 2020 by kerbiloid