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Why this plane can't fly?


Elon Tusk

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This is a common problem for new players. :D  KSP wings produce no lift at zero angle of attack. Adjust the landing gear so that the hose is higher than the tail and you'll start to generate lift while going down the runway. Other measures may also be called for but see what that does for you. 

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1 hour ago, Vanamonde said:

This is a common problem for new players. :D  KSP wings produce no lift at zero angle of attack. Adjust the landing gear so that the hose is higher than the tail and you'll start to generate lift while going down the runway. Other measures may also be called for but see what that does for you. 

I've already did it on start... Small landing gear on back and medium on front.

 

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Try getting rid of some of the Oxidizer, and get rid of the Monopropellant in the cockpit.

Also know that SSTO means Single Stage To Orbit.

If that doesn’t work, watch this video on how to make SSTOs.

Or try this:https://wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com/wiki/Tutorial:Basic_SSTO_Design

 

If all that doesn’t work,  try to make an SSTO able to reach orbit, and then improve on that.

(If you want something stupid, make an SSTO that launches SSTOs.)

Edited by Admiral Fluffy
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On some of my segmented wing builds, I have to turn on advanced tweakables in the options and I use the "autostrut to grandparent". This keeps the wings from flexing or 'giving' to much.

 

If wing surface area is as large as I see there and its not at the front, I add canards to the nose. Also, if you are attempting to launch with the Goliath engines only, consider binding the rapiers to a key like 1 to toggle the engines on and off. A short burn of the rapiers after initial rolling cutting them off before final liftoff can decrease your total takeoff distance.

 

See if you can get a picture of center of mass and lift. Depends on your design, but try to keep those two balls almost ontop of each other. I suggest having lift slightly behind COM BUT still touching half of it, for your first few builds.

Edited by Dientus
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1 hour ago, Vanamonde said:

That seems slow for a plane of that size. Does it need to be that big? 

Now, not. I have another mission XD and I need to rescue kerbals from Mun, I built Matt's SSTO Spaceliner and... So hard to fly up....

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Something I haven't seen anyone else mention yet, that plane looks like it has pretty small/few control surfaces. That combined with how far your center of mass is from your center of lift, I suspect you don't have enough pitch authority to force the nose of your plane up, even at high speeds.

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1 hour ago, Elon Tusk said:

but they can't fly up

When I started building planes I used this guide. Some of the information is out of date, but the key ideas are sound. It improved my aircraft designs a great deal and you may find it useful.

 

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10 hours ago, Caerfinon said:

When I started building planes I used this guide. Some of the information is out of date, but the key ideas are sound. It improved my aircraft designs a great deal and you may find it useful.

 

Exactly that tutorial I wanted to suggest too, when you start building planes. Based on provided picture we can only guess what is wrong with craft design. With that tutorial and a bit of trial and error you will quickly learn how to design aircrafts.

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I concur with the other opinions posted here; rocket science is relatively easy compared to airplanes, especially in KSP.

KSP has its own rules for lift and drag that don't correspond to the real world, and it took me literally years to figure them all out. IMHO I make pretty good SSTO spaceplanes, but I can only hazard a guess just from looking at your picture: Your wings are too small, those Goliaths are boat anchors, and you don't have any static incidence built in. That might be totally incorrect, tho'. ;)

Best,

-Slashy

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