ralanboyle

Congrats @Audaylon on taking the lead in the ASEL class! That little plane looks super maneuverable and I bet you could trim a few more seconds off that run. I've refined the final time rule to account for aircraft wabble, now instead of having to hit pause at exactly 0, you just need it to be <1m/s.

Yes on all counts. I do use one reaction wheel on each of my planes. I’m sure it matters much more with some planes than others. If I’m using a cockpit, I usually just rely on the one built in. I see a lot of oscillating with SAS. I assume the reaction wheels help but I also make the control surfaces small relative to the size of the wing.

I added chutes to my single engine and got it down to 2:05.

Alright, I just strapped an SRB to my jet to see what would happen. 1:49

Meanwhile, I have also been working on my Multi Engine Jet class. I shot a 1:56 with it.

lol. I put it on the board but something tells me you can go faster!

Since the most time consuming phase is slowing to stop, and the draggiest parts are the landing gear, I decided to go VTOL for the Whittle racer and ended up with a 3:21. I think there is still room for improvement.

I got a 2:21 in the Single Jet class after adding airbrakes.

I was using a cockpit, but after seeing yours I switched to the chair inside a small payload bay. It shaved a few seconds off.

Nice! This gives us all something to shoot for. I've played around some and my times are about 20 seconds slower than yours. Now that I have a benchmark, I'll see if I can go faster!

Do I understand these two things correctly? 1. Probes don't count as accomplishments here, they are just used to collect science. 2. If I use starting technology to accomplish one or more of these tasks then it becomes a race to see who can make a faster vehicle.

I did it in a helicopter one time... Earned an award worth keeping.

Turns out, the game treats it as a solid tube.

Welcome to the Island Air Race! Take off from KSC, do a Touch and Go on the Island Airstrip, return to KSC. Rules: Start from any launch point at KSC. Touch the island with any part of your craft. Come to a full stop (<1m/s) back at KSC. Your craft must be fully reusable in its final condition. (No broken/dropped/single use parts) Scoring: Time will be validated by the in game MET timer. Make sure the timer is set to Mission Time. Videos are always nice, but at least get a screengrab of the Start, the island touch, and the finish (final time at <1 speed). Class Leaderboards: Whittle Drone This unkerbaled aircraft is powered only by a single Whittle engine. 1. @ralanboyle - 3:21 2. @18Watt - 4:12 3. Single Engine Jet This piloted aircraft is powered only by a single airbreathing engine. 1. @Audaylon - 1:54 2. @ralanboyle - 1:56 3. @18Watt - 2:48 Multi Engine JetThis aircraft is powered by any number of air breathing engines. 1. @ralanboyle - 1:56 2. @18Watt - 3:47 3. Unlimited Class Bring on the rockets. 1. @ralanboyle - 1:49 2. 3. Kraken Class This vessel does not include any parts from the Engine Menu. 1. 2. 3.

Also from a couple years ago...

Sales Price : 0.1*(4,500/383)^(-0.25) = 0.054 /ore Revenue : 0.054 × 4,500 = 243 Expenses, ore: 4,500 × 0.02 = 90 Expenses, Fuel : 0 Expenses, salary : 383s × 0.01/s = 3.8 Profit: 243-90-3.8 =149.2/trip Capital : 37,028 (empty craft) Flight time to pay back the investment : 149.2/383s = 0.39/sec, 37,028/0.39=94,943s (248 Trips)

Welp... Bigger is not always better on this one... SalesPrice : 0.1*(46,500/341)^(-0.25) = 0.029 /ore Revenue : 0.029 × 46,500 = 1,348.5 Expenses, ore: 46,500 × 0.02 = 930 Expenses, Fuel : 0 Expenses, salary : 341s × 0.01/s = 3.4 Profit: 1,348.5-930-3.4 =415.1/trip Capital : 1,151,449 (empty craft) Flight time to pay back the investment : 415.1/341s = 1.217/sec, 1,151,449/1.217=946,137s (2,775 Trips)

Yeah, I thought the same thing. Efficiency is almost always found in scale but @Pds314 addressed it in his scoring system. The question is how well his balance actually works. I did a super tiny run (which was removed by a moderator for having an inappropriate (but clever) name.) So now, its time to GO BIG!

Thanks @OHara for breaking down the math. Maybe I can do it now... I went at it with the cheapest plane I could manage with a reasonable amount of ore. SalesPrice : 0.1*(210/360)^(-0.25) = 0.114 /ore Revenue : 0.114 × 210 = 23.94 Expenses, ore: 210 × ¤0.02 = 4.2 Expenses, Fuel : 12.28 × 0.8 = 9.82 Expenses, salary : 360s × 0.01/s = 3.6 Profit: 23.94-4.2-9.82−3.6 =6.32/trip Capital : 4959 (empty craft) Flight time to pay back the investment : 6.32/360s = 0.018/sec, 4959/0.018=275,500s (766 Trips) Looks like my fuel crushed me. I'll have to go electric. [snip]

@Pds314, I think it's rude that no one has submitted an entry for your challenge. So I took 10 minutes to throw together a simple, quick run. I am 1000% sure it can be beaten but maybe it'll serve as a benchmark. I'd like to do this if we can get some competition going. I don't know how to do your scoring so here are the specs: 161 seconds, 40 units of fuel, 600 units of ore. Plane at take off costs 17,332.

Well, somebody needs to stop talking about doing it and just do it! I’m book marking this for next week when I’m traveling.

This can probably be cut in half. I may try a dedicated run later.

I made a video a year or two ago that I think meets these qualifications. It’s AP is about 6000, PE is about 3600 and she gets down to about 110 off the deck (actually much closer given the controlling command module is near the top of the large ship .)

You just mean, "... for a fat boy." Right? I assume an average speed over 200m/s is possible for this challenge. Question: Are tilt-rotors acceptable if they do not have wings?