Amamateur

You can use RCS, but that\'d be your one fuel tank! loupduqc - excellent, that\'s great! Khrissetti - from my experience, all gliders land unless you\'re performing some kind of maneuver to gain/maintain altitude. (someone correct me if this isn\'t the case). Which is why I made the rule about maneuvering, seems the best way to differentiate, because it\'s logical to want to add lift to your ship/plane/rocket.

Hi! So today I was playing with a super-economy aircraft design, and figured this could be an interesting basis for a long-distance challenge. The Core Aim: Build a craft to travel as far as possible with just a single fuel tank, without leaving the atmosphere! Rules & restrictions: - Use stock parts - Use any type of engine(s) or tank so long as there is just one tank, a single SRB would also count - Can have multiple stages - Can use powered flight/gliding/rolling/floating or any combination - Maintain a straight(ish) heading, no steering around/maneuvering other than to launch & stay on course * - No exploiting infinite gliding - Remember to document with screenshots! (f1) and clearly post your distance. - Safe Landing not necessary (pilots may disagree!) *This should rule out infinite gliding anyway. General: Travel in any heading you choose, and try and take a map screenshot of your final resting/ditching point. For the design, anything goes, try what you like as long as it sticks with those first 2 rules. Feel free to attach your craft files, but that\'s optional. I did a test myself, I\'m sure it can be easily bettered but I\'ll hold off posting it just yet. I\'ll just say I didn\'t cross the ocean. Remember, lots of lift means less work for your engine(s). Have fun!

Oh wow, I\'m not going to even bother trying to open the craft file as I\'m sure my comp will simply burst into flames, but beautiful work on the design, looks and sounds amazing.

I just uploaded a flight video. It\'s not great quality but shows this plane being thrown around and demonstrates the infinite flight power, which I\'m sure will be useful for some.

2 Engines - 261 m/s Not even close to Excl\'s speed but figured I\'d post my progress.

Looks great, I hadn\'t really considered making a rover until I saw this. Have only been playing for a few days so haven\'t actually touched down on Mun yet, but I think rather than going for a pod lander I\'ll aim straight for doing a rover mission. I think I\'d want to work on getting a really stable design first though - been playing with some wheeled creations today (for the land speed challenge) and realised the difference it makes when you have something where you can slam the brakes on without it tipping over and exploding! This looks like a practical and economical way of separating from the lander though so might use that as a starting point. Oh and great images, I had no idea there were arches on Mun!

Ha, thanks! Well feel free to pull it apart and use bits for your own projects. Not that there\'s much to it, the two fundamentals I think really are keeping the weight at the front and adding some default lift - the front canards and rear fins are all angled downward one notch.

Thanks guys - yeah I hit on the perpetual part by accident as well. Worked a bit more on an updated version of the plane and a more practical launcher (Edit: GD-10A now in first post).

Hello, this is my first post here. I set out to make an efficient glider, with a simple launch mechanism. After a lot of trial & error and refinement I found a design which seems to allow infinite unpowered flight! Key Features: All vanilla parts Able to climb unaided (tested to over 10,000m from a starting point of 600m) Able to take-off from a taxi-speed of just 20m/s Stable flight (Some front/back pivoting might be improvable) Loop-the-loop / Corkscrew / etc easily achievable Able to maintain flight with less than 100m altitude Comes with a push-launcher which takes off automatically! Tips for flight: Using the launcher (affectionately called 'The Skate') On the runway, set thrust to max, and start the engine. No need to lift off! Trust in The Skate. When it reaches the end of the runway it will take off on it\'s own and start to climb. By about 500m altitude it will be pointing straight upwards. At this point cut the engine power (X) and release the engine coupler (spacebar). Assuming the engine didn\'t just plough into your face, you now have control of the glider! Gear-up, roll it right-side-up and off you go. Gliding / Gaining Altitude There\'s a couple of techniques for climbing but the best seems to be maintaining a tight turn. Wait til you have over 60m/s ground speed, roll the plane so that it\'s wing-plane is almost vertical (ie you\'re rolled over about 80 degrees) and pull up. With a little practice you\'ll find a sweet spot where the planes nose is angled up and the plane climbs fast. You may find alternating between levelling-off to gain speed and tipping up into a turn works best if you can\'t find the sweet spot or don\'t have the starting speed. For the most part you will find you gain altitude just by flying around and you won\'t have to work that hard. The hardest part is landing! It has so much lift that it\'s near impossible not to overshoot the runway, so best to just use flat grass. GD-09A GD-09A-S (with 'The Skate' Launcher) I\'ve attached the craft files both with and without the launcher. I\'m hoping people might try other launch methods, as The Skate is far from perfect. Dropped from a rocket might be cool. Also if anyone wants they can try and stabilize the front/back wobble (I call this 'The Washing Line'). It doesn\'t affect flight much but looks ridiculous. -- UPDATE -- Worked a bit more on an updated version of the plane and a more practical launcher: GD-10A GD-10A-S (mounted on heavy launcher) The plane handles much the same but a bit less bouncy, and landing is a little easier. The launcher is more bulky but more usable/controllable. Again, throttle up high, and when airborne and up to speed, cut the engine and detach the plane (pull up to depart quicker).