FlashcrySamurai

I don't think landing gears can be used to propel yourself, so that's what I used for wheels. This creation using decouplers, just like engines use fuel. Got up to about 40 m/s I think, I put some wings on the cockpit, and Bill was able to lift off the ground I could probably add more decouplers and make it go faster, but this is was a pretty decent proof of concept for this technique. before launch: top speed (probably): in flight:

Here's my first attempt that was decently successful. As you can see, I had a whole xenon tank yet, so I probably could've gotten a bit higher if I had launched at a better time (I was running low on electricity). The only control surfaces I had are the Delta-Deluxe winglets on the ends, which give very little control. On earlier attempts I tried to infiniglide with them, and couldn't really, so I don't think they had much (if anything) to do with the success. I angled the two extra ion engines up 1 notch, which let the plane fly with no extra input. I think I might be able to use canards instead of the winglets to completely get rid of any infiniglide accusations. I took off using the ion engines at full power, then when I got to the end of the runway, detached them, and pulled up until I got gliding (which happened pretty quickly). I'd love to hear if anyone has any suggestions or questions. This is my first challenge attempt, and my first forum post!