Voculus

We need a screenshot of your plane to investigate your issues. Even better, would be a screenshot in the hangar with the centers of mass, lift, and thrust enabled.

You could also Hyperedit your correctly-built ship into orbit, seeing as you've already done the hard work. No one has to know!

Coming from flight sims, I stayed away from the spaceplane hangar for a long time, thinking I would be too frustrated with KSP aerodynamics. Though a bit wonky and uncooperative at times, it ended up being a ton of fun. I live and breathe spaceplanes now, and if you really want to assemble some sexy craft, you owe it to yourself to download the B9 aerospace pack. You'll feel like a kid in a candy store! It's an excellent mod pack. I would also highly recommend Procedural Wings. You essentially drag and "draw" your wings into any size and shape. KSP aircraft, whether they reach orbit or not, are very rewarding. You have a solid design there, and thanks for sharing.

MalfunctionMike, that was the best KSP vid I've ever had the pleasure to watch! You have some serious piloting skills, and I love how creative those VTOL craft were. Not only were those skills inspirational to behold, but the entire video and presentation was top notch! Well done!

I like what I see!

If you alt-click a parent object, all the children attached will be cloned, as well. Very handy, and the more you use it, the more you'll like it.

My Laythe Kethane Tractor. It handles a bit funny, but gets the job done.

This was a larger version I made not too long ago, the "Kethane Krusher", so named for it's wanton disregard for the sands of Duna, as she claws her way to that precious Kethane! Prior to touchdown on Duna: Thirty parachutes still didn't quite slow it down enough: Bird's Eye View: View from aft: Beauty shot:

My latest land vehicle, the "Eve Exploiter". It's a Kethane extractor/refinery on wheels, which I used to fuel up my Kethane-powered Eve Glider. Total overkill, but that's the fun of it!

A right triangle truss or block, so we can put 45° bends and elbows in our contraptions without a bunch of ugly clipping.

I found that I have to turn the roll sensitivity way down for flying planes. Even with small control surfaces and a huge glider wings, it will still roll like an F-16!

My vote is to do both. They're like night and day, each one with it's own challenges, and either one will be equally rewarding.

I'm in the same boat, so the Kethane mod has been a Godsend! It turns almost every planet and moon into a huge, and for me, a very fun project. My next goal is to develop and deploy an airborne Kethane mining craft for Laythe, and maybe some kind of offshore drilling rig, assuming the drills will work in the deposits over water.