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Showing results for tags 'low altitude'.
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So, you got that brand new aircraft and shall deliver it to its destination. A lot of important guests are on board, not to mention the CEO of the airline. In order to impress them all and to honor the engineers who constructed that aircraft you do a low altitude fly-by at the KSC... Well this is what more or less happened 6 years ago on March 6, 2008 when a Cathay pilot, Wilkinson, got hands on a new Boeing 777-300ER. At an altitude of just 28 ft (9 m) and a speed of approximately 57 m/s he flew by the airfield he just took of from - and got sacked. To celebrate the 6th anniversary of that event, I tried to do the same in KSP. It turns out, that it isn't as easy as it seems. So can you go lower and faster and impress as many Kerbals on board as possible? http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/06/business/06pilot.html?_r=0 http://www.dailytech.com/No+Maverick+Airline+Pilot+Fired+for+Low+Flyby+in+Boeing+777300ER/article10846c.htm The rules: -Take an aircraft featuring space for at least 6 Kerbals. The pilot, Copilot, two Crew, the CEO and his secretary (you wanna impress somebody, right?) -Any number of stock engines are allowed. -In order to qualify as a low altitude fly by, go below 9m and maintain a speed of at least 57m/s. -Take a screenshot or a video of your fly-by. -You may do your fly-by anywhere close to the KSP as long as it (or the runway) is visible on your screenshot. -As it is a fly-by and not a drive-by, your landing gear is retracted. -In order to measure the height above the surface, I propose you use MechJeb's Surface Info as it gives you almost all the data you need. If you know any better mod to display that data, just tell me. -Mods? Are ok with me. -Do your fly-by manually. SAS is ok, but no translatron like keep-altitude.... -VTOL? Yes, if you wish, however, keep in mind, the limit is 57+ m/s to count as acceptable fly-by Scoring: Scoring will be done in three categories: Height, speed and number of Kerbals on board. Obviously, height shall be as minimal as possible, speed and the number of Kerbals as high as possible. Notes: I tested the Scan Instruments Mod and compared the altitudes with those of MechJeb. MechJeb seems to deliver lower values but appears more reasonable to me. Might be something of CoM vs MechJeb unit or whatever.... So, while this might be really low, I think it is too far to count as a fly-by: http://postimg.org/image/lzu3j4h8j/ This, however, is close enough. 160m/s, 7.8m, 7 Kerbals.... http://postimg.org/image/onzejozrf/ Height Randazzo 6.2m something 7.8m JW2016 8.2m without true height measurement: kapteenipirk 72m ASL kapteenipirk 79m ASL (upside down) (Val 5.8m - not enough Kerbals) Speed Randazzo 310.6 m/s kapteenipirk 179.3 m/s something 160 m/s JW 2016 145m/s kapteenipirk 144.5 m/s (upside down) (Val 755 m/s - not enough Kerbals) Kerbals JW2016 416 Kerbals Kapteenipirk 68 Kerbals Randazzo 38 Kerbals something 7 Kerbals Val < 6