Albatross Sailplane, with rocket assisted launch

[adinfinitum]

All the engineers at the KSC are always so occupied with how to fit more boosters on their rockets, and how to get out away from the atmosphere as fast as possible. However, one kerbal didn't fit in with the rest. She didn't understand everyone else's obsession with speed and power, so she took it upon herself to create something that was the very opposite. The result of all her hard work was the Albatross, a one-seater sailplane that, instead of fighting the air, embraces it!

I made this plane to try and see how well a realistic looking sailplane could fly. Since there's not really a way in stock to have a tow plane or a winch launch, I went with a couple of small rocket boosters to get it up in the air. The best glide ratio I was able to get is about 12:1, which is rather pitiful compared to a real world sailplane.

Flight notes:

The plane is designed for stable flight at around 50m/s, on takeoff this means about 10 degrees nose up pitch, and for gliding it will settle at about 5 degrees nose down. The ailerons do double duty as speedbrakes, pressing the abort key activates them and allows you to descend faster. If you want to taxi after landing, make sure you disable the brakes before you come to a complete stop, otherwise there's no way to get it rolling again.

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Albatross Download

Update:

Thanks to the work of FlipNascar, we now have a tow plane for the Albatross!

Albatross+Tow Plane

Edited May 13, 2015 by adinfinitum
update

[pTrevTrevs]

Wow! Beautiful glider. Have some rep, man!

[windows_x_seven]

Gliders? In KSP?! Are you nuts?

I've never seen that done before, good job.

[FlipNascar]

snip snip/// Since there's not really a way in stock to have a tow plane or a winch launch, I went with a couple of small rocket boosters to get it up in the air... //snip snip

Er, correction. Needs tidying - will do that tomorrow and send you a link. Also, have some rep for a fine piece of sailplane.

[adinfinitum]

Well I'm glad you guys like it, it was a nice challenge and change of pace trying to squeeze every bit of L/D ratio out of that plane that I could, while still having it look glider-like

Er, correction. Needs tidying - will do that tomorrow and send you a link. Also, have some rep for a fine piece of sailplane.

With how high that get's it up, I might actually be able to get some pretty good range out of it, I definitely want to give that a try.

[SHiftER2O]

Wow, that's actually pretty rad! rep+