Thrust reversal for jet engines

[Heimdall5008]

I do not know how about you, but I have always problems with coming in to fast for a landing and then overshooting the runway because the tire breaks are not enough to stop my craft in time.

As also real craft (can) have this problem they have thrust reversal available for their jet engines. This allows them to redirect the thurst of their engine forward instead of backward and therefor breaking way faster than with tire breaks and aerobreaks alone.

How would you like such a feature at the jet engines in KSP (at least the J-33 and the J-X4)?

[Lord Aurelius]

There's actually some mods that do this already, but I've only seen it as an option for the new engines provided by the mods, not for the stock engines.

I don't see why the stock engines couldn't be modified however, and I would also appreciate having thrust reversers on the stock engines.

I think that the firespitter plugin provides the necessary code, all the mods that had the option required the firespitter dll.

[nholzric]

I've noticed landing speed is ridiculously low these days, even with aircraft that don't have oversized wings. Rather than add complexity to the stock parts, you could probably employe some maneuvers (S- turns) to show down and then exploit the low stall speed to stop before the end of the runway.

[KrazyKrl]

Thrust reversers are one of those features you didn't know you needed; until you have lost it. They fit jet engines perfectly, as jets have a long spool time. The thrust reverser could have a deployment time just like A.I.R.B.R.A.K.E.S. too.

[Wjolcz]

That would be great to have. Maybe the engines themselves could get a slight art pass by the way.

[thereaverofdarkness]

I'd be happy if I was able to use the control surfaces to press the plane against the ground to get more traction for the brakes.

[pincushionman]

Commercial and general aviation jet engines usually have thrust reversers. Do high-performance military aircraft like fighters have them? They're pretty heavy, and I believe the cert requirements for commercial aircraft that have them is they must be able to stop on brake power alone. The "real" answer is longer runway (whether that's a good gameplay choice is another matter…),

The primary shuttle landing strip is 4.5 km long. Ours is only 3, I think?

[Kegereneku]

Some Air-fighter had reverse when it fit their operational requirement. But the one based on Aircraft-Carrier need to stay able to abort and put full thrust and they can already take off on way shorter distance anyway. So (edit : amongst military aircraft) only transport really use the technology.

Jump-jet like the F-35 is something else obviously.

For KSP I'm not really interested in a thrust reverser but I would sure love a jet-engine made specifically for VTOL and quick thrust variation.

Edited May 19, 2015 by Kegereneku
confusion

[Red Iron Crown]

Some Air-fighter had reverse when it fit their operational requirement. But the one based on Aircraft-Carrier need to stay able to abort and put full thrust and they can already take off on way shorter distance anyway. So only military transport really use the technology.

Jump-jet like the F-35 is something else obviously.

Most carrier fighters don't use thrust reversers, they depend on the arrestor hook system to stop them (and the engines are usually at full forward thrust at the time in case the hook doesn't catch and they need to take off again).

As for only military transports using it, that's not quite so. Many civilian aircraft use thrust reversers, like the DC-8, A320, A340, A380, 737, 747, 767, and 777 off the top of my head.

[Kegereneku]

There a confusion here,

I didn't meant to say that ONLY military transport used it (they have the same operational requirement than civil aircraft and are using the sames type of engine), but that amongst military airplane they were of the only one. (Because as you point out the reason the reverser was counter-productive for Carrier-based fighter).

[pincushionman]

The reason I asked about "military" engines is because the jets we have at our disposal are more like high-performance fighter engines than they are like engines used on transport category (airliners and military transport) aircraft.

So the question was meant to be "in the real world, when using these 'special missions'-type airplanes and engines, do we eat the weight/complexity/cost penalty of a thrust reverser, or do we just use longer runways/better spoilers/drag chutes?"