My plane keeps crashing on runway :(

[Artelusify]

I can\'t tell why. I\'m pretty bad at aerodynamics. Is there some guide on how to build aircraft?

[DonGonzo]

Not enough wing area and the landing gear is too narrowly spaced. That oddly spaced rudder doesn\'t help anything either.

Here\'s an aircraft I made earlier today. It seems to fly fairly well, but be careful with rapid pitch changes.

The stall speed is somewhere around 80m/s. The do not exceed for parachute deployment is somewhere around 140m/s.

[Artelusify]

Oh wow thanks. I did not know you could stack wings like that.

[antbin]

Someone needs to make a guide to aircraft building.

This site is pretty text-heavy, but covers a lot of important stuff:

http://www.centennialofflight.gov/essay/Theories_of_Flight/Stability_II/TH27.htm

As far as I can tell, for a stable easy-to-fly aircraft in KSP, you need:

[list type=decimal]

[li]Center of mass just forward of center of lift. The game (unhelpfully) doesn\'t show you these, so you have to read the part ratings and imagine. Mass too far forward: Your plane won\'t take off, and will fly like a lawn dart. Mass too far back: Your plane will be super maneoverable, until it flips backwards out of control. [/li]

[li]Center of mass just below center of lift, or wings tilted up in a 'V'. This will make your plane\'s yaw angle self-correcting (it will fly level without constant tweaking). 8)[/li]

[li]Tail not sticking out too high from the plane, or a \'mirrored\' tail fin below the fuselage. 'Yaw-roll coupling' is your enemy - if you only have one tail sticking up the top, anytime the tail pushes your plane sideways, it will also tend to roll the plane the opposite direction. This can make turning a tricky balancing act. ???[/li]

[ianken]

Here\'s something a bit simpler...flies well. Set SAS and roll, hard back on the stick and you\'ll rotate nicely.