Basic Stable Airplane

[FiannaTiger]

I've done a few searches and could not find what I was looking for. I'm looking for a (unmodded) design of a stable aircraft that is pretty forgiving in flight. I picked up a mission for some temperature scans and would also like to possibly fly around Kerbin and do some science. Yes I know there is quicker ways to make science but I'd like to fly around and have fun. Also is it possible to get to 16k with the first jet engine alone?

Thanks

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I did find a tutorial finally. I will give it a try, but any input would be helpful!

Edited June 2, 2015 by FiannaTiger

[Prepper-Jack]

16k is pretty hard with the basic jet engine. More realistically, even with a lot of air intake, you're looking at 12-13k. Ramjet can do that altitude quite easily - but unfortunately that's way up the tree. Until that time, supplemental power is needed.

Designing a forgiving aircraft is fairly easy. Throw some delta wings on the back with elevons on the back of those. Put a tail fin up top between them. If it's a longer craft, you'll want some controllable wings up front as well. Make sure the lift is a little bit behind the center of mass, throw on some wheels, and some parachutes if you hate landing, and you're set.

If you want to add in the added weight of a rocket to get up to 16k+, you'll probably want 2 or more jets to facilitate that.

[FiannaTiger]

Thanks Prepper-Jack. Yeah I think my problem was I was putting the CoL just behind the CoM (inside of one another) which made things harder to control than I wanted. I believe for the temp reading over the 16k alt I will just build a rocket and "fly" it over there to gather that data point and then do a plane with parachutes to get the other two points real quick, since one is on the ground and I was able to land my plane but couldn't get close enough to the area without crashing my plane trying to find it.

[Wanderfound]

Might come in handy:

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Craft file at https://www.dropbox.com/s/9vptzzhq8knsoaj/Kerbodyne%20Hiflyer.craft?dl=0

[FiannaTiger]

Cool. Ok silly question (just got Kerbal 3 days ago) Where do I place the craft file to show up in my list of loadable planes?

[Chaos_Klaus]

Cool. Ok silly question (just got Kerbal 3 days ago) Where do I place the craft file to show up in my list of loadable planes?

In your KSP folder there is a folder called "Ships" and in there are seperate folders for SPH and VAB.

As for aircraft design: Look at this thread: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/52080-Basic-Aircraft-Design-Explained-Simply-With-Pictures

Turn on the markers for center of mass (yellow) and center of lift (blue) in the hangar (icons in lower left corner of the screen).

CoM should always be a little in front of CoL. That way your craft wont want to fly tail first.

Next you need control surfaces in the right places. Think about the levers they are going to have around the CoM.

But that is all explained in the link above. What is written about the crapy stock aero is not true anymore. All the principles described also work for stock now.

Edited June 2, 2015 by Chaos_Klaus

[SanderB]

you can target sites from the map view, a purple target marker will help you find the correct survey spots.

[FiannaTiger]

Ok I think I found one of my major problems, is that I didn't have any control surfaces on my wings. I thought the slope back wings had elevons but they do not, and I guess in building my plane I picked them up but had a hard time getting them to attach so I ended up not using them. That should make things a lot better along with the center of lift behind not inside and just behind the center of the CoM maker.

Thanks everyone with the information and the craft will give it a try tonight!

[Scarecrow88]

One I made a while ago and made available for download is a pretty stable flyer. Haven't pushed it's limits so I have no idea what it is capable of.

The craft download file is in a thread in the Spacecraft Exchange forum. Just search for Voodoo.

[FiannaTiger]

For some reason I dropped in the craft file but I don't see any of the ships when I hit load. Any help? There are a few in there as well and I don't see any of them like the Ravenspear Mk1.craft.

[DeMatt]

For some reason I dropped in the craft file but I don't see any of the ships when I hit load. Any help? There are a few in there as well and I don't see any of them like the Ravenspear Mk1.craft.

/Kerbal Space Program/Ships is for the "stock" ship designs. You want /Kerbal Space Program/saves/*savename*/Ships.

[TheMegaPlane]

You might have to find the folder for the save that you play in and drop the planes in the sph folder of you save folder you want to use it in.

[FiannaTiger]

Cool found it and it showed up. I modified my design because the space plane that was listed before has parts I don't have yet. I did get my design cleaned up and it is working pretty good for now. Will have to fly it around tonight some more to see.

Thank you all for the help.