Continuous acceleration on ballistic reentry-- bug or pilot error?

[RSwordsman]

Earlier today I was on a routine mission back from the Mun with a load of science data. I had refueled at my lunar orbit station so had plenty of fuel to slow myself down before hitting the atmosphere and for awhile during reentry.

Here's where it all began to hit the fan. I noticed I was still going at a high rate of speed (about 1400m/s) at a worryingly low altitude when I decoupled my final stage in preparation to pop the chute. By now I'm usually going slow enough to call it a job well done, but my speed had actually increased to almost 1500m/s at under 10km altitude. Needless to say, poor Val and a lot of valuable science made a hefty smear on a hillside, leaving me depressed as well as completely baffled.

I use the latest version of FAR and have never once had a problem on reentry like this. Not only that, but I highly doubt an unadorned capsule's terminal velocity is above "brilliant fireball" speed all the way to the ground. Any ideas on what happened?

Edited June 3, 2015 by RSwordsman

[n0xiety]

There are so many bugs in this game that i just simply gave up on getting answers. I always quicksave well before a landing while still in orbit or in a position where i can change things. I know there are some people that thinks its a challenge to play without saving but i just find it foolish since in KSP its only a matter of time a game breaking bug hits you. Hope you have a save but im guessing you wouldn't be here if you did. My condolences for Val she was a good pilot and a proud kerbal. The kerbal kind will forever be in her debt. She will be remembered as the hero who gave her life in pursuit of science and knowledge.

Edited June 3, 2015 by n0xiety

[RSwordsman]

^^I don't usually remember to quicksave, but I'm not at all of the "hardcore or no core" school of thought for precisely that reason. The problem was that I picked up the mission from previously so revert was disabled, and like I said I've never had a problem like this that wasn't caused by running out of fuel or some other "duh" mistake. It was a total fluke.

Thanks for the reply though. I'll probably name a base or something after her.

[WOODY01]

I was aerobraking returning to Kerbin and my AP started increasing when at around 35k. Things went back to normal after 1 orbit.

[n0xiety]

I must say if you never had problems before you are really lucky. I had the whole universe disappearing on me... Atmosphere disappearing... Phantom acceleration... Unstable orbit... Random ship explosions... Base shaking itself apart while landed... Infinite torque... There are many more but i think you got the idea Then again i really should stop pushing the game with 2000 part crafts

[Crzyrndm]

FAR currently has a relatively rare bug where aero forces are not reapplied to a vessel. Ferram4 hasn't been able to reproduce it as yet so he has no way of fixing it. The current workaround is a scene reload (quicksave/load)

[RSwordsman]

The current workaround is a scene reload (quicksave/load)

I've got to remember that for next time; thanks.