[0.15 stock] The Vulture space plane

[Xeo]

Ladies and gentlekerbs, I\'m proud to present my first spaceplane design which match all the goals of my 'easy-to-almost-fly-with-a-keyboard' program. In fact the Vulture is capable of flying and landing with minimal input from the crew, reducing the probability of a kerbal firework issue.

The Vulture come in two versions : the standard one and a heavier one with two external fuel tanks.

It carries 450kg of fuel for the standard version and 750kg with the extra fuel tanks.

Images :

http://imgur.com/a/v0W5I#0

How to fly it :

1. Before take of : brake, turn the ASAS and precision controls on, disable the two outer high-altitude engines, go to max thrust, hit the spacebar and release the breaks.

2. Pitch over a little bit using short simultaneous inputs on the 'f' and 's' keys and wait until the Vulture is in the air.

3. Climb at max thrust and 45°

4. When reaching an altitude of 4~5000 m, enable the outer engines and reduce the thrust a lot.

5. Above 6000 m, turn the central engine of and increase the thrust a little.

6. When reaching cruise altitude (11~12000m) reduce your attack angle and your thrust to keep this altitude. Make small corrections when the plane start to climb.

Side notes :

1. The Vulture is quite good at gliding (hence its name), and you can land even if you run out of fuel at cruise altitude. Just set your attack angle somewhere between 10 and 15° and let it land on its own !

2. You can take of a lot faster by using the three engines, but the fuel tanks will deplete very fast too.

3. The maximum range of the heavy version is roughly the distance KSC - KSC 2.

4. Remember you have two chutes available to reduce your breaking distance once landed.

5. Yaw too much and you\'re more than likely to go out of control.

I\'ve finally decided to make a 3rd version, capable of going into LKO, performing some maneuvers and deorbiting. This one is way heavier thought, and take of / landing could be hard.

Pics :

In the hangar

In a 300 km circular orbit

How to put it in LKO :

1. Brake, engage ASAS and precision control, max thrust, hit space, wait a little bit and release the brakes.

2. Take of near the end of the runway by gently pressing 'S' and 'F' keys. It will probably be hard.

3. Nose up to 45° and climb at 12km.

4. Hit space and set your attack angle at 60°.

5. Near 20km stop the air breathing engines.

7. Once your apoapsis is over 70~75km, set thrust to 0, nose down to the horizon.

8. Near apoapsis go full thrust until you raise your periapsis above 70km, and you\'re done !

9. Before landing, be sure to burn all your remaining fuel in the atmosphere or you will probably be too heavy to perform a safe landing.

10. Beware of atmospheric drag at high speeds if you plan to reuse those kerbanauts later

Craft files below

[Pingonaut]

Tried it out, works great!!

[Xeo]

Pleased you enjoyed it

If someone has ideas for further improvement, feel free to post them.

[Xeo]

A new LKO capable version is available in the first post. I hope you\'ll enjoy it