Sea rescue help?

[jordsta95]

Hey there,

A poorly executed reentry has resulted in a kerbal landing about 150km away from a land mass. And I am imposing hard-mode rules (no return to hanger... unless the craft lands within about 5km from the KSC, as a generic rescue vehicle could get that IMO)

So I need help.

I want to send a rescue plane to land close to the capsule which is splashed down about 200km SW of KSC, so all in all, I probably need about 450km worth of fuel, just in case I overshoot, etc.

I need to be able to land on water (this is the hard bit)

And be able to take off, from the water.

Any tips on the water landing+takeoff combo? I don't want to send a boat out, because it will take ages to get there, and my poor kerbonaut is probably hungry/freezing cold. Heck maybe even the capsule will flood and sink. (I know none of those things are in the game, but I am playing pseudo-realism mode, so I account for these things)

So I need to get to them fast, which means flying there is the only viable way, as I don't have any boats at all.

Rescue operation overview:

- Get from KSC -> landing zone, with a vehicle that has a spare seat to get the stranded kerbonaut

- Rendevous with splashed down vessle, and pick up the stranded kerbonaut

- Return to KSC, or at least make it to a land mass, where landing a better suited craft would be easier

As you see with the last part of the mission, I don't mind if on return instead of heading to the KSC ~200KM (NE) I fly to the nearest landmass, ~75KM (N)

[The Yellow Dart]

Sounds like you need a VTOL. Scott Manley had a video on how to build a basic one. You may need a slightly larger one to cross that distance, as well as two crew spots, or one and a probe core. You'll also need to practice landing on water to make sure you don't end up with 2 stranded Kerbals. Rocket VTOL is easier but needs more fuel.

[pandaman]

Could you grab him with a claw? Tricky flying, but you may be able to avoid having to land on water.

[Geschosskopf]

Get the Firespitter mod and use the floats in it to make a seaplane. Have a ladder that will reach a bit into the water. Fly to the Kerbal, land near him, stop (using airbrakes), have the Kerbal swim to and climb the ladder, and fly home, leaving the ship behind.

Alternatively, use the Firespitter floats to build a boat (basically a wingless seaplane). Power it with beaucoup solar panels and Firespitter electric propellers. It should be able to achieve nearly 50m/s on the water. Sail this out to the floating pod. Use a KAS winch or the Klaw to grab the pod and hoist it a bit about out of the water. Sail back to KSC and recover the whole mess.

[jordsta95]

Get the Firespitter mod and use the floats in it to make a seaplane. Have a ladder that will reach a bit into the water. Fly to the Kerbal, land near him, stop (using airbrakes), have the Kerbal swim to and climb the ladder, and fly home, leaving the ship behind.

Alternatively, use the Firespitter floats to build a boat (basically a wingless seaplane). Power it with beaucoup solar panels and Firespitter electric propellers. It should be able to achieve nearly 50m/s on the water. Sail this out to the floating pod. Use a KAS winch or the Klaw to grab the pod and hoist it a bit about out of the water. Sail back to KSC and recover the whole mess.

I was thinking of doing this, just wondered if there was any way to do it without using floats... I like the stock parts' looks a lot more than the very badly textured FS parts

[Parkaboy]

A VTOL is probably your best bet with stock parts. VTOLs may be hard to fly, but remember you can use parachutes for the landing, so you only have to do the vertical take off from the water.

[jordsta95]

I decided to settle for a combo of plane and boat... using a combo of firespitter and stock. I put the following ship, which is now travelling about 140km overseas onto the front of a single mk1 jet fuel pod, and turbo-jet engine (with a lander cockpit, just for the kerbanaut to get in the seat of the rescue boat)

The plane was terribly inefficient, a pain to maneuver, but it carried the boat about 20km so that's 20km less at 7m/s

[SoWeMeetAgain]

I decided to settle for a combo of plane and boat... using a combo of firespitter and stock. I put the following ship, which is now travelling about 140km overseas onto the front of a single mk1 jet fuel pod, and turbo-jet engine (with a lander cockpit, just for the kerbanaut to get in the seat of the rescue boat)

The plane was terribly inefficient, a pain to maneuver, but it carried the boat about 20km so that's 20km less at 7m/s

http://puu.sh/iMbNK.jpg

hard mode but then use extra parts mod? :/

I would have tried building a floating base out of empty tanks, connected with radial decouplers to a plane with solid boosters for immediate takeoff ... but whatever floats your kerbal back to safety

[kiwi1960]

make him swim back.