Flying Planes.

[Sharkman Briton]

I'm not the best at flying planes in this game, I see alot of planes that can turn instanteneously, and stay stable throughout flight and reach supersonic speeds, none of which I'm really good at, because whenever I fly a plane turning takes AGES, I tilt to the side, hold A/D like no tomorrow and 10 seconds of wonky, clunky controlling later it's turned slightly, and I'll need to do alot more of that to turn to face the island airstrip, and nevermind fly back towards KSC. So, can someone educate me on flying these things?

[Landwalker]

Could you post a picture of an example plane you're struggling with?

If I had to guess, I'd guess that you're missing control surfaces and are reduced to trying to steer using only the reaction wheels in the cockpit/probe core...

[Scarecrow88]

Sounds like your plane is the problem rather than your flying abilities.

[T-Pilot395]

hold A/D like no tomorrow

This looks like the problem. Aircraft roll to the side and use pitch control to turn faster.

To perform sharp turns, you should roll to the sides with Q/E, then raise/lower the nose with W/S depending on which direction you want to turn.

A/D controls yaw movement and should only be used for slight turns.

[capi3101]

Could be a combination of your planes and how you're attempting to fly them. T-Pilot395 is absolutely correct though - when you're in the air, the majority of your turning should be done with a combination of bank and pitch (aileron and elevator), not primarily with the rudder. True regardless of what aero model you're using.

Can we see a screenie of what you're trying to fly?

[spudman2]

On a related note, pressing the F1 key whilst in-game will take a screenshot. The screenshot can be found in KSP_win>Screenshots. I don't know what directory you installed KSP into, so that's up to you. Anybody know the default directory?

[GoSlash27]

This looks like the problem. Aircraft roll to the side and use pitch control to turn faster.

To perform sharp turns, you should roll to the sides with Q/E, then raise/lower the nose with W/S depending on which direction you want to turn.

A/D controls yaw movement and should only be used for slight turns.

I'll second this. In fact, I'd recommend not putting active rudders on your aircraft at all. They are really just there to keep your turns coordinated, and KSP does a fine job of that on it's own.

Best,

-Slashy

[Alshain]

Active rudders are optional but can be a good thing. The problem with rolling and pitching up is that unless you put your wings straight vertical you will start to climb. You might want to climb, but you might not, especially if you are doing a corkscrew maneuver for landing. That is what the active rudder is for. You roll, and pull up to turn and then you simultaneously use the rudder to hold your nose at (or below) the artificial horizon so you don't start to climb and your passengers aren't getting completely sick.

There are certainly other ways, rudders are not required for flight. However, if you want to do it one nice and smooth maneuver, it is the best way and that is why most planes have them.

Edited July 15, 2015 by Alshain

[Venusgate]

This looks like the problem. Aircraft roll to the side and use pitch control to turn faster.

To perform sharp turns, you should roll to the sides with Q/E, then raise/lower the nose with W/S depending on which direction you want to turn.

A/D controls yaw movement and should only be used for slight turns.

Was going to say this.

I will add that doing this, you will discover a whole new world of design challenges: learning how to build a craft that doesn't flip and stall on hard turns! (If you're going for maneuverable/fast toys that is)

Also consider: the more utility you pack into an aircraft (cargo hauling, science packages, etc) you'll likely be sacrificing some maneuverability. So learning how to fly bricks is not a bad skill to have .

[GoSlash27]

Active rudders are optional but can be a good thing. The problem with rolling and pitching up is that unless you put your wings straight vertical you will start to climb. You might want to climb, but you might not, especially if you are doing a corkscrew maneuver for landing. That is what the active rudder is for. You roll, and pull up to turn and then you simultaneously use the rudder to hold your nose at (or below) the artificial horizon so you don't start to climb and your passengers aren't getting completely sick.

There are certainly other ways, rudders are not required for flight. However, if you want to do it one nice and smooth maneuver, it is the best way and that is why most planes have them.

Actually, that's not quite the way it works IRL and also not necessary in KSP.

IRL the rudder is there strictly for turn coordination and intentional crabbing for crosswind landings. For a coordinated descending turn, you would simply roll to the desired bank, use pitch for the sink rate, and just a hair of rudder to keep the nose pointed with the velocity vector. The plane will change direction on it's own. Trying to use the rudder to control the climb rate will induce crabbing/ slipping, which makes for a sloppy turn, excessive drag, and weird roll response.

Unless you're doing aerobatic maneuvers, active rudders really aren't necessary in KSP (especially the ridiculously overpowered ones available).

Best,

-Slashy

Edited July 15, 2015 by GoSlash27

[Sharkman Briton]

I always use Control Surfaces, but maybe adding an inline reaction wheel could help. And it's not one plane, im just bad with allplanes rreally

[Sharkman Briton]

Forgot to mention that I use Q/E first, but thats something I dont do, gonna have to try using W/S instead