[1.0.4] Take the VTOL pilot skill challenge and earn a badge!

[MunGazer]

Welcome to the VTOL pilot skill challenge!

This challenge is about demonstrating your proficiency and having fun with atmospheric VTOL craft in addition to your engineering abilities (in the event that you choose to design your own VTOL or use a prior design of your own for the challenge). You can either complete THE CERTIFICATION TEST using either your own VTOL or the one that I've provided below (craft name will be "Sample craft" for entrants using it) and submit the required screen shots to earn a basic certification badge, or you can submit a YouTube video that verifies your competitive speed run of the certification test if you would like to compete with other forum users based on fastest total mission time for the Gold (1st Place), Silver (2nd place), or Bronze (3rd place) VTOL speed run badges.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/pcjae0mc5gby4tq/SampleVTOL.craft?dl=0

Note that this sample craft is made of stock parts and works with stock physics, and hasn't been tested in FAR. I have not yet used FAR.

If you would like to submit a video with an entry that isn't a speed run, then you will be exempt from having to submit screenshots or a slide show. If you would like to weaponize your design, that's ok too, and you can show off the combat abilities of your craft if you'd like so long as the requirements are met for the certification or speed run. All visual mods, engineering tools, and pilot assist mods (including autopilot tools) that don't alter parts and physics are allowed. Mods that deal with different parts and/or physics are addressed in the rules that follow.

Section A:

Rules regarding mods:

To make things fair for a reasonably diverse community of mod users, I will divide the entries up into separate divisions based on physics and parts. They are as follows:

Division 1 - Physics: Stock only Parts: Stock only

Division 2 - Physics: Stock only Parts: Mods allowed*

Division 3 - Physics: FAR only Parts: Stock only

Division 4 - Physics: FAR only Parts: Mods allowed*

*Mods allowed within reason; no tampering with the config files of stock parts or mods made by others in such a way that the part would become different from another person using the same mod part or stock part without tampering with the config file. If a strange or rare mod appears and I decide it is overpowered, which will hopefully be a rare event, it could be rejected pending an investigation.

Section B:

THE CERTIFICATION TEST:

Execute each of the following points of performance (in order) after spawning onto the KSC runway:

1. Take off vertically from the KSC runway. Provide a single screen shot for this showing that you are not touching the ground, altitude (ASL) is between 72 and 80 meters, heading (HDG) is between 60° and 120°, surface speed is not more than 5 m/s, and that the runway can be seen below.

2. Land on the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) helipad. Provide a single screen shot for this showing that your craft has exactly 0 m/s vertical speed, 0.0 m/s surface speed, and that you are in contact with the VAB helipad (at least one point of contact).

3. Take off vertically from the VAB helipad from the state you were in at the previous point of performance. Provide a single screen shot for this showing that you are not touching the helipad, altitude (ASL) is between 177 and 185 meters, surface speed is not more than 5 m/s, and that the helipad can be seen below.

4. Fly out to the island runway and fly inside of both of the two hangars, one after the other, in through one opening and out the other for each hangar, without touching anything other than air. You may not touch the island or anything on it at any point prior to, during, or after flying through the hangars. At this point there will be some reliance on the honor system for basic certification entrants who aren't required to submit a video. Provide a separate screen shot for both of the two hangars that you fly through, and in each of them, show that you are completely under the hangar's roof, and that you are not touching anything other than air.

-addendum 1: You are not to land under the hangars! Sorry if that was confusing. You must essentially barn storm them, fly right through.

-addendum 2: If you bump into something on the way through a hangar, yes, you may try to pass back through them again and your certification will still be valid as long as no damage was done to the craft and you make up for it with another pass through the hangar.

5. Proceed back from the island runway after completing the fourth point of performance and land on the administration building helipad (not the VAB!). Provide a single screen shot for this showing that your craft has exactly 0 m/s vertical speed, 0.0 m/s surface speed, and that you are in contact with the administration building helipad.

6. Provide an F3 results screen shot AFTER having taken the screen shot from the previous point of performance, since the results screen can block the view. Your results must show a total mission time of 20 minutes or less for basic certification.

Section C.

Additional rules/guidelines:

1. Yes, propeller and rotor craft are allowed, however, they cannot have a fixed main rotor or rotors. Thus, using real life rotor craft as an analogy, a Bell UH-1 or CH-47 helicopter would not be allowed, but a V-22 Osprey would. Gyrocopter style craft are not allowed, since the rotor that provides vertical lift is fixed (despite having a swash plate, control rods, flapping hinges, etc.).

2. Entries must be manned (at least one kerbal on board, even if only as a passenger), however, your craft can be kOS controlled and/or assisted if you'd like so long as a kerbal is onboard somewhere. kOS can be a powerful tool if you know how to code and I encourage you to use it if you want to. If not, then props to you for your manual piloting abilities or usage of other tools.

3. Regarding the required screen shots and videos, they can be from any angle or camera view as long as the required information is visible during execution of points of performance. Extra screen shots in addition to the seven required ones are allowed. Videos may optionally be edited to accelerate time and clip out portions of the flight outside of the points of performance - please try to only clip out the long trip over the water. Usage of the stock time warp function provided in the game is not allowed within video submissions. If any rule violations are made in an entry, I'll address it and allow for re-attempts if necessary.

4. If you don't have the ability to submit a video, but would like to make a speed run, please say so in your entry. If you would like to collaborate with someone to have them fly your design and/or make a video of it, that's fine, as long as the designer and pilot are both mentioned in the entry.

5. At least 3 speed run entrants must be made in a division before they will officially be awarded a medal badge. So, if you are the first speed run entrant in a division, you have to wait until two other speed run entrants arrive before you can claim your badge. However, if you are a speed run entrant before that point is reached, I will list you with the [Tentative] tag and then at least you'll be listed although you won't have your badge quite yet. Legit speed run entrants can claim their BASIC badge at any time if they would like. To simplify badge management for 1st, 2nd, or 3rd place speed run badge holders, if someone claims your title, it is entirely optional if you want to keep your badge. Earning it once is sufficient to keep it if you choose to. Entrants who lose their 3rd place title will be listed in the basic section instead.

6. If you are making a competition speed run, nothing on your craft can be damaged or break in your entry! This includes mere damage to components from heat and thrust from rockets or jets. However, if you are just going for basic certification, this rule is relaxed to allow for a wider variety of creative designs. Plus, it would be really painful to make a complete run only to find it didn't count at the end.

7. No part detachments, decouplings, separations, etc. are allowed; the part count of your craft must stay the same throughout the mission with the exception of weapon munitions being fired from the craft, which must not serve any overlap function as fuel used by the craft.

8. Part clipping: Wing blending for shape and appearance is fine. Absolutely zero clipping of engines with one another (not a single pixel) - however, you may blend them into fuel holding parts, wings, structural components, etc. but keep in mind the exhaust isn't permitted to damage anything. Please try not to obnoxiously overlap dedicated fuel tanks - but I understand that some overlap will be necessary for many designs.

9. Please state which division you are making your entry in, whether or not you're doing a speed run or basic certification, list any mods used (if Division 2 or 4), and (optionally) provide a name for your craft.

10. To be more clear about certain mods that some of you might be interested in using, I'll do my best to explain this matter a little further. TweakScale is allowed and encouraged (as a Division 2 or 4 entrant craft) - for instance, if you can't fit two wheesleys into a bay without them clipping a noticeable amount, then you might reduce their scale by 10% or so using TweakScale. If you wanted to, you could have 8 tiny wheesleys crammed into a small bay thanks to TweakScale. Also, Infernal Robotics is allowed and encouraged. To reiterate, this would end up as a Division 2 or Division 4 entrant depending on your physics. Any popular mod that you find on, let's say, Kerbal Stuff for instance, should be ok to use. The thing is, there may be some fairly popular mods out there that might be horrendously overpowered for this challenge - perhaps ones that I was not aware of. My fear would be that a Kerbal or Kerbette would put together an absolutely amazing modded craft for Division 2 or Division 4, perform an absolutely mind blowing display of skill in a speed run, only to get 1 upped by some gate crashing fellow with a mod that's so overpowered that a significantly less amount of cumulative engineering and/or piloting skill is required. However, judging what is considered overpowered or not in these instances will inevitably be somewhat subjective. I just want to maximize the opportunities for creativity while still keeping things challenging and/or competitive. Hyper Edit is not allowed!

11. Please use the settings at their default, especially regarding heat and fuel. No infinite fuel is allowed. Gatecrashing exhibitions are permitted for fun, but please mention that you're gatecrashing

12. Parachutes are not allowed for vertical landings, but you may use them to bleed off surface speed. Any parachutes used for that may only be used once per chute mounted.

13. Mods like Raster Prop Monitor and various cameras are allowed as a supplement to entries in any division to include stock.

Section D:

If you meet the basic requirements, you will be eligible for the VTOL signature badge shown here:

If you made a successful speed run and achieved a 1st, 2nd, or 3rd place position, the corresponding badges are shown here:

Division 1 Entrants:

1st place speed run:

[Tentative] Submitter: Vegetal :Craft: Aero Lander :Time: 3 min 46 sec :Comment: Late for work? Try this.

2nd place speed run:

[Tentative] Submitter: The_Rocketeer :Craft: Swift Mk.I :Time: 4 min 10 sec :Comment: The first contender to Vegetal's original entry.

3rd place speed run:

Basic certs:

[Former speed run] Submitter: Vegetal :Craft: Aero Lander :Time: 4 min 52 sec :Comment: This person means business! The Formula 1 of VTOLs.

[Former speed run] Submitter: The_Rocketeer :Craft: Kestrel :Time: 5 min 9 sec :Comment: Kudos for being the first entry!

Submitter: mattssheep4 :Craft: Hummingbird :Time: 15 min 43 sec :Comment: So far, the most cute & cuddly design.

Submitter: rudi1291 :Craft: Dragonfly-V :Time: 18 min 20 sec :Comment: The Kerbin Highway Department has considered this design for a potential consumer flying car version.

Submitter: tewpie :Craft: piefighter :Time: 12 min 47 sec :Comment: If a MiG-21 and a Tie Fighter had a baby...

Submitter: FlipNascar :Craft: Butterfly Effect :Time: 12 min 42 sec :Comment: Silly butterflies. Why would you flap your wings when you could just use jet engines instead? Wake up evolution.

Submitter: borbalf :Craft: ESE VTOL Talon II :Time: 13 min 10 sec :Comment: A Kerbal rescue ship? .. And they say that a hero can save us..

Submitter: Monsterlunch :Craft: Zepto-300 :Time: 33 min 12 sec (mishap) :Comment: How low can you go? Do the TWR Limbo!

Submitter: Tellar :Craft: _____ :Time: 11 min 39 sec :Comment: Landing gear? Pfff. Bay doors. Helloooo? McFly?

Submitter: goldenpeach :Craft: _____ :Time: 16 min 53 sec :Comment: Bob: "Val, I don't remember being able to see the parking lot from here..." Val: "Ohhh, uh. Yeah, I was just running a little test. Hold on."

Submitter: burnoutforzai :Craft: _____ :Time: 6 min 26 sec :Comment: What happens when you strap a jet engine or two onto a dorito? Welp. It's fast.

Division 2 Entrants:

1st place speed run:

[Tentative] Submitter: Darren9 :Craft: SkyKar :Time: 8 min 30 sec :Comment: Our first VTOL music video, and it even synchronized with the heart stopping near collision (I'm betting intentional).

2nd place speed run:

[Tentative] Submitter: SasquatchM :Craft: Ferret :Time: 10 min 55 sec :Comment: Textbook VTOL set up, very stable. The only VTOL I'd let my grandmother fly in!

3rd place speed run:

Basic certs:

Submitter: DirkLarien :Craft: Drake :Time: 9 min 0 sec :Comment: A well made transformer. Air brakes make wonderful feathers!

Submitter: SuicidalInsanity :Craft: F-21 Faust :Time: 8 min 15 sec :Comment: Perhaps the best potential air superiority VTOL entrant so far?

Division 3 Entrants:

1st place speed run:

2nd place speed run:

3rd place speed run:

Basic certs:

Division 4 Entrants:

1st place speed run:

2nd place speed run:

3rd place speed run:

Basic certs:

Submitter: Darren9 :Craft: Harrier :Time: 11 min 34 sec :Comment: The first IVA-only entry with a very impressive suite of instrumentation.

Challenge submitter (me) demonstration video and screen shots:

https://youtu.be/M3yUHEYEpbw

http://imgur.com/a/DeMC5

Here is a good tutorial video by Scott Manley for VTOLs:

VTOL flying tip in KSP: I highly recommend learning to fly your craft in the Camera LOCKED mode (cycle modes by pressing "V"), and learn to keep a close eye on your nav ball and prograde marker. For me, it's the only way I can fly and land with precision. Free and Chase camera view modes can be very disorienting.

Edited November 18, 2015 by MunGazer

[SpaceplaneAddict]

That last bit is a little challenging, no?

[MunGazer]

That last bit is a little challenging, no?

If you're referring to landing on the administration building helipad, yes, I'd say it's the hardest with my stock craft. I usually do a little better than in my demonstration video, where I was clearly struggling. I just didn't want to re capture the video and re sync the screen shots all over again.

The stock craft I used in the video's main design problem is vertical speed change responsiveness. If you suddenly realize you're dropping too fast, sometimes it can be too late to recover with full throttle. Also, in the demonstration I made the piloting mistake of initiating the hover at too high an altitude, resulting in difficulty seeing the pad and a longer descent duration. Luckily, I was able to sort of wave off when I realized I was plummeting toward the edge, and managed to save the craft. Hopefully others can learn from my design and piloting mistakes . In other designs I've used "puffers" consisting of secondary smaller vertical thrusters which can be conveniently activated in small pulses to solve the problem of vertical speed responsiveness, and reaction wheels to help with better rotational control.

[SpaceplaneAddict]

I meant landing in the airfield hangar without touching the ground. However, it's been the long tine since I made a VTOL, I'll give this a shot.

[MunGazer]

I meant landing in the airfield hangar without touching the ground. However, it's been the long tine since I made a VTOL, I'll give this a shot.

Oh, I must quickly warn you - the airfield hangar points of performance do not include landing in them - you must fly through them without touching the ground! See Section B., point 4. I'll add an addendum to it to help clarify.

And thanks for attempting the challenge, by the way. This is my first challenge submission and I've actually been slowly working at preparing it for a few months. The rules are pretty thorough and verbose but bear with me on that, they're just there to preempt misunderstandings and hopefully, gatecrasher loopholes.

Edited October 3, 2015 by MunGazer

[SpaceplaneAddict]

Guessing this is too big for the challenge.

[MunGazer]

Guessing this is too big for the challenge.

http://i.imgur.com/omDdYt8.png

Lol, actually... those hangars on the island are pretty huge... and I think the admin helipad would still hold you. It's just the bigger your craft is, the less room for error there will be regarding clearance. I think you'll be ok

Edited October 3, 2015 by MunGazer

[SpaceplaneAddict]

Why do 3 people have to run in a division before they can be acknowledged? Don't seem fair to me.

[MunGazer]

Why do 3 people have to run in a division before they can be acknowledged? Don't seem fair to me.

They will be acknowledged, just not as a 1st, 2nd, or 3rd place badge holder. But, I will make a compromise with you on this one - I'll adjust it to where you will be listed as a speed run entrant in first place with the tag [Tentative]. I just want those 1st, 2nd, or 3rd place badges to only be permanently held by people who actually placed as such against others, not just via no competition. I want those badges to be a bit more coveted, if you don't mind.

[SpaceplaneAddict]

Oh, I don't mid at all, I see where you're going. I'll be making a stock aero modded entry soonTM.

[MunGazer]

Oh, I don't mid at all, I see where you're going. I'll be making a stock aero modded entry soonTM.

Alright, cool beans. Have fun and I look forward to enjoying your entry.

[mattssheep4]

My entry is here:

http://imgur.com/a/9SDr6

I didn't remember the F3 results screenshot, and it wasn't under 15 min, so I might try again with a slightly different craft. No mods, Division 1 entry.

[MunGazer]

My entry is here:

http://imgur.com/a/9SDr6

I didn't remember the F3 results screenshot, and it wasn't under 15 min, so I might try again with a slightly different craft. No mods, Division 1 entry.

Haha, alright man. That slide show was fun to look at; I need to go and change my rules to relax the number of screen shots allowed - it wasn't as bad as I thought looking at more than 7 and I was able to find the required ones easily. I must say that was a very interesting stock design - kind of reminds me of something from Star Wars with the catamaran fuselage style.

As far as officially listing the entry, sheesh man I feel bad about not listing it but I have to maintain discipline with what I actually list to be fair to others.

In fact, I think I'll relax the required maximum time a bit - not every VTOL will be able to do Mach 0.6 the entire way back and forth from the island. I'll meet you halfway on this one and set it to 20 minutes.

EDIT: Done. The time limit was there to prevent extremely easy designs that are heavily weighted towards hovering and who are extremely slow at horizontal flight - but your craft, I think, set the bar a bit with a three to one vertical to horizontal engine ratio; I used it as somewhat of a guage to set the new limit so it won't be too restrictive on basic certification entrants.

EDIT 2: bahaha, just realized you had two different crafts in your slideshow. Wow, I'm the observant one aren't I. I'm sure it wasn't intentional. Yeah one has the horizontally oriented engine under the vertical stabilizer and the other doesn't.

Edited October 3, 2015 by MunGazer

[mattssheep4]

EDIT 2: bahaha, just realized you had two different crafts in your slideshow. Wow, I'm the observant one aren't I. I'm sure it wasn't intentional. Yeah one has the horizontally oriented engine under the vertical stabilizer and the other doesn't.

Yeah, I tried it twice, but decided I needed the other engine to be efficient at all for the challenge, sorry about that.

[MunGazer]

Yeah, I tried it twice, but decided I needed the other engine to be efficient at all for the challenge, sorry about that.

No probs.

[Goddess Bhavani]

X-Com Skyranger VTOL Qualification [craft thread]

Status: Aborted prior to Stage 7 (Admin Building Helipad landing) due to the following reasons: -

- Critical fuel levels on return flight mandated abort to active runway due to flight safety concerns

- Cruise engine exhaust impinges on horizontal stabilizers

However, great fun proving a 40-ton cargo hauler can be made to hover and storm through the hangar on lift jets then pivot and do the same through the other hangar!

[MunGazer]

X-Com Skyranger VTOL Qualification [craft thread]

Status: Aborted prior to Stage 7 (Admin Building Helipad landing) due to the following reasons: -

- Critical fuel levels on return flight mandated abort to active runway due to flight safety concerns

- Cruise engine exhaust impinges on horizontal stabilizers

However, great fun proving a 40-ton cargo hauler can be made to hover and storm through the hangar on lift jets then pivot and do the same through the other hangar!

http://i.imgur.com/QJfyP6R.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/riINs39.jpg

Haaa cool man. I bet that is pretty awesome to watch in BD camera tools flyby mode. The way the main wing spans across the engine modules is really cool and original. And the way you angled those two heavy lift pods... the whole thing is just so unique, and yet so functional. Thanks for sharing, hope to see more.

edit: subbed your channel bro

Edited October 4, 2015 by MunGazer

[Kokanee]

Reminds me of my "Combat Search and Rescue Challenge" I did last year;

Will definitely enter this!

[MunGazer]

Reminds me of my "Combat Search and Rescue Challenge" I did last year;

Will definitely enter this!

Hahaha. You know, I just watched pandora's kitten's ambulance video and just about fell out of my chair when the 80's music kicked in - then you hit me with some Kenny Loggins' Danger Zone and another really cool VTOL bird. So much humor and cool engineering in one spot! I look forward to your entry.

[TrainEngie]

Is FAR allowed or is it stock only?

Hah, didn't read the description...

Edited October 4, 2015 by TrainEngie

[Aghanim]

Is KSP Interstellar and Infernal Robotics allowed?

[MunGazer]

Is KSP Interstellar and Infernal Robotics allowed?

Yes, as per Section A via Division 2 and Division 4.

By "strange or rare mod" or "overpowered", what I mean by that for instance would be: a banana shaped engine with a banana texture that has a weight of 0 and 90,000,000 kg of thrust or something.

Edit: Added the following to Section C.

"10. To be more clear about certain mods that some of you might be interested in using, I'll do my best to explain this matter a little further. TweakScale is allowed and encouraged (as a Division 2 or 4 entrant craft) - for instance, if you can't fit two wheesleys into a bay without them clipping a noticeable amount, then you might reduce their scale by 10% or so using TweakScale. If you wanted to, you could have 8 tiny wheesleys crammed into a small bay thanks to TweakScale. Also, Infernal Robotics is allowed and encouraged. To reiterate, this would end up as a Division 2 or Division 4 entrant depending on your physics. Any popular mod that you find on, let's say, Kerbal Stuff for instance, should be ok to use. The thing is, there may be some fairly popular mods out there that might be horrendously overpowered for this challenge - perhaps ones that I was not aware of. My fear would be that a Kerbal or Kerbette would put together an absolutely amazing modded craft for Division 2 or Division 4, perform an absolutely mind blowing display of skill in a speed run, only to get 1 upped by some gate crashing fellow with a mod that's so overpowered that a significantly less amount of cumulative engineering and/or piloting skill is required. However, judging what is considered overpowered or not in these instances will inevitably be somewhat subjective. I just want to maximize the opportunities for creativity while still keeping things challenging and/or competitive. Hyper Edit is not allowed!"

Edited October 4, 2015 by MunGazer

[The_Rocketeer]

Division 1 entry:

The Kestrel (craft) is all-stock. I do have a few mods installed but nothing that changes physics and I used no mod parts or programming/autopilot.

Here's my run, clocking 5 mins 9 secs:

This was actually not my best - but I managed not to video that one, and it was about 20 seconds quicker because I didn't stuff anything up except a slightly hard landing . This one, not so much - check out the hard nose-bounce at about 4:50 - but I've had 3 fast successes in 90 minutes so that's all for now

[MunGazer]

Division 1 entry:

The Kestrel (craft) is all-stock. I do have a few mods installed but nothing that changes physics and I used no mod parts or programming/autopilot.

Here's my run, clocking 5 mins 9 secs:

This was actually not my best - but I managed not to video that one, and it was about 20 seconds quicker because I didn't stuff anything up except a slightly hard landing . This one, not so much - check out the hard nose-bounce at about 4:50 - but I've had 3 fast successes in 90 minutes so that's all for now

Awesome entry! Thanks. That is a really cool bird, extremely fast. I like the harrier style wing slope/droop, also very fitting name - it looks like a Kestrel. Reminds me of the wind guage logo. I will list it in just a moment.

edit: also adjusted verbage ("or as an alternative to") to allow video submitters exemption from having to submit a slideshow.

Edited October 4, 2015 by MunGazer

[FlipNascar]

So I also called mine the Kestrel. Not copying honest!

However, it's very much a gatecrasher... a Division I gatecrasher, but a gatecrasher none-the-less because a) it runs on infinite fuel (presently - although the rules don't specify that you can't...) And would need some rejigging of the engines to make it truly compliant with the "no clipping" rules. Admin helipad blew up when I landed on it. The craft survived the landing though. I've yet to land anything on that helipad without it destroying that building.

Still. It's a bird of prey-ish. And needs much more work. But it tops out at around 80m/s so I'm in no rush to do this legitimately.... Because with fuel it'll be even slower.

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