The tower buzz challenge

[Wanderfound]

59 minutes ago, Hary R said:

No,  i dosen't, you juste have to turn around the tower and be close to it.

Ooh, that makes it a lot easier. The turn around the tower will be into the landing approach instead of opposed to it, and there's three times the runway length on landing.

I was trying to do it clockwise around the tower in a FAR plane, and it's pretty much impossible if you're flying on wings; I was having to resort to tricks like these...

 

Getting a high-speed VTOL landing on video was a nightmare, so I gave up. I'll have another go at the anticlockwise version, though.

Edited January 19, 2016 by Wanderfound

[Wanderfound]

Some minor issues during the practice run...

[Darren9]

I did what all respectable KSP players do and added more boosters, 18 sepratrons in three stages for around 17 seconds and a more respectable time in the FAR section.

 

[Hary R]

10 hours ago, Darren9 said:

I did what all respectable KSP players do and added more boosters, 18 sepratrons in three stages for around 17 seconds and a more respectable time in the FAR section.

 

Engine started at 25s ingame mission time en complete stop at 41s mission time, thats 16s. Congratulation, you have our best time in all category and you take 1st place in the FAR leaderbord.

[swjr-swis]

Valentina felt that small and biplanes are both underrepresented in challenges, so here's an entry from her pure stock tiny biplane:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/1owrjjkoe5t001h/Valentina-Towerbuzz-attempt4.mp4?dl=0 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/grg3xr7tatrjesh/Valentina-Towerbuzz-attempt4.mp4?dl=0  (I don't have a youtube account so an MP4 file is all I can provide.)

Not in danger of beating any records, but at least there's a biplane entry too now.

 

A previous attempt, with some explosions. Watch her really buzz that tower, but fumble up the landing - only to retake into the air after stopping to redo it with half her wings gone and do a perfect landing that time... and in both cases only afterwards realizing she didn't use the chute. (already have the recording, might as well get some entertainment out of it.)

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ctw7bgh7tidsaa0/Valentina-Towerbuzz-attempt3.mp4?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/bvcnsnzo9xucuo3/Valentina-Towerbuzz-attempt3.mp4?dl=0

 

Craft file: Tiny Biplane 3c (towerbuzz version)

(I was already rigging up a version with sepratrons for accelerating and breaking, but I see @Darren9 ninja'd me on that idea.)

Edited January 24, 2016 by swjr-swis
had to redo the links

[Hary R]

4 hours ago, swjr-swis said:

Valentina felt that small and biplanes are both underrepresented in challenges, so here's an entry from her pure stock tiny biplane:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/1owrjjkoe5t001h/Valentina-Towerbuzz-attempt4.mp4?dl=0  (I don't have a youtube account so an MP4 file is all I can provide.)

Not in danger of beating any records, but at least there's a biplane entry too now.

 

A previous attempt, with some explosions. Watch her really buzz that tower, but fumble up the landing - only to retake into the air after stopping to redo it with half her wings gone and do a perfect landing that time... and in both cases only afterwards realizing she didn't use the chute. (already have the recording, might as well get some entertainment out of it.)

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ctw7bgh7tidsaa0/Valentina-Towerbuzz-attempt3.mp4?dl=0

 

(I was already rigging up a version with sepratrons for accelerating and breaking, but I see @Darren9 ninja'd me on that idea.)

That's a lovly little plane  you have a validated time of 42s

in your previous tempt, I really thought that her head was going hit the tower 

Edited January 23, 2016 by Hary R

[swjr-swis]

A faster entry to this challenge from the outerworldly Kreblons. Their pure stock Bird of Prey made the towerbuzz in 23s between engine start and zero forward velocity on the ground (0:15 - 0:47 video time).

 

The entry video: https://www.dropbox.com/s/sinxfovl160so1m/KreblonBirdofPrey-towerbuzz-entry.mp4?dl=0

The bloopers (and some examples of what this bird can do): https://www.dropbox.com/s/llpjnt4xwcyqmis/KreblonBirdofPrey-towerbuzz-bloopers.mp4?dl=0

The craft: Bird of Prey original, and towerbuzz adaptation (drogues added).

Edited January 24, 2016 by swjr-swis
corrected craft link

[Hary R]

2 hours ago, swjr-swis said:

A faster entry to this challenge from the outerworldly Kreblons. Their pure stock Bird of Prey made the towerbuzz in 23s between engine start and zero forward velocity on the ground (0:15 - 0:47 video time).

 

The entry video: https://www.dropbox.com/s/sinxfovl160so1m/KreblonBirdofPrey-towerbuzz-entry.mp4?dl=0

The bloopers (and some examples of what this bird can do): https://www.dropbox.com/s/llpjnt4xwcyqmis/KreblonBirdofPrey-towerbuzz-bloopers.mp4?dl=0

The craft: Bird of Prey original, and towerbuzz adaptation (drogues added).

A Startrek bird of prey made the run in 24S (that what i've counted) nice one. Love the bloopers,

it can land in revers??

[swjr-swis]

11 minutes ago, Hary R said:

it can land in revers??

A better pilot than me should be able to do that, yes. Or if I could reliably use my joystick with KSP. That was in fact what I tried to do in the first attempts... as theoretically it would've been the fastest solution (you only asked for the heading to be 270... not the direction of flight at the time). But on keyboard and mouse I get confused in the controls as soon as she's reversing.

[Hary R]

13 minutes ago, swjr-swis said:

A better pilot than me should be able to do that, yes. Or if I could reliably use my joystick with KSP. That was in fact what I tried to do in the first attempts... as theoretically it would've been the fastest solution (you only asked for the heading to be 270... not the direction of flight at the time). But on keyboard and mouse I get confused in the controls as soon as she's reversing.

Well yes, i just ask to head 270 not that the plane actualy go in that direction but at the same time who could have think of landing in reverse. 

If you do it, as it's not against the rules, your time will be validated

Edited January 23, 2016 by Hary R

[swjr-swis]

52 minutes ago, Hary R said:

If you do it, as it's not against the rules, your time will be validated

Well, I gave it another 10 attempts, since you put it almost as a challenge. But no dice, I'll admit defeat.

You're all free to try and claim the time if you manage, the craft is available, some of you look to be better pilots than I am. She may not be practical, but she's fun to fly.

 

I managed twice to repeat the reverse landing just meters to the side of the runway, but then it took too long to roll onto it to make it valid; I keep underestimating how hard she can bank. The others I fumbled the controls one way or another, resulting in various degrees of destruction - least bad result of those was just one landing gear poofed (even though the rules don't state zero damage, I took it as implicit that the craft has to stay whole. Still wasn't a better time though so either way.).

I know it can be done and the bloopers video shows it, 'just' a matter of letting her swing a tad wider, end up retrograde closer to the runway, and cutting thrust just before velocity is zeroed out (17-18m/s retro will still let her glide). With crazy amounts of lift and a pretty sturdy undercarriage, you can practically ignore the altitude and just concentrate on ending the turn in a stable retrograde and let her drop.