Simple design consideration for wandering takeoffs

[jhousen]

aka "running off the runway"

enable steering on the front wheel(s), this is disabled by default and can result in unintended consequences

that is all, if I think of something that will be more effective, I'll let you know

 

[Overland]

Good tip.. I gave up on delta gear long ago... Tadpole seems to be the way to go although makes liftoff more difficult..

 

Leading to another valid point.. Remove the front wheel entirely

 

Taildraggers also work suprisingly well in KSP..infact due to only running on 2 wheels after they near lift speed .they seem to be the most stable planes to use.. With everyones problem being tricycle death dance.. Most taildraggers dont even need pushing foward to level

[Temstar]

One way is to reduce the plane's tendency is to snake is to go full pitch up as soon as you start accelerating on the runway, rather than wait for you to reach rotation speed then pitch up. Pitch up causes the lift generated to put a greater proportion of the plane's weight on the main gears and so decrease the load on the front gear.

[bonyetty]

Wheel alignment I think may be the answer you are looking for. F key and angle snap on and use the rotate widget (3 key) in the SPH. This will allow landing gear to snap aligned relative to to the SPH in all three axis. Helped me with my runway wandering aircraft. 

[RizzoTheRat]

One issue with tail draggers though is that most designs in KSP hang the engines right at the back, so the wings are a long way back, which can make fitting the front wheels a bit tricky.

For the other real life tail dragger issue try taxiing it from the cockpit view

[monophonic]

32 minutes ago, RizzoTheRat said:

One issue with tail draggers though is that most designs in KSP hang the engines right at the back, so the wings are a long way back, which can make fitting the front wheels a bit tricky.

For the other real life tail dragger issue try taxiing it from the cockpit view

Yeah, there are not many jet tail dragger designs around. In fact the Supermarine Attacker is the only one I can come up with.

[RizzoTheRat]

In theory tail draggers are less stable on the ground that trikes as the steering wheel is behind the CoM (although SSC proved you can be perfectly stable with rear steer), but my main concern in KSP would be that my rovers have a tendency to end up on their nose when I brake despite having wheels right at the front, so I'd be worried about "noseover" crashes.

 

41 minutes ago, monophonic said:

Yeah, there are not many jet tail dragger designs around. In fact the Supermarine Attacker is the only one I can come up with.

I'd not really thought about that, but you're right I can't think of any.  A Google search throws up very few but interestingly the worlds first jet airliner was a tail dragger, a jet conversion of a Vickers Viking.

[Nich]

I have found the wider the rear gear the better.  I normally put them on the tips of my wings