Most agile aircraft u can build (aerodynamics and thrust vectoring only!)

[DualDesertEagle]

Before I'm giving my sold PC to its buyer I decided to start and participate in one last challenge, which is making the most agile fighter jet or other aircraft, which are also the 2 categories that I'll divide the entries into.

 

Rules:

- The challenge will be open for competing submissions until the 2nd of September since I'm not sure if I'll have an internet connection after that.

- Since there's no way to ensure no one's using them I'll allow u to use the reaction wheel in ur cockpit, but other than that there are only aerodynamic control surfaces and thrust vectoring allowed.

- The use of Alt - F12 is of course strictly prohibited

- Part mods are allowed (e.g. Mk2 essentials, BahaSP, B9 Aerospace, Firespitter, etc)

- KER and FAR are also allowed

- Having any kind of weapons is NOT part of the challenge, but they are allowed to further demonstrate the capabilities of ur aircraft

- Everything submitted in the fighter jet category must look somewhat like a present day fighter jet or a mix of them (for example, mine is a little bit of a mix of an F-18 and F-22)

- Demonstrate the agility of ur aircraft either by making a video or, if u can't make a video (like me), make screenshots in which the exhaust trail shows what a tight maneuver u've just flown

- No one's being forced to take part in this so if u don't like the rules u can make a suggestion, but if I decide not to change the rules accordingly u can either accept that or not take part in this!

 

 

Leaderboard

Fighter jets	other aircraft
1. DualDesertEagle	1. Cunjo Carl
2.	2.
3.	3.
4.	4.
5.	5.

Edited September 1, 2016 by DualDesertEagle

[DualDesertEagle]

As I said, my fighter jet looks a little like a crossing of an F-18 and F-22:

 

Has plenty of power to go vertical:

 

Looks agile enough to even compete with the X-31:

 

Like every good fighter jet it can bust through the sound barrier:

 

And it can more or less stand on its thrust jet, at which the SAS in combination with the thrust vectoring really helps:

 

Looking straight up from the front seat of the cockpit I noticed that I had spiraled my exhaust trail around the sun:

 

But what I think that even the X-31 can't do is flip itself backwards to take aim and shoot at planes that make the mistake to chase it

 

And to me, only a landing that leaves the plane reusable is a good landing:

[kcs123]

How you will judge which aircraft performed better ? Some kind of score system, or it is just personal subjective opinion ?

I will not have time for this, by the end of chalange. But I build lot of them for KSP 1.1.2. Should be still flyable, mods used haven't changed much. You can find links for crafts and pictures in signature, if you are interested, as it will be out of contest.

Also, is FAR allowed ?

[DualDesertEagle]

I just sold my computer and now 

I'm restricted to my tablet so I must ask u to at least take some screenshots of the plane u want to enter with and post them here.

 

As for the judgment, U can tell how tight a given maneuver was by looking at the exhaust trail. That's why I made that rule. Look at the pic where my plane is going backwards according to the retrograde node. The exhaust trail shows not only that but also how I got there.

[DualDesertEagle]

Oh, forgot to answer the FAR thing: I honestly don't know if I should allow or not allow it, I honestly don't have the slightest clue what EXACTLY it does.

Edited August 26, 2016 by DualDesertEagle

[Mycroft]

KER records the g-forces for turns. Is it okay to use it instead of that tricky-to-get screenshot?

If so, I already have a plane that can pull 40-g turns on KerbalX.

[DualDesertEagle]

That sounds reasonable, but high Gs don't necessarily mean that the plane changes its direction, it could aswell mean the plane just decellerates really hard. So I need to ask u to still include a screenshot with a visible exhaust trail. Or make a video instead, that proves more than 1000 pics.

 

KER AND FAR ALLOWED FROM NOW, rules updated

[njmksr]

I might enter in here... I have a great tailless design that I could slap some F-119s on...

[DualDesertEagle]

Any other ppl who want to enter this? Can't take THAT long to build an appropriate plane when I can build something like my submission within 15 minutes...

[foamyesque]

I have a plane somewhere that pulled out of a 1km/s vertical dive at 20m above sea level, starting from about two kilometers up. I'm not entirely sure what the peak g-loading on that was, but I'm pretty sure it was a lot.

[DualDesertEagle]

6 hours ago, foamyesque said:

I have a plane somewhere that pulled out of a 1km/s vertical dive at 20m above sea level, starting from about two kilometers up. I'm not entirely sure what the peak g-loading on that was, but I'm pretty sure it was a lot.

Well when it took ur plane 2 km to pull out of a dive I'd say it's not exactly agile, is it?

[foamyesque]

Just now, DualDesertEagle said:

Well when it took ur plane 2 km to pull out of a dive I'd say it's not exactly agile, is it?

 

You can think that, if you like, but I think you didn't notice the speed involved.

[PTGFlyer]

...you basically just pulled an SR-71 out of a nosedive at 2km.

[DualDesertEagle]

18 hours ago, foamyesque said:

 

You can think that, if you like, but I think you didn't notice the speed involved.

Yes I did, but a 90 degree turn with a 2 km radius isn't impressive at that kinda speed either. U could easily reduce the radius by adding canards or (like I did) wing strakes. While canards are probably the more effective variant of the 2 the pic in which my fighter jet is flying backwards should prove that even wing strakes already help alot by providing something that the air can catch on to as soon as the angle of attack is increased.

 

So now u've been given a tip how u can improve ur craft, go ahead and try it, the turn radius even at high speeds should drop by A LOT!

[foamyesque]

...

Maybe some pictures will help.

 

Taking screenshots in the middle is hard.

OTOH, Mach 3 landing approach:

 

 

 

Funny story: That thing isn't even meant to be manouverable, as such. It's just a spaceplane of @Alshain's that I tweaked to fix some handling issues; it's a byproduct of making the reentry cleanly controllable. I dunno if I have any random pure-atmo designs floating around to try out the low-speed agility you seem to want; the airframe's certainly capable of it, but the RAPIERs can't really provide the mojo or TVC for stunting around at 50m/s.

 

[Cunjo Carl]

My little one is sick, so while providing sleep-time backrubs I ran the numbers in my head and found you're pulling atleast 250g during that maneuver, @foamyesque. That is some impressive breaking potential! Sweet SSTO by the way, I love the twin engine nacelles making room for the rear docking-port on the main fuselage. It looks good!

I decided to see if my latest plane could measure up to this test, but well... It's powered by 2 junos so I couldn't quite get it fast enough! I swapped them out for a Panther in wet mode, and got it cruising at mach 1.5-ish, so time to play! May I present, the

 

Barn Swallow

 

With a waggle and a wiggle, the Barn Swallow flits through the air, gently boosting and gliding around KSC.

 

 

Finding its perch, the Barn Swallow slows to 20m/s, and glides in for a landing on the VAB's runway. It's just a bit shorter.

 

 

Playing hawk, the Barn Swallow dives and stops in an instant. The terrible groaning sounds from the airframe are just it... uh. Stress hardening!

 

600m/s is a longshot from 1000m/s, but I shortened the turning distance to compensate (turn starts at 440m, not shown in pictures). The acceleration winds up being about the same, and I'm proud to say that my plane holds up beautifully! *Cough* about half the time *Cough* .

The place where the Barn Swallow really shines is slow (50m/s) maneuvers. It basically does whatever you ask it to. Want to do loop-de-loops and corkscrew while yawing around a bend? No trouble! When it stalls (because you tried to fly it backwards or something silly) it floats down gently, like a tuft of feather, and easily catches the wind again with a little dip of the nose. It weaves, flips and downright frolics through the sky like a.... well, like a barn swallow!

The key to it has been flipping the airliner wings backwards. For a given COL, having the wings backwards shifts your COM forward by a big margin. This radically helps to stabalize the plane. The other neat trick is those vertical strakes, which help to quickly change the vector when yawing. Otherwise, you can get that trouble where you yaw and your plane points in the new direction, but the actual flight vector takes forever to catch up. The elevons are put way at the back and sized massive, allowing for some quite silly manuevers and easy stall recovery. Finally, those big ailerons way out on the wingtips do wonders for stability, and provide a little bit of a canard-like action because they lead the COM by a touch.

Sorry you had to sell your computer, @DualDesertEagle, I hope this reaches you in good cheer!

[AccidentsHappen]

I have an extremely manoeuvrable plane (based off the Harrier Jump Jet). Does this challenge permit Infernal Robotics? It is a parts pack, but I wasn't sure if it was what you had in mind. If it's fine with you, I'd happily enter you challenge. I'm sure my Harrier has much room for improvement (Although, it can fly with half an engine, no left wing, tail or nosecone...)

[luizopiloto]

I have a very agile jet... but I'll not show it off. I'm saving it for when multiplayer comes...

[DualDesertEagle]

Gotta catch up with what happened during my off-time:

First I want to announce that I'm most likey still gonna have internet until saturday morning so I'll add another day to the time in which competing submissions can be put in here.

Now for the submissions:

On 31.8.2016 at 6:16 AM, foamyesque said:

...

Maybe some pictures will help.

 

Taking screenshots in the middle is hard.

OTOH, Mach 3 landing approach:

 

 

 

Funny story: That thing isn't even meant to be manouverable, as such. It's just a spaceplane of @Alshain's that I tweaked to fix some handling issues; it's a byproduct of making the reentry cleanly controllable. I dunno if I have any random pure-atmo designs floating around to try out the low-speed agility you seem to want; the airframe's certainly capable of it, but the RAPIERs can't really provide the mojo or TVC for stunting around at 50m/s.

 

The plane u have submitted looks quite ok but I don't see it doing any tight maneuvers in any of the included pictures. This disqualifies ur submission until u put up some pics that show how agile ur plane is. U can enter with a different plane aswell, u've got another whole day to do so.

 

On 31.8.2016 at 8:40 AM, Cunjo Carl said:

My little one is sick, so while providing sleep-time backrubs I ran the numbers in my head and found you're pulling atleast 250g during that maneuver, @foamyesque. That is some impressive breaking potential! Sweet SSTO by the way, I love the twin engine nacelles making room for the rear docking-port on the main fuselage. It looks good!

I decided to see if my latest plane could measure up to this test, but well... It's powered by 2 junos so I couldn't quite get it fast enough! I swapped them out for a Panther in wet mode, and got it cruising at mach 1.5-ish, so time to play! May I present, the

 

Barn Swallow

 

With a waggle and a wiggle, the Barn Swallow flits through the air, gently boosting and gliding around KSC.

 

 

Finding its perch, the Barn Swallow slows to 20m/s, and glides in for a landing on the VAB's runway. It's just a bit shorter.

 

 

Playing hawk, the Barn Swallow dives and stops in an instant. The terrible groaning sounds from the airframe are just it... uh. Stress hardening!

 

600m/s is a longshot from 1000m/s, but I shortened the turning distance to compensate (turn starts at 440m, not shown in pictures). The acceleration winds up being about the same, and I'm proud to say that my plane holds up beautifully! *Cough* about half the time *Cough* .

The place where the Barn Swallow really shines is slow (50m/s) maneuvers. It basically does whatever you ask it to. Want to do loop-de-loops and corkscrew while yawing around a bend? No trouble! When it stalls (because you tried to fly it backwards or something silly) it floats down gently, like a tuft of feather, and easily catches the wind again with a little dip of the nose. It weaves, flips and downright frolics through the sky like a.... well, like a barn swallow!

The key to it has been flipping the airliner wings backwards. For a given COL, having the wings backwards shifts your COM forward by a big margin. This radically helps to stabalize the plane. The other neat trick is those vertical strakes, which help to quickly change the vector when yawing. Otherwise, you can get that trouble where you yaw and your plane points in the new direction, but the actual flight vector takes forever to catch up. The elevons are put way at the back and sized massive, allowing for some quite silly manuevers and easy stall recovery. Finally, those big ailerons way out on the wingtips do wonders for stability, and provide a little bit of a canard-like action because they lead the COM by a touch.

Sorry you had to sell your computer, @DualDesertEagle, I hope this reaches you in good cheer!

For now u are the only contestant an thus first in the "other aircraft" category. Also thanks for tryin' to cheer me up but it's not necessary since finally leaving sh!thole germany makes me really lovein' happy 

 

On 31.8.2016 at 0:01 PM, AccidentsHappen said:

I have an extremely manoeuvrable plane (based off the Harrier Jump Jet). Does this challenge permit Infernal Robotics? It is a parts pack, but I wasn't sure if it was what you had in mind. If it's fine with you, I'd happily enter you challenge. I'm sure my Harrier has much room for improvement (Although, it can fly with half an engine, no left wing, tail or nosecone...)

Yes, u can use that aswell, just remember to stick with aerodynamic controls and thrust vectoring.

(And for the pennypickers in this thread: Yes, thrust vectoring can also mean tilting the whole engine!)

I suppose that Harrier is gonna be part of the fighter jet category?

[AccidentsHappen]

5 hours ago, DualDesertEagle said:

Yes, u can use that aswell, just remember to stick with aerodynamic controls and thrust vectoring.

(And for the pennypickers in this thread: Yes, thrust vectoring can also mean tilting the whole engine!)

I suppose that Harrier is gonna be part of the fighter jet category?

Okay, cool!

Yeah, it has something like 8 hardpoints so.

[DaMachinator]

I have a highly agile light fighter, but it is not capable of supersonic flight. It can be...modified...to do maneuvers like the Pugachev's Cobra using a very powerful modded vectoring engine from Bahamuto Dynamics, but the intended engine is the Wheesley. 

[DualDesertEagle]

3 hours ago, DaMachinator said:

I have a highly agile light fighter, but it is not capable of supersonic flight. It can be...modified...to do maneuvers like the Pugachev's Cobra using a very powerful modded vectoring engine from Bahamuto Dynamics, but the intended engine is the Wheesley. 

I never said the plane HAS to be supersonic-capable. That was just my personal goal.

 

Edited September 2, 2016 by DualDesertEagle

[DaMachinator]

4 hours ago, DualDesertEagle said:

I never said the plane HAS to be supersonic-capable. That was just my personal goal.

 

Ah...Well, I'm waiting for KSP to load this very minute, and then I'll post my entry.

Maybe multiple entries.

Edited September 2, 2016 by DaMachinator

[DualDesertEagle]

Last chance now, peepz, 10 hours left!

[DualDesertEagle]

On 26.8.2016 at 1:14 PM, DualDesertEagle said:

 

Fighter jets	other aircraft
1. DualDesertEagle	1. Cunjo Carl
2.	2.
3.	3.
4.	4.
5.	5.

Ok, guys, since there are no further submissions until now and I'm barely gonna have any internet connection from tomorrow I'll have to leave this thread open to competing entries and find a new host!

And since we've been getting along pretty well so far I suggest that YOU, @Cunjo Carl, take over from here. Would u want to be the new host and judge of this challenge?

 

 

Edited September 3, 2016 by DualDesertEagle