[Stock 0.16] Leviathan 2 - 800+ km range jet

[olex]

This is my 0.15 long-range jet design, redone and improved for 0.16. Features include external drop tanks for very long range, sturdy landing gear, and ladders for the pilots to climb out and back into the cockpit.

She will fly for over 800km, I think the maximum range if flown optimally reaches over 1000km. More than enough to reach the 2nd KSC with fuel to spare. She is not too easy to fly, but will get you there for sure, and look good doing it.

Take off:

Optional: disable fuel flow on the fuselage tanks to drain the drop tanks as quickly as possible.

Enable precision controls, punch the throttle to the max. Keep it lined up with the runway, rudder only. When you\'ve just gone over the edge of the runway, gently pull up - don\'t overdo it, or you\'ll suffer a tailstrike.

Cruising

Cruise at full throttle. Optimal altitude with drop tanks was ~9000m for me, without drop tanks - ~13500 at the edge of jet engines efficiency, angle of attack is 5-10°. Drop tanks add a lot of drag and slow things down, but extend the range significantly - you want to drain them as quickly as possible, then get rid of them and climb to high speed cruising level.

Managing center of gravity

You can manage the CG of the plane by disabling fuel flow in fuselage tanks. If she pitches up too much at cruising altitude, disable fuel flow in the front to lighten the aft tanks, and the other way around. Not strictly necessary but helpful in maintaining optimal cruise.

Landing

Throttle down to ~33%-50%, care to keep the wings level - engines hang low on her, you don\'t want to graze the ground. Cut engines and step on the brakes as soon as you\'re down and wings level, no dangers here.

The MechJeb ILS module does a really good job of flying her, just take off into the initial climb, set the cruise altitude and your heading of choice and off you go. However, she\'s not hard to fly in cruise manually either.

Two downloads are attached, Leviathan 2 is the full stock one and Leviathan 2M is with MechJeb attached. Have fun and let me know what you think!

[AmpsterMan]

I\'m flying it now and I like it! The only thing that is weird is that when I reach about 20 degrees to climb and hit the asas, the thing bobs up and down like crazy! How do you stop that?

[olex]

I\'m flying it now and I like it! The only thing that is weird is that when I reach about 20 degrees to climb and hit the asas, the thing bobs up and down like crazy! How do you stop that?

At full throttle she will climb 'naturally' (without ASAS) at a much steeper angle, closer to 45°, and level out near cruising altitude. So either increase the climb angle before locking it with ASAS, or disengage ASAS altogether and only use it at cruising altitude. Or use MechJeb, the ILS is much more gentle and effective than the ASAS