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Tips for the newbie aircraft pilot.


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Introduction: So you want to make a plane, but you have very poor knowledge of KSP\'s physics? Or maybe you can\'t seem to get your plane off the ground until AFTER it\'s went sailing off the end of the runway? I have been making planes for a while, and I have acquired a wealth of knowledge to get planes off the ground and in the air! Here are a few tips and tricks that I have learned.


Controls in the nose: One of the most frustrating things about making planes in KSP, is that many a times, you will only get your plane off the ground, once you have left the runway, and your wings are able to pitch upwards. There is a simple solution to this problem... put control surfaces on the nose (or as close to it as you possible can). This will help life your nose up while you are on the runway, thereby allowing your wings to get the necessary angle of attack, and you will fly up into the air! (given you have enough lift to do so).

Bi-planes: While it may seem a bit odd that you would want to build a bi-plane in the age of jets, the fact is, is that bi-planes in KSP allow for a high lift with a small wingspan. I personally use the swept wings as the wings for my bi-planes, but any wing design should work so long as it isn\'t really heavy, otherwise the upper wing will collide with the lower wing.

No tricycle landing gear: Even though in reality many planes use a tricycle design for landing gear, it doesn\'t really work well in KSP. Reason being, is that if you try and turn at too high of a speed while of the ground, your plane... will tilt over... and crash.

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Any tips for how to get thos mk3-plane stuff into the air in 0.16? None of my old designs works anymore :(

I have successfully lifted a plane with 4 Mk. 3 tanks using a wing design made out of delta wings. This combined with the forward-most control surfaces got the plane off the ground.

The plane was almost the exact same as this one.

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