The "Dart" Long Range, Agile, Tri-Hull Recon Craft (stock)

[Randox]

The purpose when I created this craft was to come up with something that can go far to do some exploring. I expect the craft can probably sustain powered flight for 30 minutes if you turn the throttle down a bit as it lightens up. Otherwise your getting 6 minutes per tank per engine I think. The other requirement was it be easy to fly. To that end, I have given it more than double the wing area that it started with, to prevent it from turning around before it could change direction (flying with the engines pointed the wrong way) which would send it into nearly unrecoverable spins. It is also outfitted with an RCS system which both acts as balast once the plane has consumed much of it's fuel, and allows you contol it at altitudes where there is insufficient air for proper aerial control.

If you lift off right at the end of the runway, it can bank hard enough to fly around to the north and complete a 180 without ever going out over the water. Or if you prefer, it will do as much looping as your heart desires.

The only thing of note is that especially while full, it is a very heavy plane for its size (length), and it has to be going quite fast to take off. You'll find that it wont leave the runway until near the end, which is also something to remember when landing. If you park it in front of a hill, your going to have a tough time getting airborne again.

For landing, land it fast. Again, it's a heavy plane. Keep the nose up, and you'll find it quite easy touch down even as high as a third throttle, but it can land without any. If you want to stay in the air, your going to need to stay between 2/3 and full throttle. It can land quite hard, so unless your trying to turn stray carbon on the runway into diamonds, you should be fine. If you land on the grassy plains, especially if its a rough landing or the ground is not flat enough, you might lose the lower cunards on the front. It will still be able to take off and land, but it will need to be going at top speed for liftoff, and it will be a bit sluggish turning and looping (if it will loop). If your finding this to be an issue, you can move them up a notch with symmetry enabled. I have them angled more than they have to be (to not be inside the wing) to deliberately make it a bit more sluggish and easier to control (making it less able to send itself into a spin).

So whether you want to scout out the local terrain, explore a continent, or just do barrel rolls, this plane should have you covered. My hope is that you will find this craft handles more like a plane you might find in a flight simulator, and less like a glass chandelier that is constantly on the verge of flinging itself across the room to shatter against the wall.

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Edited August 8, 2012 by Randox

[MikeC]

Really nice, stable plane. Downloaded it last night, and almost reached KSC 2 with it - I barely reached the mountains ringing it. I would have made it if I managed my flight path & throttle settings better.