Using the Cargo Ramp

[XLjedi]

In terms of a missions that might involve retrieving, a rover, and then redeploying at another location...

How much success have you all had with using the cargo ramp on an airplane?

Design-wise I have a nice little cargo plane, loading ramp attached to the big Mk3 cargo bay.  Loads and unloads a refueling truck on the KSC runway just fine.  ...but then I fly with it over to the island runway and try to unload it (undock it ) and the truck seems to be damaged by the flight or landing?  I've tried different connectors and seem to get the same issue.  In flight the thing gets damaged and/or the wheels merge with the fuselage or something?  ...and I can't disembark the rover again once at the island, or if I can the wheels/motors are damaged and it doesn't want to move.  I even raised the deck of the cargo bay to give the wheelbase a little more width (I thought it was a clipping issue with the curved sidewalls) and I continue having the problem.

I also notice that during the flight, the plane controls are translated into the rover, so it's back there in the cargo bay with wheels going and steering active.  Disabling the docking port crossfeed seems to do nothing in this regard.

[Wanderfound]

You need to build so that the only point of contact between the cargo and the cargo bay is via the docking port. If there isn't enough clearance, the parts won't separate cleanly, as you've found.

A side effect of this is that you need to place the docking port in a position that isn't easy to reattach to. But this can be overcome:

Apart from the landing gear trick shown there, you could also use RCS or Vernors to boost a rover up to a high-mounted docking port.

Just make sure that you test all of your docking/undocking proecedures before you fly off anywhere, and have a peek into the cargo bay during flight to check for sagging. Time acceleration will aggravate that issue if it is present.

Edited August 1, 2017 by Wanderfound

[Kerbal101]

4 hours ago, XLjedi said:

I also notice that during the flight, the plane controls are translated into the rover, so it's back there in the cargo bay with wheels going and steering active.  Disabling the docking port crossfeed seems to do nothing in this regard.

Attached vehicle technically becomes a part of larger vehicle. So disable wheels, disable steering, disable girodynes, hibernate rover core. Don't forget to reactivate rover core and check battery levels before undocking though.

[XLjedi]

1 hour ago, Kerbal101 said:

Attached vehicle technically becomes a part of larger vehicle. So disable wheels, disable steering, disable girodynes, hibernate rover core. Don't forget to reactivate rover core and check battery levels before undocking though.

Hmmm... seems like "Disable Crossfeed" should apply to more than just fuel.  Guess I'm just going to have to incorporate an on/off switch now with all of my vehicles.  That shouldn't be too bad I guess.

 

1 hour ago, Wanderfound said:

You need to build so that the only point of contact between the cargo and the cargo bay is via the docking port. If there isn't enough clearance, the parts won't separate cleanly, as you've found.A side effect of this is that you need to place the docking port in a position that isn't easy to reattach to. But this can be overcome:

Apart from the landing gear trick shown there, you could also use RCS or Vernors to boost a rover up to a high-mounted docking port.

Just make sure that you test all of your docking/undocking procedures before you fly off anywhere, and have a peek into the cargo bay during flight to check for sagging. Time acceleration will aggravate that issue if it is present.

 This idea of floating the rover is going to be compounded by the fact that it's a little refueling vehicle that carries 1000 liquid fuel...  so it's maybe kinda long-ish and heavy.  Embedding landing gear into the rover is probably the only option in my case.