Kerbal Express Airlines - Regional Jet Challenge (Reboot)

[1Revenger1]

37 minutes ago, TheMadKraken2297 said:

(Not being critical here) Why two pilots? Dosent that make it redundant, and you have to pay another person?

I wasn't completely sure if my ship was considered small, and the rules state that if the ship is medium-large you need a second pilot.

[ImmaStegosaurus!]

3 hours ago, TheMadKraken2297 said:

(Not being critical here) Why two pilots? Dosent that make it redundant, and you have to pay another person?

Flying longer range jet alone, with no pee breaks, would be awful I think. Regulations demand the cockpit to be manned by at least one pilot at controls at all times just in case autopilot gets a fit and stops flying the jet.

 

[Mjp1050]

Test Pilot Review: @SuicidalInsanity's Insanity Aerospace -- IA-720 Series 

IA-720

Figures as Tested: IA-720

• Price: 32,739,000
• Fuel:  1695 kallons
• Cruising speed: 290 m/s
• Cruising altitude: 5500 m
• Fuel burn rate: 0.22 kal/s
• Range: 2200 km

IA-E720

Figures as Tested: IA-E720

• Price: 34,839000
• Fuel:  2395 kallons
• Cruising speed: 240 m/s
• Cruising altitude: 5500 m
• Fuel burn rate: 0.20 kal/s
• Range: 2900 km

Review Notes:

We were impressed with the IA-720 series. To begin with, the 720 blurs the line between a flying wing and a more traditional wide-body airliner; it holds 72-80 Kerbals in comfort, but at 5 meters wider than it is long, it gives the appearance of a jet that's been run over by a steamroller. That's not a criticism; the overly large lifting surface helps it take off at less than 60 m/s, which is impressive for a 27-ton aircraft. At 48 parts (58 for the E720) and two engines apiece, the 720 series seems like it would be a nightmare for a mechanic to take care of, but the nearly identical airframes ensure that replacing parts will be trivial. The aircraft is also very easy to maneuver, thanks to its oversized control surfaces. We appreciate that the engines are located at the rear of the aircraft, too; it reduces cabin noise. The IA-720 series also offers wonderful views on the ground below, thanks to its low cruising altitude of 5500m. Overall, we think that Kerbals will enjoy riding in this aircraft. 

In our testing, though, we noted that the IA-E720 is actually superior to the IA-720. The E720 is 2 million more than the IA-720 and is slower, but offers better fuel economy, a larger range, and more cabin space for the passengers. And if necessary, the E720 can be converted into a 720 by simply not filling up the tanks all the way. We're not sure why anyone would buy the original 720 over the E720 variant.

The Verdict:

A unique design and exemplary Kerbal comfort make the IA-720 series a wonderful first entry into the Medium Regional Jet category. Ordering 12 IA-E720s for use on the medium-haul routes, but we'll pass on the IA-720 because it doesn't offer any concrete advantages over its brother.

[TheEpicSquared]

On 9/21/2017 at 9:26 AM, Mjp1050 said:

Test Pilot Review: @TheEpicSquared's IRIDIUM AEROSPACE TECHNOLOGIES - ISRJ-32

-snip-

Noted. Expect an improved version soon (probably tomorrow).  

[no_intelligence]

Hello again folks and Privjet!

The Kerijew Ekranoplan Company would like to present you it's newest construction for the Seaplane Category!

The Kerijew 100!

It is beasty-looking but yet efficient, easy to handle and reliable aircraft, with space for 24 passengers, which is more than wanted by Kerbal Express Airlines from the western Kerbisphere. It is powered by two strong Turboprop-engines, the same model as used on the "Bear". The above-wing design offers great ground and water clearance as well as the best comfort for the passengers.

Speeds have been kept down to a minimum, to make pilot training as easy as possible:

T/O Land: 60m/s - LDG Land: 50m/s

T/O Water: 85m/s - LDG Water: 50m/s

Cruise: 200m/s at 5000+ meters, burning 0.12u/s, range of 2600km with standard fueling. Might be enlarged by using all tanks, but that will void our companies guarantee for a safe use on water.

When using it on water, make sure to have the gear up and be gentle with using the pitch. For landing on water, slow it down and drop it into the water while pitching up to 10-20 degrees. For take-off on water, let it accelerate to 85m/s at least on a straight line, without using pitch, then more or less suddenly pitch fully up, to lift it from floating around into the air. Using it on solid ground is as easy as could be, no specific training needed for the pilots.

Reverse Thrust is set to "1".

https://kerbalx.com/no_intelligence/Kerijew-K-100

Spoiler

Btw... @TheEpicSquared, right now listening to Thin Lizzy's "The Boys are back in Town" - your Avatar is dancing just perfectly on the beat 

Edited September 26, 2017 by no_intelligence

[TheEpicSquared]

IRIDIUM AEROSPACE TECHNOLOGIES - AIRCRAFT DIVISION PRESENTS:

Its second-generation Small Regional Jet:

The IS2J-32B!

Presenting the second generation Iridium Small Regional Jet - the ISRJ-32B!

The ISRJ-32B is the second Small Regional Jet made by Iridium Aerospace Technologies. It is heavily based on the original ISRJ-32, retaining the same cockpit, engine, fuel load, tail and wings. The most noticeable change, of course, is the placement of the fuel tanks. The central fuel tank of the ISRJ-32 has been split in two and positioned at the front and rear of the plane, allowing the cabin to be joined together. The wing-mounted fuel tanks of the original plane have been moved to the top of the fuselage for better stability. The wings remain unchanged from the previous model, as does the tail. The front canards, however, have been replaced with cheaper ones. This, along with other cost-cutting measures, have reduced the price down to a very affordable 19,415,000 kerbucks. 

Another main criticism was the engine noise in the cabin during flight. This issue has been solved by using the rear fuel tank as a sound absorber, vastly reducing engine noise and vibrations. The air intake has also been moved rear of the cabin and to the bottom of the plane to further reduce noise and increase passenger comfort.

The tail and intake remain protected from a potential tailstrike with the trusty I-beam from the previous version.

Pilots should have no trouble learning how to fly this plane, as almost everything is virtually identical to the first version of the plane. Maintenance also remains a breeze as there are only 39 parts to the plane. The four large airbrakes and the thrust reverser have been kept from the previous plane.

Overall, the ISRJ-32B provides even better comfort for passengers, while at the same time being absolutely excellent with range and fuel comsumption, as the numbers below show.

 

Numerical data:

Price: 19,415,000 kerbucks

Recommended cruising altitude: 8-9km

Recommended cruising speed: The ISRJ-32B doesn't have a particular speed to maintain. Just get her up to the cruising altitude and open up the taps. Top speed should be around 220-260m/s, depending on what altitude the plane is being flown at. The plane might be able to sustain 270m/s after a shallow dive, but this is not certain.

Range: 600 / 0.08 * 220 / 1000 = 1650 km

Action groups:

1 - Toggle thrust reverser

2 - Toggle engine on/off

3 - Toggle airbrakes

 

Craft file: https://kerbalx.com/TheEpicSquared/ISRJ-32B

Enjoy!  

 

 

[sdj64]

Submitting two designs: the Cobalt Air Bluejay 32 for the small regional jet category, and the Goosewing 80 for the medium regional jet category.

The Bluejay 32 is a stylish and fast small plane that holds 32 passengers.  Its speed, range, and cruising altitude set it apart from planes of its size, making it perfect for routes that would be unreachable with other small jets, and uneconomical with larger ones.  For improved performance and fuel economy on shorter routes, it can be flown with less than a full fuel load.

Cost: 17,991,000

Cruising altitude: 8500m

Cruising speed: 275m/s

Range: 1900km

Takeoff Velocity: 55m/s

KerbalX link: https://kerbalx.com/sdj64/Cobalt-Air-BlueJay-32

 

The Goosewing 80 is a medium jet that holds 80 passengers, exceeding the minimum requirement of 72.  Its shape is inspired by a concept aircraft designed by MIT, with features emphasizing fuel efficiency.  Like its inspiration, the Goosewing gets impressive fuel economy, with fuel cost per passenger just 55% of the Bluejay's.  This efficiency does come at the price of speed, in fact, if the cruising speed is reduced further to around 220 m/s the plane is just capable of reaching the extended range target.

Cost: 32,341,000

Cruising altitude: 8000m

Cruising speed: 245m/s

Range: 1800km

Takeoff Velocity: 60m/s

KerbalX link: https://kerbalx.com/sdj64/Cobalt-Air-Goosewing-80

[Laie]

Another attempt at building a supersonic thing. I'm more the engineering type so please forgive me for not having much of a sales pitch. Or a name. Hmm. "Sonic", will that do? fine. I dub thee Sonic.

Anyway, if it looks fast, that's because it is. Design goal was to build a recognizable supersonic plane that actually, you know, works. No fancy wing layouts, engines tucked away below where they rightfully belong... no surprises, really. Then again, I have yet to meet a passenger (or procurement manager, for that matter) who enjoyed a surprise. This plane offers the standard fare of it's class: forceful acceleration, a zooming climb to 10km, followed by a cruise so smooth -- if it wasn't for the windows, the passengers might almost forget that they're on board a plane.

• Price tag: 99,053,000
• 72 Seats
• 580m/s @9500m (or thereabouts, see below)
• Craft File

Takeoff & Ascent: While it can take off at under 80m/s, I don't recommend to force it. Point her down the runway, turn on SAS, deploy flaps, and let nature have it's way (you can get her to take off at 70m/s if you deploy the flaps at the right moment). It's quite possible to get from the runway into supersonic cruise without ever using the afterburners, but a toggle is provided just in case. Once you've reached the desired altitude and airspeed, tweak down the ramjet; as fuel load decreases, you may tweak it down further.

Cruise: At higher altitudes you need more ramjet because the Panthers are starving, but you also have less drag overall; likewise, there's a band where fuel usage scales nearly linearly with airspeed. Between 9-10km and 550-600m/s things are canceling each other out so well that I could not determine a single best altitude or cruising speed.

Landing: Any attempts to force her down will lead to nasty accidents. I'm almost ashamed to say this, but... Do it properly: get into a 8deg nose-up attitude way ahead of time and control the descent rate by throttle. Flaps create drag, but will also provide a lot of lift at first. Deploy them early.

Tech Talk: Once in stable flight, the Ramjet produces about as much thrust as a pair of Panthers, which encourages one to try such a variant. Which actually works... but keeping it in steady flight is a work of art: you have to get the AoA down just so and pay attention that the control surfaces don't deflect the slightest bit, trimming the fuel in the tanks so the controls zero out. For all that, the fuel savings are surprisingly slim.

The Ramjet variant as provided certainly benefits from all these shenanigans, but it doesn't need them. No particular piloting skills are required to get and keep this plane in a Mach2 cruise. An unexperienced pilot may need a little more fuel than strictly necessary, that's all. But there's enough gas to meet the 1600km requirement in any event -- with some experience, over 2000km are possible.

Edit to add: I didn't notice that the altitude limit for Supersonic was lifted; for purposes of fuel efficiency, this plane makes no sense. Other than that, it flies like a passenger airliner and has the landing issues of a Concorde.

Edited September 28, 2017 by Laie

[Mjp1050]

Test Pilot Review: @ImmaStegosaurus!'s Factory No. 653: Ka-24

Figures as Tested:

• Price: 43,916,000
• Fuel: 2000 kallons
• Cruising speed: 130 m/s
• Cruising altitude: 1200 m
• Fuel burn rate: 0.32 kal/s
• Range: 810 km

Review Notes:

We really enjoyed our experience with the Ka-24. First, landing on water is incredibly smooth - we managed to land at 33 m/s on water, and Bob Kerman, our crash test dummy test passenger barely even noticed. Takeoff was a bit trickier, because it required all the flaps to be deployed; if they weren't, the plane nose-dived into the water at 30 m/s. Annoyingly, flaps aren't bound to any action groups, so they had to be deployed manually - but once they were deployed, takeoff was as smooth as smooth could be. The engines are placed well above the waterline, and remained quite dry for the entire flight, so we don't think that engine maintenance will be much of a problem. The KA-24's cruising speed of 130 m/s is delightful, especially with the cruising altitude of 1200 meters - combine that with the parasol wing placement and the passengers get a wonderful view of the world below. That being said, with a cruising altitude of 1200 meters, it can't fly very far inland, making it useful only on water . Interestingly, 130 m/s isn't even the top speed - it's actually upwards of 200 m/s, but speeds that high kill the fuel economy, so 130 m/s offers the best bang for buck. Our main criticism of the Ka-24 is its price: at 44 million, it's not the cheapest aircraft on the market, and the fuel economy means that refueling this aircraft will be pricey. 

The Verdict:

A very solid first entry in to the Seaplane category, the Ka-24 performs above and beyond what we need in a seaplane, though we would recommend creating an action group for flaps. Ordering 3 for use at island airports, and we'll order an additional 6 if Factory No. 653 can lower the price.

[Eidahlil]

Supersonic Jet AAA074 Potato by Abstract Aerodynamics

Spoiler

Our marketing department is currently on vacation, so we got one of our engineers to write a pitch/description:

She may not look like much, but she's a good plane. Cheap, but the landing gear holds up real well, we used a double layer of duct tape everywhere it matters. The control surfaces are crazy expensive, so we tried to use as little as possible by minding the wing design. Which you can see from the way she handles - we use the same surfaces for both pitch and roll controls, she gently takes off with SAS on at 65, but you can force her off the ground at 45 if there's a cat on the runway or something. Land at, well, less than 65, because you'll just take off again if you go faster. I think she stalls at about 22 or so with full tank, but don't worry about it too much, we bounced her aplenty of times and she's just fine.

Spoiler

 

For cruise, just point her straight when about 20 km up, and let nature take over, which will be 23 700 / 24 500 high going 1 235 / 1 200, while slurping 0.09 / 0.08 fuels per second. That's with full / empty tank respectively. That's a range of 10 500 km if you start midair, but starting on the ground it'll be more like 8 500 km. We don't say you have to go that far, it's more that we know some countries charge a cow and a half for fuel, and it'd be weird to bring cows to pay for fuel, so you can go there and back on a full tank.

Uhh, yeah, you can fit 40 passengers inside, she masses 10 837 kilos dry, and the tanks can hold 800 fuels for another 4 000 kilos. We were thinking where to put the fuel, and Herman said let's put it in the middle so the mass doesn't shift around, but that would be weird, fuel in the middle of the cabin, and then Mort from accounting came and said "Guys, are you doing anything with the discount wings left over from the abandoned jumbo jet programme?" and we were, like, "Yeah, yeah we are."

We were not sure if the airplane grade aluminum foil would hold up at Mach 4. Wait, should I say that? Anyway, so we flew her around the world to test. Our guys loved the timelapse, so maybe you'll like it too?

So we were thinking it would sell for 15 999 999 of which 640 000 is fuel, but now management says do a discount, so she's going for 15 861 000. Pick her up while she's hot, cause I think management is gonna do a limited run to do market piercing, and then start selling something expensive instead, and everyone will want to fly supersonic by then, so you're gonna have to buy that or roll over and go out of business.

Order here: http://kerbalx.com/juzeris/Potato.craft

Variants: Well, she already flies 4 times further than the longest range variant, so, I guess you could fill her up with only 200 fuels for a range of 1 500 km, and 240 for 2 000 km.

Edited September 28, 2017 by Eidahlil

[ImmaStegosaurus!]

7 hours ago, Mjp1050 said:

First, landing on water is incredibly smooth - we managed to land at 33 m/s on water, and Bob Kerman, our crash test dummy test passenger barely even noticed. Takeoff was a bit trickier, because it required all the flaps to be deployed; if they weren't, the plane nose-dived into the water at 30 m/s. Annoyingly, flaps aren't bound to any action groups, so they had to be deployed manually - but once they were deployed, takeoff was as smooth as smooth could be. The engines are placed well above the waterline, and remained quite dry for the entire flight, so we don't think that engine maintenance will be much of a problem.

After further flight tests by Zavod 653's testpilot, Valentina Kermanikov, we've managed to recreate the issue of diving. This is due to high mounted engines, which at high throttle and low speed, tend to overpower tail's ability to keep the plane level during the take-off from water. During take-offs from solid surface front landing gear transfers this torque to the ground.

Recommended procedures for take-offs from water are added to the Ka-24 owner's manual v1.1
1, Tail plane's maximum travel is to be increased to maximum and constant nose up input should be applied through take off.
2, Throttle should be increased to 50% of maximum rated power, until speed of 25-30m/s is achieved. 
3, Throttle can then be increased in 10-15% increments while applying sensible nose up input.
4, When in air, tail planes should be restricted back to max 100% travel.

Flap action group has been lost during the development. It'll be included on further production and airframes with serial number of 0019 or lower are to be refitted as part of their first factory inspection and upgrade package. Faster upgrade schedule is possible as part of further airframe purchases.

Lowering unit costs was studied after customer reviews. Only feasible option found would be to drop the No.2 engine from the middle, but this would lower the aircraft's performance slightly. Austere passenger and cargo versions should be more affordable than current high class business layout.

[Bombstar10]

Some of the entries I have seen on here are pretty damn cool. Looks like I might have to actually start doing some high-intensity testing of some of the Space Company retrofit aircraft.

Side note the hardest part of building my Jumbo-Jet seems to be getting an 816 Passenger aircraft to fly for more than 2000km. Oh and of course cost less than $1,300,000,000

Edited September 29, 2017 by Bombstar10

[Samwise Potato]

On behalf of the corporation Spud Flight, I am pleased to present our first two of many designs for KEA's consideration! It is a point of pride for us to be able to offer these aircraft with a promise that they have been over-built to a point where we have already and can at your request further surpass any design criteria you care to name with minimal alterations to the current prototypes.

---

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We lead off with the SF-A116, development name "Tulip." This light seaplane boasts extreme agility and fuel efficiency without compromising in any way on its other performance characteristics. Driven by a powerful and compact turboprop engine, the "Tulip" has excellent acceleration and a remarkable operational ceiling, allowing direct passage to any destination. Take-offs are a snap at any speed over 42 m/s, and landings are sublimely smooth between 50 and 65 m/s thanks to a set of small but effective flaps. With our cutting-edge cockpit design, all of our passenger aircraft can be flown by a single pilot, but we always make sure to have room for two so training new pilots on our birds is a snap. The massive field of view provided by this cockpit aids greatly in gauging wave height for any open-water landings.

SF-A116 Tulip - https://kerbalx.com/SamwisePotato/SF-A116-Tulip

Category: Seaplane

Airplane Cost (no fuel): 17,434,000
Dry Weight: 5.685 t
Max Weight: 6.935 t
Part Count: 42 Parts
Passengers: 16
Fuel Capacity: 250 LF
Operational Ceiling: 8,000 m
Cruising Altitude: 3,000 m
Cruising Speed: 158 m/s
Fuel Consumption at Cruise: 0.04 LF/s
Estimated Effective Range: 950 km

---

---

Our second design presented today has a bit of an identity crisis. It was a probably a mistake to send the same team that designed the seaplane SF-A116 straight into designing what was supposed to be our turboprop SF-A232 "Lupin." Is it a seaplane? Is it a turboprop? Nobody here is quite sure. What we do know is that it can fill both roles superbly. In fact, it does just about everything superbly. The "Lupin" is an absolute joy to fly, rock-steady at any altitude and able to make the absolute smoothest water landings you have ever seen. It lifts from 45 m/s upwards with ease and sets down so gently you're not even sure you've landed when you put it down between 50 and 65 m/s. Our test pilots assure me it's as simple as coming in at the flattest angle you can manage and keeping the plane level with the water at the initial moment of contact. Check out that view! With that much glass in the cockpit, you can see literally everything that's in front of you.

SF-A232 Lupin - https://kerbalx.com/SamwisePotato/SF-A232-Lupin-II

Category: Turboprop (optional Seaplane)

Airplane Cost (no fuel): 20,794,000
Dry Weight: 8.065 t
Max Weight: 10.565 t
Part Count: 47 Parts
Passengers: 32
Fuel Capacity: 500 LF
Operational Ceiling: 8,000 m
Cruising Altitude: 3,000 m
Cruising Speed: 159 m/s
Fuel Consumption at Cruise: 0.06 LF/s
Estimated Effective Range: 1300 km

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I am also excited to be able to reveal advance information about two more prototypes we will have ready for testing soon: Expect to see "Daisy," a Small Regional Jet we may have made a little too fast for its own good, and "Marigold," a Supersonic Jet we over-engineered to the point where it has a +6000km range.

Edited November 16, 2017 by Samwise Potato
Format

[AtomicSnails]

Alright sounds awesome, hopefully we get my fleet in later today

[Mjp1050]

Test Pilot Review: @ImmaStegosaurus!'s Factory No 653: Ka-12 series

Ka-12/24:

Figures as Tested for Ka-12/24

• Price: 130,976,000
• Fuel: 5813 kallons
• Cruising speed: 155 m/s
• Cruising altitude: 4000 m
• Fuel burn rate:  0.35 kal/s
• Range:  2500 km

Ka-12/48

Figures as Tested for Ka-12/48

• Price: 160,310,000
• Fuel: 5813 kallons
• Cruising speed: 155 m/s
• Cruising altitude: 4000 m
• Fuel burn rate: 0.36 kal/s
• Range: 2500 km 

Review Notes:

Let's start with the obvious: the Ka-12/24 and Ka-12/48 are massive. The lightest variant is 64 tons, which is more than twice as much as any other aircraft we've tested so far. Unsurprisingly, we found the Ka-12 series to be quite sluggish, because of their sheer mass. Unfortunately, this limits the Ka-12 series to the larger airports, and because it carries so few passengers, it would not be as efficient in that situation as other, larger aircraft. We suspect that the Ka-12 series originated as cargo planes, and were converted into passenger planes later in their lifespan. The renovated cargo bays make the fuselage almost indestructible, though. We also found the engines to be unreliable; notably, fuel consumption varied wildly depending on the altitude and angle of attack. At one point, the aircraft was consuming 0.70 kal/s, and that's twice the normal fuel consumption. The engines also didn't respond well to changes in pitch; diving would block airflow to the engines and choke them.

The Verdict:

The Ka-12 series is frankly too unreliable to put into service. Perhaps swapping out the engines would yield some improvements.

Edited October 4, 2017 by Mjp1050

[no_intelligence]

Behold, guys - some crafts, a Kupolew Supersonic Jet and a Koeing Jumbo Jet are coming up soon 

Just to reveal a bit: The Jumbo is by far the ugliest and nearly largest plane i ever built. And it flies. Some sort of.

[ImmaStegosaurus!]

 

The Verdict:

The Ka-12 series is frankly too unreliable to put into service. Perhaps swapping out the engines would yield some improvements.

Staff at Zavod 653 are working around the clock to deliver new design (refurbish retired airliner) so it could be submitted for trials.

Ka-12 is acknowledged to be older design and in it's original form it was a military transport introduced over half a century ago.

Edited October 5, 2017 by ImmaStegosaurus!

[Bombstar10]

On 10/4/2017 at 6:58 PM, ImmaStegosaurus! said:

Staff at Zavod 653 are working around the clock to deliver new design (refurbish retired airliner) so it could be submitted for trials.

Ka-12 is acknowledged to be older design and in it's original form it was a military transport introduced over half a century ago.

A fellow military contractor attaching seats using duct tape and cutting holes in the fuselage for windows I see!

[Samwise Potato]

It has been, frankly, a miserable week for senior management here at Spud Flight. We arrived full of optimism for Monday test flights, only to discover that one of our junior managers had forgotten to secure the prototype hangar on Friday evening. Naturally, a marauding band of engineers took advantage and spent the entire weekend eating all the snacks in the building and adding extra bits and pieces to the test aircraft.

You can imagine our consternation.

Tuesday, the chief engineer was summoned to give an explanation. We discovered that not only had our engineers gotten unsupervised access to the prototypes, they'd also gotten unsupervised access to the company intranet, where all the design specifications and research into popular features of competing aircraft were logged. Showing great personal initiative, the engineers decided our prototypes needed more "cool stuff" like "really neat canards" and "awesome fiddly bits." Fortunately, we were able to talk them into undoing the changes by telling them the cost of the extra parts would have to come out of their snack budget.

By Thursday, everything was back to normal. The careless junior manager was now an even-more-junior manager, the hangar had its supply of snacks restocked, and the engineers had taken all the "fiddly bits" off the prototypes. All tests were completed to satisfaction, and our entire management team camped in the hangar overnight to protect our precious prototypes from excitable engineers.

Today, we're proud to present our entries for the Small Regional Jet and Supersonic Jet categories.

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We'll begin with our Small Regional Jet, the SF-J240; development name "Daisy." Our over-eager engineers felt challenged by the number of planes that have already been entered in the Small Regional Jet category, so they've built a plane that does literally everything its competition can do, except better. We heard you like short take-offs? We filled this prototype as full of fuel as it will go, then used a crane to set the prototype on top of a hangar. It launched right off the end with no problems whatsoever. We heard you like short landings? The test pilots turned the plane around and landed it right back on top of the exact same hangar. Of course, we tested it on a runway too! Minimum take-off and landing speed on flat ground is 45 m/s; you need less than 10 plane-lengths of flat ground for the SF-J240 to operate. Forget runways, you could land this thing in the airport's parking lot if you wanted.

If you thought that was impressive, wait until you're actually in the air. At half-power it sedately sips fuel while butting up against the sound barrier, or if you feel the need for speed, full power will push you supersonic with ease. Are you worried about the fuel cost of all that speed? Don't be! "Daisy" can cruise at 545 m/s while consuming a mere 0.10 LF/s, better than the fuel consumption of some of its subsonic-only competitors. We can guarantee your passengers won't be affected by all that speed either. By employing a tri-edge swept wing to minimize air resistance and mounting our engines/intakes/fuel tanks as self-contained pods on the wings, we've protected the passenger cabin against the sound and vibrations other small aircraft suffer.

We were going to build you a 32-passenger variant to test as well, honest, but it would only save you 550,000 and there was effectively no change in performance, so we didn't bother. If you absolutely, positively, must have a 32-seater... we can hack-saw eight seats out, I guess.

SF-J240 Daisy - https://kerbalx.com/SamwisePotato/SF-J240-Daisy

Category: Small Regional Jet (optional Supersonic Jet)

Airplane Cost (no fuel): 19,564,000
Dry Weight: 12.182 t
Max Weight: 16.182 t
Part Count: 34 Parts
Passengers: 40
Fuel Capacity: 800 LF
Operational Ceiling: 13,000 m

Subsonic
Cruising Altitude: 7,000 m
Cruising Speed: 285 m/s (half throttle)
Fuel Consumption at Cruise: 0.09 LF/s
Estimated Effective Range: 2300 km

Supersonic
Cruising Altitude: 9,500 m
Cruising Speed: 545 m/s
Fuel Consumption at Cruise: 0.10 LF/s
Estimated Effective Range: 4000 km

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Sure, we can make a jet go supersonic on a pair of Wheesleys, but that's not fast enough to really excite our engineers, oh no. When 'merely' supersonic won't cut it, there's our entry for the Supersonic Jet category: the SF-S240 "Marigold."

If you can break Mach 1, what's stopping you from breaking a couple more Machs? "Marigold" makes conventional aircraft look like blimps with its blistering cruise speed of more than 1100 m/s. This is the airplane for people who want to spend as little time in the air as possible. Business meetings on the other side of the world? No problem, your passenger won't even need to make hotel reservations; they'll be there and home the same day with time to spare. Vacation that can't start soon enough? Sure thing, your passenger can start their vacation on another continent in mere minutes.

Could we go even faster? Yes, but we'll warn you right now, it's a bad idea. Once you're past 1150 m/s, things start to get rather warm in the cockpit, and holding that kind of speed for too long will cause damage to the aircraft's structure. Theoretically, the engines have enough cooling and thrust to touch 1500 m/s, but the rest of the aircraft will have long since melted. Spud Flight accepts no responsibility whatsoever if you decided to push past the safe limit. What keeps that safe limit around 1100 m/s? Price. If you want to (safely) push into higher speeds, the materials needed to construct the cockpit and passenger cabins alone will quintuple in price and double in weight. More weight means more fuel expenditure, and so on.

Like its slower cousin the SF-J240, the SF-S240 features our twin-pod engine setup with all the sound and vibration dampening that affords. Also similarly, "Marigold" is an absolute joy to fly at any speed. Take-offs are ludicrously smooth at 55 m/s, and landing is simple thanks to air-brakes built straight into the wings themselves. Such an amazing combination of speed and responsiveness means you can take this jet to any small regional airport in the world, and we don't have to tell you just how lucrative providing a high-speed option between just about any two points on the globe could be.

We actually consider it a selling point that there's not a lot to see out the window except for the wing and engine pods; seeing Kerbin pass beneath you at that speed and that height will leave even the most seasoned traveler feeling queasy. We would have removed the windows entirely, but apparently there's laws that require us to have emergency exits on our planes. Who knew?

One quick note about range: Mathematically, the max range is 7,400 km, but since a noticeable portion of the fuel capacity is needed to reach cruising altitude and speed, we've calculated expected range using a reasonable post-ascent fuel load.

SF-S240 Marigold - https://kerbalx.com/SamwisePotato/SF-S240-Marigold

Category: Supersonic Jet

Airplane Cost (no fuel): 29,814,000
Dry Weight: 13.600 t
Max Weight: 21.600 t
Part Count: 41 Parts
Passengers: 40
Fuel Capacity: 1600 LF
Operational Ceiling: 23,000 m
Cruising Altitude: 20,250 m
Cruising Speed: 1110 m/s (one-third throttle)
Fuel Consumption at Cruise: 0.24 LF/s
Estimated Effective Range: 6200 km

---

---

Spud Flight is already rolling more prototypes out of the fabrication plant. We're currently preparing a Medium Regional Jet under the development name "Begonia," but our engineers are moaning and griping about it being a simple and boring plane to build. To keep them motivated, we're re-activating one of our epic design projects, code-named "Sunflower." It's going to be big... really big.

Edited October 7, 2017 by Samwise Potato
Format

[no_intelligence]

So... The Kupolew and the Koeing air and space companies agreed, whether they are opponents from the eastern and western kerbisphere, to present their newest inventions anyway together.

Here they are:

 

Koeing 747-100 Super, super large Jumbo Jet

Because Kerbin seems to be a parallel universe, it was Koeing's turn to present the first double-decker design.

It may look ugly, it may look fat, but it can carry a whole lot of Kerbals - 312. The Koeing 747-100 is powered by an exclusive engine design. Because engineers at Koeing where not able to develop powerful enough Turbofans, we re-used four "Bear" engines from stolen Kupolew-Bombers and added two large Turbofans for additional thrust. (Make sure that the backward-pointing "Bears" are set to reverse, should be in the craft file, but sometimes KSP messes around with it). The engines are mounted far away from the cabin to make it as less noisy as possible. Also the wings are placed between the two passengher decks, to assure nearly everyone get's a nice view.

To keep T/O and LDG speeds low, 80-90m/s are recommended, massive flaps have been added. T/O flaps stage is set to "1", additional landing stage to "2", reverse thrust toggle to "3" and speedbrakes to "4".

Cruising speed is about 230 at 5000m or a bit lower which results in an approximate range of 1500km.

https://kerbalx.com/no_intelligence/Koeing-747-100

Spoiler

 

Kupolew Ku-100 SSJ

The famous Kupolew Aeroplane Design Bureau would also like to enter its Ku-100 Super-Sonic Jet.

It can carry 40 passengers, got a range of about 4150km with a cruising speed of 1000m/s at 15.000m altitude. It has got a simple, slim and sleek design and is a pleasur to fly, as it has got an insanely high TWR (bigger than 1 on sea-level, can ascent vertically even fully fueled) and due to the large, high altitude optimized wing area it got low T/O and LDG speeds of just 70-80 (T/O) and a relaxed 50-60m/s (LDG). To help slowing it down on approach, speedbrakes at the back have been added and set to toggle on "1". And don't be mislead by the very small T-tail, due to the fact, that CoM and CoL are very close to each other it handles exceptionally well.

https://kerbalx.com/no_intelligence/Kupolew-Ku-100

Spoiler

 

[Kneves]

Umm not much of a talker but here is the WH-04

Seats 192

Range 5700ish km (235 m/s @ 4000 feet)

Cost 370,502,000 (kinda Pricey)

Press 1 for reverse thrust

https://kerbalx.com/Kneves/WH-04

Edited October 7, 2017 by Kneves

[Bombstar10]

On 10/7/2017 at 3:05 PM, Kneves said:

Umm not much of a talker but here is the WH-04

Seats 192

Range 5700ish km (235 m/s @ 4000 feet)

Cost 370,502,000 (kinda Pricey)

Press 1 for reverse thrust

https://kerbalx.com/Kneves/WH-04

I see we are entering the stage of the competition where the jumbo jet insanity begins.

Quite like that wing design. Stable when banking the craft?

[qzgy]

Entering with a Supersonic plane

Kramer SSTP-34 Benirschke

https://imgur.com/a/cTw7x

Cost: 121,922,000

Seats: 64 Seats, plus 2 crew

Cruising altitude: 17500 m

Cruising Speed: 1400+ m/s (Or, enough not to melt the cockpit)

Range: 1 Kerbin circumference (Or more!)

Download/Order link: https://kerbalx.com/qzgy/SSTP-34-Benirschke

The Benirschke, named after some German guy one of our engineers found and chosen cause it has 4 consonants in a row. It is capable of 1400+ m/s cruising speeds, easily enough for mere kerbals to witness reentry heating and so far the maximum speed so far. I don't think many are going faster. Cockpits start to melt. And yes, dear test pilot, mild over heating of parts is normal. It can whisk 64 kerbals across the world in record times (as of writing, I'm halfway through a circumnavigation and 23 minutes through a flight, and about halfway to 3/5ths of the way through my fuel), good for time pressed buisnesskerbs and other kerbals looking for a thrill seeking flight. Landing is made easier by the inclusion of a drogue chute, which was lobbied heavily by the families of the slightly dead test pilots. They'll come back. The 6 powerful engines are mounted in pods, to help the maintenance crews access them after a long flight. Also, it has plenty of fuel for a full equatorial circumnavigation, which it can complete in less than 1 hour. The only downside is the cost, which is quite steep. And fuel consumption to some degree. While quite efficient at cruising, sipping a mere 1.3 liters per second, it chugs fuel on takeoff. Oh and take off speed. Which may be illegal..... (it is very close to 80 m/s)

Instructions for use. Gun it at takeoff. Pitch up to 45 degrees. Level out at 17500 m and set the autopilot to stay level. (or just trim till level). Keep gunning it. Increase altitude as seen fit, but it can cruise at 17500m (lower during the night). For landing, there is a drogue chute. Probably useful.

[Kneves]

9 hours ago, Bombstar10 said:

I see we are entering the stage of the competition where the jumbo jet insanity begins.

Quite like that wing design. Stable when banking the craft?

Thanks, Yeah it is quite stable when banking

[AtomicSnails]

Final Frontiers Flight LLC Presents 

Click here to see images!!!

The FF-Shockcone

This truly revolutionary craft utilizes a new technology called mode switch engine bypass. By simply a press of a button (oddly shaped to look like the number 1 on a keyboard "hint hint") the Shockcone can change its subsonic twin engines into powerful supersonic monsters capable of cruising around mach 2.4 at altitudes around 16,000 meters. the Shockcone is able to carry 40 passengers in luxury, each seat is equipped with reclining seats and full access to a mini-fridge. While no employee of Final Frontiers flight division wanted to do a proper test of range (the closest was one test pilot named J. Kerman who made it for an hour before deciding to try "sick stunts") it is estimated to have a range of 4,700 kilometers. Our new karbon fiber frame allows the Shockcone to function solely on its subsonic mode, making it ideal for not only supersonic journeys, but smaller regional routes. the innovative delta+ frame of the Shockcone also allows for the amount of sonicboom, to be delivered up in a cone shape instead of down towards the ground, making high altitude supersonic flight over land possible.

Of course what you care about mostly is the cost, and why shouldn't you? After all we have yet to see a profitable supersonic transportation system since the ill fated Konkorde Jet. however, we have been able to drop our costs down to a price that rivals competitors normal subsonic forms of transportation. Each of our FF Shockcone planes come with a three year guarantee* at the low low price of 30,136,000.

 

We have decided to send you one of our Shockcone crafts (all 34 parts included) as well as a easy to use manual (a slip of paper simply saying "press 1 to go faster" ) we hope to hear back from you and hopefully see our included order form filled out

 

Best Wishes

Final Frontiers CEO

A. TomicSnails

 

*Warranty void if refueled or used for stunt purposes 

Stats for nerd:

Mass: 18.980t

Height: 5m

Width: 10m

Length: 19m

Take off speed: 60m/s

Landing speed 50m/s

Ground level fuel consumption: 1.24/s Supersonic Mode .35/s subsonic mode

Cruising Consumption: .25/s

Actual Cruising Speed: 830-860 m/s

Recommended Cruising Altitude: 13,000-16,000 Meters   

Fuel Weight: 1280 Units

 

Pick up your free demo plane here:

 

https://kerbalx.com/AtomicSnails/FF-Shockcone

 

 

 

Edited October 10, 2017 by AtomicSnails
added the stats for nerds and general grammer clean up