Kerbal Express Airlines - Regional Jet Challenge (Reboot)

[Samwise Potato]

@1Revenger1 I think, repeat, think I've solved the problem. Built a completely new plane as identical to the last as possible (with an additional part for tail-strike prevention) and the new file's been uploaded to https://kerbalx.com/SamwisePotato/SF-J240-Daisy

[panzerknoef]

Test Pilot Review: @qzgy's Kramer - SSTP-34 "Benirschke

Figures as Tested:

• Price: 121.922.000
• Fuel: 5120 kallons
• Cruising speed: 1400m/s
• Cruising altitude: 17.500m
• Fuel burn rate: 1.4kal/s
• Range:  5100km

Review Notes:

Overkill in engines is the first thing that came to mind when we saw this plane. Powered by 6 ramjets, the SSTP-34 is an absolute beast, it has massive acceleration and can get to blazing speeds without too much effort. Some nice design work also allows the plane to carry two pilots in what doesn't seem like that much more than a single person cockpit. We do have to note that it was very, very cramped inside, but I guess that saves us the cost of having to heat the cockpit. 

Maneuverability of the plane is an odd one to be honest. Pitch control is quite random seemingly, sometimes it was very responsive, and sometimes it took ages for the plane to turn, the latter sadly being the more dominant one. We tested if speed had an impact on it, but that didn't seem to be the case, it was just...random. Roll control is quite excellent, a tad sensitive, but still very easy to control. Yaw was pretty average. Take-off speed was pretty much the biggest let down of it all. While mentioned to be "close to 80m/s", it seemed as if the plane wasn't capable of taking off below 110m/s at all. 30m/s above what is required is quite bad, this plane will need a very long runway to take-off, no matter how fast it accelerates. For landing, the drogue chute does help a fair bit in slowing down, meaning the plane doesn't need an excessively long runway to land on. Repackaging the chute does take some time, and it'll have to be replaced regularly, adding to the cost.

A range of 5100km is very good, however the fuel usage of this plane is high. In ascent it can use as much as 8kal/s, and in cruising it's still 1.4kal/s which is above average. The time in which it can cover this range is very nice though, with a cruising speed of 1400m/s, we can get anyone (given that they have the money to pay for it) anywhere, and that very fast.

Comfort is excellent, the engines are mounted behind the cabins, making for limited noise in the cabins. Them being wing mounted also makes for a more comfortable flight. The air intakes are a bit close to the cabins though, meaning that there's still some vibrations of those noticeable in the cabin. Those cabins are large and spacious though, meaning that passengers can move around and stretch their legs while the plane is cruising, walking up to the windows and seeing the burning plasma on the windows, with great views of Kerbin beyond that.

The price of this all is high though, 121.922.000 is a very high price, no matter how good the craft performs. Couple this with a part count of 98, 6 high maintenance engines and an unrivaled taste for fuel, and you get a very pricey plane indeed. Thankfully she can take 80 passengers along, which does mean that the cost per passenger is somewhat doable.

The Verdict:

While the SSTP-34 is without a doubt a great plane, it's quite hampered by its high price and bad take-off speed. Still, we'd like to buy 2 of them, our richer customers will undoubtedly want to pay the price for the excellent comfort this plane boast, and the easy and quick transport between major hubs across the globe. 

[Andetch]

CHEAT RULE BREAKING Turbo Prop Entry

Andetch Type KAT "Enduro"

https://kerbalx.com/Andetch/Andetch-Type-KAT-Enduro

https://kerbalx.com/Andetch/Andetch-Type-KAT-EL-Enduro

It's late, I have a video to post for this one... Stats to be announced!

Edited November 30, 2017 by Andetch

[panzerknoef]

Test Pilot Review: @AtomicSnails's Final Frontiers Flight - FF-Shockcone

Figures as Tested:

• Price: 30.136.000
• Fuel: 1280kallons
• Cruising speed: 850m/s - 290m/s
• Cruising altitude: 15000m - 7000m
• Fuel burn rate: 0.28kal/s - 0.18kal/s
• Range:  3900km - 2000km

Review Notes:

The moment we laid our eyes in the FF-shockcone, we knew that this was gonna be a fast plane. The long slick shape, the delta wings and the 2 afterburning engines. We weren't wrong, the FF-Shockcone is fast! With afterburners on, the plane cruises at roughly 850m/s, not quite the burning speeds of the other supersonic jets, but still very fast. In dry mode the plane can still do a respectable 290m/s in level flight. Maneuverability was good as well, though there are some problems. Roll control is waaaayyy too sensitive, trying to adjust the roll even slightly usually ends up in doing a barrel roll, also makes for some lack of stability when maneuvering at higher speeds. Another noteworthy thing is that you can't ascend at more than 10 degrees up, otherwise you'll lose too much speed at the higher altitudes and won't be capable of keeping the nose up, or accelerate. Oddly enough, when flying very fast at low heights, the plane also gets very bumpy as the control surfaces move up and down continuously. Thankfully this shouldn't occur as it happened in circumstances beyond what the plane is built to do.

Comfort is quite good. The engines are far back, but them being mounted partly inline does cause some vibrations in the cabin. The engines in wet mode are relatively loud as well, certainly ranking as elevated background noise. 

The Verdict:

A plane which can be used in a wide variety of roles, from small regional jet, to supersonic long range jet. We think the price of 30.136.000 is quite reasonable for this plane, being quite far below the average of supersonic aircraft. Admittedly she isn't quite as fast as the average supersonic aircraft either, but the difference isn't really that big either. 34 parts also means maintenance will be limited. We'd like to buy 5 for use on a large variation of routes.

 

[Andetch]

Apologies From Andetch

"Sorry, we believe Gene accidentally released a military prototype as a civilian aircraft. All sales of the Enduro are now canceled. Apologies from all of us here on the board of Andetch Industries for any loss of time. However, we are please to announce the civilian version of the Enduro, dubbed "Chalduro". The range is estimated at up to 4,500KM, cruising at 6,500 metres at 200m/s. There are many variants planned The superb low speed handling of this aircraft make it ideal for short cliff to runways, and very steep downhill runways, and we are sure many airlines visiting smaller, harder to fly into airports will appreciate this one.

We are also pleased to announce that two other new airframes have completed initial test flights, and will be available for Kerbal Airlines to. Registered Andetch contractor test pilots will be able to fly our prototypes. Both are designed to sit in the Jumbo Jet class, however one will also be capable of high altitude supersonic cruise. 

Thank you for your time".

------- Andetch Kerman, CEO and Owner of Andetch Industries.

Chalduro - Legal Turbo Prop Entry (Sorry, I should stop playing way into the night! Reading is hard when tired.....)

https://kerbalx.com/Andetch/Andetch-Type-KAT-Chalduro

View post on imgur.com

">View post on imgur.com">Album

View post on imgur.com

will appear when post is submitted

Day Fury et-Jumbo Jet for airlines to beta test. (First entry in class no? I am sill in the process of fine tuning this entry, also one more Night Fury Variant to come, that also sits in this class)

https://kerbalx.com/Andetch/Andetch-Type-HKT-Day-Fury

View post on imgur.com

">View post on imgur.com">Album

View post on imgur.com

will appear when post is submitted

 

 

 

Also, what (if any) autopilot mods do you use for testing purposes in this challenge? It would be handy so I can fine tune things! Thanks! Loving it, FYI - in case you hadn't guessed!

Edited December 1, 2017 by Andetch

[Bombstar10]

On 11/17/2017 at 11:57 AM, panzerknoef said:

Test Pilot Review: @Bombstar10's The Space Company - Universal Transport Mark One Civilian (UT-1B)

Figures as Tested:

• Price: 202.179.000
• Fuel: 2485kallons
• Cruising speed: 240m/s
• Cruising altitude: 3000m
• Fuel burn rate: 0.41kal/s
• Range:  1400km

Review Notes:

Boy oh boy, we thought the "Kerman Dove" was a deathtrap... In comparison to this plane it's a flight in first class. But more on that later, let's start with the design. It looks as if it was put together utterly randomly, and then the engineers forgot to actually make sure everything was bolted on properly. 

Then, performance... The only part where the plane actually more or less holds up. The UT-1B takes off at 50m/s, which is a good number for a plane of such size. The plane doesn't reach that speed extraordinarily fast or slow though. Once airborne the engines rather quickly propel the aircraft to its top speed of 240m/s. At cruising speed and altitude it manages an efficient 0.41kal/s. Combine this with the 2845 units of fuel and you get a rather short, even too short, range of around 1400km. The plane maneuvers okishly at all speeds, despite seeming very sluggish right after take-off.

Now, this is where it gets interesting. While the maneuvering is quite okay, it does cause some...unpleasantness. Turning hard at almost any speed will eventually lead to total and unrecoverable wing damage. This happens a lot, and when I say a lot, I mean A LOT! (in fact so often that trying to get an in flight shot resulted in wing failure...so that's the picture now) Trying to line up with the runway? woops wing failure.. you're dead. The brighter side though, after one wing shears off, the second one quickly follows, causing the plane to fall way faster than with one wing remaining. That way the passengers at least have to suffer a bit shorter. Apart from the wings which seem to've been made out of spaghetti, the plane is also ridiculously prone to tail strikes, and when that tail strikes... pretty much half of your plane goes with it, at least 24 fatalities. Maybe it's better when that happens because at least that's 72 less fatalities than when the plane does get airborne.

Moving on to comfort.The broad wings stop a lot of sound coming from the 4 large wing mounted engines, causing a fairly silent and soft flight. Sadly the silence of the airplane rather quickly gets undone by screams of death and terror as passengers notice a wing has come off...again. Not to mention there's usually a bit of the wing with a single engine remaining... And with very little of it left, it doesn't stop sound anymore. So if you were hoping to fall to your death solely accompanied by screaming, I'll have to disappoint you, as the ear shattering sound of a contraprop engine quickly floods the cabins and adds to the jolly good sound of your pending death. If that doesn't happen, well there's a 70% chance there was a tailstrike incident earlier. In which case the now open cabin once more allows the sounds of all 4 beastly engines to enter and burn right through your ears.

Last but not least, the price... 202.179.000 and 75 parts, but that doesn't matter since you won't be using those more than once, so no maintenance... woooo! All in all, we think it's a bit too expensive for a plane which is nothing more than a killing machine, I'd say take it to the military, but sadly it doesn't kill the other guys, it kills the people inside the plane.

The Verdict:

It does a FORMIDABLE job as death trap, but really nothing more. We really don't see how these would be any kind of positive addition to our fleet at all. Obviously we will not be buying one. However, if we do ever hear of a big group of criminals who've received the death sentence and they don't know how to complete it, we'll direct them your way.

Complete success!

If still open. I will post a serious entry or two!

[qzgy]

9 minutes ago, Bombstar10 said:

Complete success!

If still open. I will post a serious entry or two!

I believe it is. Just has an enormous file backlog

[Bombstar10]

 

1 minute ago, qzgy said:

I believe it is. Just has an enormous file backlog

 

PERFECT

(I might have something sillier up my sleeve. Aiming for hopefully 1000-1500 passengers)

Edited December 1, 2017 by Bombstar10

[qzgy]

9 minutes ago, Bombstar10 said:

(I might have something sillier up my sleeve. Aiming for hopefully 1000-1500 passengers)

pfft. I have a 15000 passenger craft lined up. Need to fiddle with over the weekend...

Edited December 1, 2017 by qzgy

[Bombstar10]

53 minutes ago, qzgy said:

pfft. I have a 15000 passenger craft lined up. Need to fiddle with over the weekend...

Not sure I can compete with that!

I'll just try and give the reviewers something even more intriguing to review!

[TaRebelSheep]

Great to see that the plane reviews are coming in fast, can't wait to see my planes reviewed.

Anyways, the Trifekta Aeronautics "Blade Flyer", so called because of it's unique wing design. The Blade flyer is a double duty medium regional jet/seaplane, working well in both scenarios (even if it doesn't look anything like a seaplane) partially due to it's special large canard, allowing it to take off at about 50 m/s from water and land. It has a passenger capacity of 72, fitting within the medium regional jet requirements and fitting well within the seaplane requirements. I'm really bad at calculating mileage but the Blade Flyer has a good tested range of at least half, if not 2/3 of Kerbin's circumference, plenty enough to go anywhere you want, and get back with minimal refuelling (also glides really well, so if you find yourself with barely any fuel left climb to 11000m and you'll glide several (over 30) kms). Its cruising altitude is about 8000m with a cruising speed of 500m/s, over mach 1.5, and it doesn't take long to reach that speed too.

Images: https://imgur.com/a/1byrs

Craft file: https://www.dropbox.com/s/kgpies5l88dnas2/Trifekta Aeroanutics Blade Flyer.craft?dl=0

Edited December 1, 2017 by TaRebelSheep
Added images and craft file

[Andetch]

Andetch Industries Jumbo Entry

"We are pleased to announce that test flights have been completed on our new range of Jumbo jets. Introducing Kerbin to the world of large airliners is a fantastic achievement for us here are Andetch, and everyone is incredibly pleased with the results. We will always remember those brave Kerbals that gave their lives so that these planes can fly. Rest in peace (list redacted due to length). Interested airlines should contact us so we can tailor these birds to the exact airline needs. Thank you."

- Andetch Kerman, CEO

Type HKT "Day Fury" (Heavy Kerbal Transporter)

Rotate 125 m/s

Cruise: 4,600M @ 230m/s

Range: 1090 KM

https://kerbalx.com/Andetch/Andetch-Type-HKT-Day-Fury

The X-Series "Night Fury" Variant

Also highly supersonic, however slightly exceeds maximum takeoff speeds.

Rotate 160 m/s

Cruise 14,000M @ 1,400m/s

Range: 2,000 KM

https://kerbalx.com/Andetch/The-X-Series-Night-Fury

Edited December 1, 2017 by Andetch

[1Revenger1]

On 11/28/2017 at 8:51 PM, Samwise Potato said:

@1Revenger1 I think, repeat, think I've solved the problem. Built a completely new plane as identical to the last as possible (with an additional part for tail-strike prevention) and the new file's been uploaded to https://kerbalx.com/SamwisePotato/SF-J240-Daisy

Sorry it took so long to get back. Testing it now

[1Revenger1]

Test Pilot Review Addendum: @Samwise Potato's Spud Flight -  SF-J240 "Daisy"

Figures as Tested:

• Price: 20,810,000
• Fuel: 800 kallons
• Cruising speed: 243m/s, 530m/s at supersonic
• Cruising altitude: 7000m, 9500m supersonic
• Fuel burn rate: 0.09kal/s, 0.11kal/s at supersonic
• Range:  1828km, 3540km at supersonic

Verdict:

After some testing mistakes and figuring out our unit was somehow defective, which got rid of the whole oscillation issue at cruise and Spud Flight even added a tail gear to help protect the tail from the overzealous pilots who decide pitching up to early is smart. Anyways, after this, we decided that we will buy 20 more of these on top of the order given out due to their great performance.

[Kernel Kraken]

21 hours ago, qzgy said:

pfft. I have a 15000 passenger craft lined up. Need to fiddle with over the weekend...

*slow claps* 15000? I will make a 15001 passenger aircraft! Or not. I dont know anymore

 

[Andetch]

Andetch ADX Type G Seaplane

Lightning fast, super reliable, perfect for those beach getaways! (Passengers may require snorkels to enter at sea)

Please view our demonstration video for flight specifics.

https://kerbalx.com/Andetch/ADX-G-Type-Snubnose-Seaplane

• Cruise 6,600M @ 330 m/s
• Range 726 KM
• Rotate 80 m/s Land or 60 m/s Sea

 

Also, I know not good for airlines, but the Andetch G Type Fighter Jets are a seriously good ride! Try one today!

Edited December 2, 2017 by Andetch

[qzgy]

47 minutes ago, TheMadKraken2297 said:

*slow claps* 15000? I will make a 15001 passenger aircraft! Or not. I dont know anymore

 

That number was rounded down. I think I calculated to 15600.

[Confused Scientist]

1 hour ago, TheMadKraken2297 said:

*slow claps* 15000? I will make a 15001 passenger aircraft! Or not. I dont know anymore

I see we have entered the stage of Endless Stretching and Double-Deckering of Fuselages*. Eventually, one of you will reach upper capacity... and then the other will add a Mk1 passenger cabin.

*Also known as Total, Extreme Bankruptcy Madness.

[Kernel Kraken]

6 minutes ago, Confused Scientist said:

I see we have entered the stage of Endless Stretching and Double-Deckering of Fuselages*. Eventually, one of you will reach upper capacity... and then the other will add a Mk1 passenger cabin.

*Also known as Total, Extreme Bankruptcy Madness.

And that person will be @qzgy. Ive given up by now and have retired to sane aircraft.

[qzgy]

I fully and whole heartedly accept that title.

Now just actually need to polish and release.

[1Revenger1]

Lol, don't forget we have to be able to run it

[Cheif Operations Director]

For us console players... could we submit using photos of the Enginners Report and in flight photos with stats KSP Console is at 1.1 so... it it would be ok yes?

[qzgy]

51 minutes ago, 1Revenger1 said:

Lol, don't forget we have to be able to run it

The biggest is only... 1200 parts? or something like that. The even bigger one - I caved and used tweakscale. I could have made the wings normally, but I was lazy.

[Kernel Kraken]

2 hours ago, Cheif Operations Director said:

For us console players... could we submit using photos of the Enginners Report and in flight photos with stats KSP Console is at 1.1 so... it it would be ok yes?

Well, the judges have to test it... so..... uh....... it's not up to me, but I personally would think no. 

 

Edited December 2, 2017 by Vanamonde

[Cheif Operations Director]

2 minutes ago, TheMadKraken2297 said:

Well, the judges have to test it... so..... uh.......

 

Oh come on!