Palindrome Plane Challenge

[Speed_Kerman]

I've had this idea floating around in my head for a little while now, and it's something I may try pretty soon. I want to see planes built as palindromes, that can be flown exactly the same forwards and in reverse. Ever hear of the "Push-me-pull-you" from Dr. Seuss's children books? Something like that, a plane that looks and performs exactly the same forwards and backwards. The rear of the plane should be an exact mirror image of the front. Mod and stock parts are all allowed.

Let's see what you crazy Kerbaleers got!! And GO!!

::Edit:: I guess this wouldn't be any fun without some sort of challenge, so here we go.

The Challenge!!

Fly your palindrome plane to the island runway in forward mode and land.

Once there, slam your plane into reverse flight mode, take off again, and land back at the KSC.

Prizes for best plane include bragging rights and my respect.

 

I myself am working on a plane to do just this, and will post screenshots as an example if I am successful.

 

Here's a link to my successful flight. The forum is seeming to be picky and not letting me post the entire album from imgur...

 

https://imgur.com/a/EIC30

 

If somebody knows the way to get imgur albums to post, reply below.

 

I've also posted the craft on KerbalX: https://kerbalx.com/Speed_Kerman/Palindrome-Challenge-Plane

 

Edited September 16, 2017 by Speed_Kerman
Posted link to imgur album.

[sevenperforce]

Similar to this, but I think yours is better:

 

[Scarecrow]

Felt like it could be fun to do this.

 

Ready to go

 

On the way to the island

 

Landed

 

Control swapped to rear cockpit - now facing due west

 

Back at KSC

[Speed_Kerman]

Way to go @Scarecrow !! I was wondering if anyone else would do my challenge or not. Great looking palindrome plane!!

[Scarecrow]

Yep.  It's got some strange flying characteristics - lowering the undercarriage at high speed seems to make it poop its pants, but overall it isn't too bad.  Even tried changing flight direction in mid flight which wasn't too bad, but best achieved by flying vertically, and then changing engines/cockpit as the speed falls to zero and it starts to drop back towards the ground.

[Speed_Kerman]

13 minutes ago, Scarecrow said:

Yep.  It's got some strange flying characteristics - lowering the undercarriage at high speed seems to make it poop its pants, but overall it isn't too bad.  Even tried changing flight direction in mid flight which wasn't too bad, but best achieved by flying vertically, and then changing engines/cockpit as the speed falls to zero and it starts to drop back towards the ground.

I wasn't crazy enough to try that with mine. I found changing flight direction was best done on the ground...

My plane also has 2 sets of landing gear, one for taking off/landing forwards and one for taking off/landing in reverse. Both are bound to action groups. The undercarriage does usually model drag in KSP, so best keep to doing that at low speeds. Using the rear facing engines also really helped me with slowing down for landing, although I suppose I could have slammed the Wheasleys into reverse thrust mode too.

One criticism, where's your vertical stabilizers?

Edited September 17, 2017 by Speed_Kerman

[Scarecrow]

Thought it would look cool without them.  Enabling yaw on the control surfaces gave plenty of authority, although it did have a slight tendency to sideslip if it had any bank on at all.

Wheels on mine were completely symmetrical, 2 at the front and 2 at the rear.