Telemagic airport registry

[Hotel26]

Since the Dawn of Creation [as depicted in Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey], the fundamental question faced by Mankind has been: "what do we do until the next planetary transfer window opens up?"  The best answer so far: set up a global aviation network and make money by moving 100K's of tourists around... 

Inspired by https://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/index.php?/topic/172690-kerbal-express-airlines-regional-jet-challenge-reboot-continued, the Telemagic mod facilitates you building your own global aviation network on Kerbin.  Or indeed, anywhere in the Kerbolar system!  "Hub" airports are identified by a control tower that allows aircraft (and spacecraft) to refuel and continue on.

Telemagic is NOT a cheat!  It's a real challenge.  Find airport sites that are flat enough to land high-speed aircraft!  Then use smaller aircraft on the regional commuter routes to service your "bush" landing strips.  Transport a control tower (usually thought of as a building with concrete/glass and no wheels, engines or wings) to the new site!  It's all not-so-easy.  Then refuel aircraft (parked within 30m of the tower) with the press of a button.  Telemagic even repacks chutes so you don't need to forget!!  It'd probably wash your cockpit windscreens if it could.

If you use Telemagic, this topic is a thread to register the sites you find for hub airports and share them with other intrepid aviation magnates.  I'll start the ball running in the first reply.  (See the Telemagic link above for more information, if you're interested.)

I've named this airport site "Tobruk" and it is located on the tip of the Kerbara desert, west of KSC, at:  1 35 26S 106 13 04W

 

The second shot shows the runway marker flags for R19 and R25 with runways 1008m and 808m respectively.  [Click the first for a full-screen slideshow.]

Please feel free to share your new airports here!  In the next few days, I'll put up a few more, including one surprise location!

 

 

Edited June 3, 2018 by Hotel26

[Hotel26]

There's an island on a heading of 63 deg from KSC that I use as a target range for sub-orbital placement of Aquila Cruise.  Here's a pictorial of the first 6 firings in my Orbit production world:

in this shot, the tower mid-center (leftmost in near group of 4) landed 23.2m from the target.

[Vanamonde]

This sounds like a mission idea. And so, the thread has been moved to Mission Ideas. 

[Hotel26]

For those giving Telemagic a quick try out, I recommend the following:

1. move the file GameData/Telemagic/Cruise Aquila.craft to the Ships/VAB folder of the world you are going to try it in.
2. perform a puny launch in which you separate the payload from the lifter at some low altitude, e.g. 10km
3. with the aim to bring the tower down somewhere on the KSC green (and NOT rain any debris down on the KSC itself)
4. mark out four flags in the vicinity of the tower such that you have a long (>1000m) and a shorter (>800m) runway at right angles to each other
5. ensure you have a Kerbal in the cupola of the control tower.
6. run a rover up to within 30m of the tower and apply its brakes
7. press the Telemagic button and verify that the rover's resources (e.g. battery charge) is replenished.

After that, I would recommend flying an expedition to Tobruk, at:  1 35 26S 106 13 04W, and marking out 2 runways with 4 flags ensuring that the flags are all within 10m of the same altitude.  (It'd be highly preferable if the runways were pretty much flat and suitable for landing high-speed aircraft, or at least the long runway, anyway.)  Then launch Cruise Aquila into a 70x70km orbit.  Separate the Cruise vessel and then use the Twitch engines to deorbit via a perigee of 30km(?) over the target area.  Let re-entry continue the descent to about 15km.  Fire up the Wheelseys and fly at or below 6.5km altitude to your target.  (I park a rover in the general location for the control tower site.)

AG0 to discard the engines and wings.  Pop the first set of chutes.  AG8 to cut those chutes and enter a controlled free fall toward the target.  Pop the second round of chutes above 400m AGL.  AG9 to deploy panels/antenna.  Don't forget to station a Kerbal in the cupola on duty for refueling.

Good luck!

UPDATE: Alternatively, to make things easier on yourself, try a polar orbit targeting either of the Poles for a hub airport.  You will find that the Cruise vessel has quite a long range in level flight, so you only have to re-enter in the general area to secure success.  Once down, the ice cap is completely flat so the surveying part of the job is dead simple.

Edited May 27, 2018 by Hotel26

[Hotel26]

This is Kirchhoff Junction, with runways R11 & R19 located at 17 2 6S 39 54 9W.  It's about 390km from KSC on a 120 heading.  (Jump one puddle.)

I like it because the valleys form a natural L-shaped junction and one of them (foreground) extends quite far to the edge of the ocean.  It's flat enough to be able to accommodate heavies.

Edited June 3, 2018 by Hotel26

[Hotel26]

The following is a tribute to @Wanderfound for his entry into some "fastest airplane challenge".  This machine (pictured center with 4 RAPIERS) is not on KerbalX.com/Wanderfound.  I found it some time ago somewhere like Dropbox, downloaded it, archived it, dubbing it "Fireball", since it had no other name...

Tuesday morning, I needed a pep-me-up before facing the specter of another day of work, so I took "Fireball" for a spin.

You cannot fly this machine without stitching a permanent, ear-to-ear grin on your visage that would make the Joker's Mom eternally proud!!  (Just be careful with your Kerbals because they will emerge from this vessel like baked potatoes from a Chernobyl microwave!)

I've just refueled it at my latest outpost in my global aviation network, Greenland Tower: 32.05N 9.15E   (An upcoming sub-orbital launch will bring the first villagers to settle here in Greenland.)

P.S. I'm really starting to think there's a niche for a vehicle designed to be purely suborbital with a powered-approach/land phase.  Refuel it on the ground and go again.  Think Sydney-to-Stuttgart in 90 minutes...

Edited June 13, 2018 by Hotel26

[Hotel26]

I had promised a surprise location, so here is one.  Mun Tower 1 is located roughly at 0N 98E on the Mun.

Here's a refueling operation in progress on the surface of the Mun:

 

Unfortunately for the Escort, its pilot landed it 90m from the target, MT1 (Mun Tower One).  The tower is a Telemagic tower (marked out with 4 flags indicating 2 "runways" on a relatively flat site) with a refueling apron 30m in radius.

Refueling the Escort would have taken a total of 10 seconds if it had landed within 30m of the tower.

A pair of Vodka Daiquiri fuel trucks, doppelganged, had therefore to be employed to shuttle fuel to the Escort, requiring a total of 7 trips.

[Jetski]

I like what you are doing here - its fun setting up infrastructure.  How are you locating flat spots? a flyover with a plane, rovers, etc?