totm july 2020 Trans-Kerbin Airways - Regional Jet Challenge 2: Electric Boogaloo

[epicman81]

The Vertech Stingray

Supersonic Passenger Seaplane

Download Here: https://kerbalx.com/epicman352/Vertech-Stingray

Price: $649,400

Average Range: 830km

Recommended Cruising altitude and speed: 355m/s at around 8,000 meters

The First Made by Vertech Industries, The Stingray provides a Fast, Comfortable Supersonic seaplane that after takeoff and the supersonic boost phase, has its two engines on the sides fold up for more stability when at cruising altitude. in the event of an emergency crash landing the plane can land in the water at around 100/ms only destroying the side engines keeping passengers safe. if needed the stingray does have the capability to take off and land on land based runways. While flying supersonic, passengers will feel comfortable with our patented sound suppression systems so the roar of the mighty three engines sounds merely like a quiet rumble. The TV screens that every passenger has access to complimentary movie streaming and a live speedometer to show the passengers the current airspeed

[TheGoldenSoldier]

Test Pilot Review: @Sarion Kermans A7-1100P "Astral Plane"

Figures as Tested:

• Price: 174 078 300
• Fuel: 4720 kallons
• Cruising speed: 218m/s
• Cruising altitude: 5000m
• Fuel burn rate: 0.46 kal/s
• Passengers Carried: 60 pax
• Range:  2247km

Review Notes:

• Pre-flight checks: The A7-1100P was first anticipated to be a cargo aircraft by ground crew due to the lack of windows, but it turns out the cabin just didn't have them, something almost unheard of for commercial passenger aircraft. Along with the high-wing and T-tail, it looks different to the other airliners in the hangars. It uses two large turbofans for engines, which makes the plane powerful and efficient, in-line with most airliners for the medium-range market. However, it doesn't carry many passengers for the market, making it harder for it to be used as the back-bone of Medium-range routes. In short, the plane surely stands out in design. 
• Flight characteristics: When our test pilots were ready to take off, the A7-1100P was reported to almost accelerate like a fighter, and it rotated at 59 m/s, slower than the advertised. The plane also climbed great, keeping anywhere from 40-55 m/s in vertical speed. When the roll rate was tested, it rolled fast, but not too fast to be hard to control. Turning was a bit slow, but still manageable. When our pilot tried to land, it went smooth. With flaps, spoilers, strong brakes and thrust reversers, the plane stopped quickly, making it possible to use at smaller airports. Flying it for a long time would probably be easy and nice, according to our test pilot.                                                                                                                                     Now, it was time to climb and try to cruise. While it climbed greatly, the plane couldn't push past 220 m/s, cutting it's range from 3300 km to 2257 km, a lot smaller then advertised and limiting the plane to medium range. However, during cruise, passengers would have a luxurious flight in a large, spacious and custom made cabin. The passengers had quite space in front of them and a lot of walking space for the flight attendants, making it easier to cater to the passengers, leading to a very high level of comfort for the passengers.
• Emergency testing: When the pilot was ready for emergency testing, he shut down engine #1. The plane naturally grew more unstable and flew slower when the engine was shut off. When the plane had descended to 2750 m over the sea, the second engine was shut off, the instability instantly went away, and the plane glided pretty good. When 500 meters over the sea, the plane prepared for a water landing, which resulted in failure, since the plane couldn't fly at a high enough AoA to land smoothly in the water, shattering the fuselage and destroying the plane. However, the plane has a thick and double-walled fuselage, it has a lower chance of rapid/explosive de-pressurization then other planes. This will also reduce noise heard from the engines, increasing comfort.

The Verdict:
The A7-1100P isn't so expensive, but costs more than some other medium-range planes with a larger passenger capacity. Even if the comfort is larger than other medium-range planes, this reduces efficiency and increases cost, since more planes will be needed to transport the same amount of passengers that fewer, larger planes could. 

Maintenance of the "Astral Plane" would not be too expensive and relatively easy. With the engines being quite low to the ground and having around the same amount of moving parts as other planes. However, since tail-strikes was quite possible, a small landing gear installed in the tail might need more maintenance after hard landings or quick takeoffs. 

The A7-1100P is very efficient, leading to fuel costs being quite low. Due to all previously stated facts, TKA will buy 6 planes for their luxury, medium-range routes, with more orders being possible if a version with more seats is created.   

[Sarion Kerman]

On 8/28/2020 at 12:15 PM, TheGoldenSoldier said:

Test Pilot Review: @Sarion Kermans A7-1100P "Astral Plane"

OMG! I love your review! I can assure you that the aircraft can exceed 3300 km of range, however, it may only be achieved by using the Kramax Autopilot to keep the aircraft at the desired altitude, optimizing its fuel consumption. Maybe I should have taken screenshots of that. Hahaha. But I understand that without the help of the Kramax Autopilot it is more difficult to control the plane's performance. Thanks!

Edited September 10, 2020 by Sarion Kerman

[FahmiRBLX]

2 hours ago, Sarion Kerman said:

OMG! I love your review! I can assure you that the aircraft can exceed 3300 km of range, however, it may only be achieved by using the Kramax Autopilot to keep the aircraft at the desired altitude, optimizing its fuel consumption. Maybe I should have taken screenshots of that. Hahaha. But I understand that without the help of the Kramax Autopilot it is more difficult to control the plane's performance. Thanks!

All in all, it's a good looking plane; you even made a more proper wing root than mine  Though I made it bare to save on weight & aerodynamics but I'll add a fairing soon.

[Darkuss]

When will be more submissions reviewed?

[TheGoldenSoldier]

On 9/10/2020 at 11:35 PM, Sarion Kerman said:

OMG! I love your review! I can assure you that the aircraft can exceed 3300 km of range, however, it may only be achieved by using the Kramax Autopilot to keep the aircraft at the desired altitude, optimizing its fuel consumption. Maybe I should have taken screenshots of that. Hahaha. But I understand that without the help of the Kramax Autopilot it is more difficult to control the plane's performance. Thanks!

Are you sure you calculated/documented the correct figures on your submission? Even while using the figures from your original post, I calculated a range of 2570 km. This is my calculation:

4720/0.47*256/1000=2570

[FahmiRBLX]

On 9/12/2020 at 12:30 AM, Darkuss said:

When will be more submissions reviewed?

Yes, we're in the process of doing that. Some of us are having real-life issues (mine is a busted GPU & exams), though.

[Sarion Kerman]

On 9/10/2020 at 5:51 PM, FahmiRBLX said:

All in all, it's a good looking plane; you even made a more proper wing root than mine  Though I made it bare to save on weight & aerodynamics but I'll add a fairing soon.

And also the concern about saving funds hahaha TKA is not willing to invest too much :p

On 9/12/2020 at 3:34 PM, TheGoldenSoldier said:

Are you sure you calculated/documented the correct figures on your submission? Even while using the figures from your original post, I calculated a range of 2570 km. This is my calculation:

4720/0.47*256/1000=2570

You did it well, budy. I left the plane flying with Kramax Autopilot until it almost ran out of fuel hahaha Shame on me! It's my fault :p 

Edited September 16, 2020 by Sarion Kerman

[TheGoldenSoldier]

On 9/16/2020 at 8:06 PM, Sarion Kerman said:

You did it well, budy. I left the plane flying with Kramax Autopilot until it almost ran out of fuel hahaha Shame on me! It's my fault :p 

Thanks for the Co-Op, no need to apologize. I calculated a 100000km range once because I was stupid. 

[Sarion Kerman]

4 hours ago, TheGoldenSoldier said:

Thanks for the Co-Op, no need to apologize. I calculated a 100000km range once because I was stupid. 

I prefer not to talk about my stupidity, because maybe I'll receive an award for it hahaha

[panzerknoef]

Zircon P-201A Cloudsurfer

Zircon Aerospace is (re)entering the race. It has been a while since our engineers have been up to anything good, but a recent surge in watching airliner related documentaries has given direction to their life once more. Being veterans of the previous challenge, it was quite a different experience building aircraft without all the extra parts that AP+ offers, but also to put some effort into the aesthetics of our aircraft. Our latest experimental models from back in the day were highly efficient, but passengers would have to be boarded through an opaque tunnel since they just wouldn't want to get into the monstrosities otherwise. Anyway though, those are experiences of the past, but here we are in a new time. We have tried our very best to build an aircraft that is more or less pleasing to the eye as well as being a good overall performer, and the final result is one we are relatively proud of. The Zircon P-201A Cloudsurfer is a twin engine, short haul, low capacity aircraft. It's best suited for flights to small and rough airfields, and has the necessary adaptations to do so as well. It features great acceleration, flaps, and high landing gear, all the things you need for small airports. It has a passenger capacity of a lowly 32, but at a price of only  25.244.000, you still get pretty decent bang for your money. With only 46 parts and having both engines mounted decently close to the ground, we're also expecting you to have low maintenance costs for keeping this aircraft in service. Last but not least, some more technical data: the aircraft has a cruising altitude of 7000m (high enough to traverse any mountain range on Kerbin), a cruising speed of just under 300m/s (298m/s to be precise) and a range of about 1900km.

Get your test model here: https://kerbalx.com/download/craft/64758

We are looking forward to your review and can't wait for the verdict

Zircon Aerospace

[TheGoldenSoldier]

@panzerknoef I can't find your craft file page, did you delete it or did something else happen?

 

[FahmiRBLX]

6 hours ago, TheGoldenSoldier said:

@panzerknoef I can't find your craft file page, did you delete it or did something else happen?

 

He shared the download link of the craft instwad of the craft page link of the craft, hence resulting in an error.

The link should look like this: https://kerbalx.com/[KerbalX Username]/[Craft Name]

E.g https://kerbalx.com/FahmiRBLXian/Frontinco-L-50-30

[TheGoldenSoldier]

Test Pilot Review: @panzerknoefs P-201A Cloudsurfer

Figures as Tested:

• Price: 25.244.000
• Fuel: 1100 kallons
• Cruising speed: 298 m/s
• Cruising altitude: 7000 m
• Fuel burn rate: 0.17 kal/s
• Passengers Carried: 32
• Range: 1900 km

Review Notes:

• Pre -flight checks: As the Cloudsurfer Prototype was delivered to our ground crew, they thought the plane looked good. A long, slender body with large, non-swept wings and engines mounted just below those. One thing surprised our ground crew about the engines, they didn't use an open engine, but a cover with small inlet holes covering the nacelles. This reduces dangers on ground crew and even protect the engines from bird-strikes. After the engines were inspected, the crew began looking at the wings, tail and control surfaces. The wings weren't swept, also surprising for the quite fast cruising speed of the plane. The control surfaces seemed normal, but all of the wing-mounted surfaces would roll. The largest surface acted as a flaperon, being a flap and aileron at the same time. The rudder was quite small, but not as exotic as the elevators. It used the same fins as on some fighter aircraft, with the entire elevator turning instead of just a control surfaces on a fixed elevator. After the wings were inspected, landing gear was up. The plane was fairly low to the ground, with the rear gears retracting into the engine nacelles. The brakes were tuned to a fairly weak 50% of the available 200% of the gears. In short, the plane is not too weird but it's not completely conventional either.  
• Flight characteristics: When everything was inspected and given the all-clear for use, our Pilot began to take off. The Cloudsurfer had excellent acceleration and rotated very early at around 28 m/s, but a tailstrike happened. Fortunately, the tail was reinforced so crisis was avoided. The climb rate was exceptional after the takeoff at 60 m/s, exceeding 50 m/s and still accelerating. After gaining some altitude, our Pilot began rolling like a fighter jet. The pitch was almost too good, resulting in up to 6 G's when fully used. Our pilot also tested the top speed, and actually broke the mach at mach 1.02. Rudder authority was almost laughable, since the plane was barley moving when rudder was used. It handles well at all speeds, but almost a little too well. After having a lot of fun, our pilot decided to land. The plane handled admirably and touched down at around 60 m/s, stopping around 10 seconds after touchdowns with help from the thrust-reverses. After a quick check on all systems and a quick re-fuel, our pilot was gonna try and cruise. Again, the plane shot up to altitude, reaching 7000 m in just a few minutes. After a quick acceleration, the plane was cruising. 
• Emergency testing: When our pilot was ready for an emergency test, engine #1 was shut down. The plane slowed down a bit but all instability was restored by the rudder. Our pilot then rolled over the plane and tested it in inverted flight with one engine. The plane flew good, so our pilot shut down engine two as well and rolled back. Gliding on the winds was a breeze (pun intended) and the Cloudsurfer lived up to its name. Even inverted did it glide well. After performing a quick descent along with some rolls, it was time for a water landing. After a careful descent, our pilot successfully landed and the plane stopped really quickly but floated really good. Our pilot said "I went out on the wing and had a small picnic while waiting for rescue boats.". The Cloudsurfer doesn't use any special safety features.  

The Verdict:
The Cloudsurfer is a very reliable and great short-haul low-capacity airliner. It is fast, efficient, quite comfy and quite cheap as well. It would probably be cheap and easy to maintain. Reparations/replacements of wings and engines could be done at the same time due to the layout of these modules. It is great during emergencies and very easy to fly but also a bit easy to overstress. It can also be a bit draggy at the wings and engines. A swept wing would increase efficiency and maybe even cruising speed to save time. Referencing the incredible reliability of the Cloudsurfer, TKA is recommended to buy anywhere from 10-25 Cloudsurfers, with numbers increasing if a larger version with a swept wing is released.

[The_Stinky_Broccoli]

is this still open? i might have something. 

[TheGoldenSoldier]

41 minutes ago, epicfailure2020 said:

is this still open? i might have something. 

Still open, we're just a bit backed up at the moment. If you post a submission I'll review ASAP

 

[The_Stinky_Broccoli]

ok. so is there a part limit?

[RoninFrog]

3G-07 Morning Glory
(upgraded from the subsonic, short-range 2G-07)

The 3G-07 Morning Glory is a Low-capacity, Long-haul Combi-aircraft.

Stats:

Passengers:              14
Cargo Capacity:     20 tons
Cruising Speed:      1200 m/s
Cruising Height:     15 km
Range:                           3600 Empty - 3200 Full
Cost:                               110,998,000 (4,816,000 for fuel)

Cruising profiles:

Spoiler

Full payload:

Empty:

        After to the relative failure of the dirt-cheap Fledgling 1N-00 (presumably due to the lack of stylishness), Kessler Microplane Aerosyndrome decided to come out with something a whole lot fancier.  The 3G-07 Morning Glory costs over 100 million kerbucks and only takes fourteen passengers.  However, expect to charge the passengers' socks off for the ride. 

        Instead of being crammed into a 10-inch-wide chair between to random strangers, each kerbal gets their own seperate pod with a 180° view of the surrounding country.  In addition to the great view, there are 10 snacks (monopropellant) stored in every pod, with 100 backup snacks in the cockpit.  In addition to all this, each passenger can bring over 1.4 tons of luggage in the huge cargo bay, meaning several of the kerbals could potentially bring their cars along via the ramp at the back of the plane.  Even better, the controls are specialized so the passengers never experience more than about 1.2 G's.  And, as a final bonus, the plane is extremely safe, being able to mostly survive a water landing as well as each passenger having their own escape hatch right above their head.  What more could a customer ask for?

        To give these wealthy passengers the smoothest ride possible, here are some instructions for how to fly this thing properly.  To take off, hold S at 60 m/s, which should cause a nice, easy takeoff around 70-75 m/s.  After retracting the landing gear, turn off SAS to switch to cruising mode.  The controls will be set up so K and I replace the S and W controls respectively. Repeatedly press K until the plane stabilizes.  The new controls will adjust pitch much more smoothly and steadily.  The more you press K, the faster the plane will nose up; and the more you press I, the faster the plane will nose down.  Also, this will let you do internal view from the passenger seats without messing up the control point.  With a full cargo load, you will need to get past 600 m/s around 2.5 km in order to break the sound barrier.  To land the plane, point 5° below the horizon and switch out of SAS, and the plane should eventually fall into an 80 m/s descent.  At about 15 meters above the ground, pull up to bring your vertical speed down to around 3 m/s and activate the brakes.

Here are some bonus screenshots to pique your interest:

Spoiler

Top view:

Internal view:

Thundering across the sky:

Landed at the Island Airfield.

 

Edited October 22, 2020 by RoninFrog

[panzerknoef]

On 10/17/2020 at 11:21 PM, TheGoldenSoldier said:

Test Pilot Review: @panzerknoefs P-201A Cloudsurfer

-snip-

First of all, my apologies with the inconvenience of the craft file, it's been a while since I shared a craft around here. 

Secondly, thanks for the quick and great review! We're very glad that our aircraft managed to meet the high expectations of Trans-Kerbin airlines. We shall take your considerations into account while working on a B model of the cloudsurfer, as well as with potential future models. 

[TheGoldenSoldier]

On 10/20/2020 at 6:38 PM, epicfailure2020 said:

ok. so is there a part limit?

Not a definitive one I think, but try and keep it under 1000 if possible. 

[The_Stinky_Broccoli]

dont worry thats to much for my computer anyway. 

[panzerknoef]

With the possibility of an improved deal on the table, we couldn't help ourselves but put the engineers to work to implement the necessary changes to match your suggested improvements to our aircraft. While many prototypes were created, 2 very closely related ones stood out above the rest and were made ready for production. I can't deny that some of the other prototypes will also make it to production model, but that won't be for the near future. So let's get started, will we?

Zircon P-201DL & P-201DL+ "Cloudsurfer"

P-201DL on the left and P-201DL+ on the right. As you can already see, both models are very alike.

Let's start by going over the common ground on these 2 aircraft. They both have a passenger capacity of 40, an improvement of 8 over the previous model. Both aircraft also feature the requested swept wing, which we tried to integrate with as few extra parts as possible. These aircraft also still share the same engines and engine setup as the P-201A, making for a lot of common parts, which should simplify the supply chain. We've also taken the effort to implement a larger vertical stabiliser on both aircraft, giving an ever so slight boost to yaw control. Brake power was also increased to 200%, making it easy to land on very small runways. Both aircraft retain a cruise altitude of 7000-8000m.

Let's move on to the differences now, starting out with the P-201DL (DL stands for variant D, Long version). This aircraft is nothing more than a stretched P-201A with swept wings and larger vert stab. However, these changes have had some effect on the statistics of the aircraft. For a start, the price has gone up to  28.644.000, not a change that can be ignored, but in return you do get an extra 8 passengers. The change to swept wings also required the adding and removing of some wing surfaces, in total adding up to a slightly bigger area than before. Result of this is a higher drag factor, slowing the cruise speed to 280m/s. The range has dropt as well, going down to 1800km. The swept wings should stand up better against the speeds than the straight wings, hopefully reducing maintenance costs related to metal fatigue. We can also confidently say that the airplane has not taken a hit when it comes to maneuverability and glideability. Part count has also gone up to 52.

The P-201DL+ is a version that is barely altered when it comes to looks, but its performance places it in a different category. Basically, we've exchanged speed for range. Making the fuel tanks longer allowed us to add 800 units of fuel, which results in a total of 1900 units. Boosting the range of this aircraft to 2500km, well inside the range of medium-haul airliners. Of course, this extra mass does not come without negatives. The plane is noticeably heavier, decreasing climb rate and more importantly cruise speed. The latter sits at 250m/s for this aircraft. Because of the added weight, we've lengthened the wings and increased the flap count, this results in low speed performance very comparable to that of the other 2 Cloudsurfer models. This model features an increased price of  33.344.000 and a part count of 60.

Get your test model for the P-201DL here: https://kerbalx.com/Panzerknoef/Zircon-P-201DL-Cloudsurfer

and your test model of the P-201DL+ here: https://kerbalx.com/Panzerknoef/Zircon-P-201DL+-Cloudsurfer

Once again looking forward to the verdict on our updated aircraft, hope you will all have a wonderful day.

Zircon Aerospace

[TheGoldenSoldier]

On 10/23/2020 at 5:22 PM, panzerknoef said:

With the possibility of an improved deal on the table, we couldn't help ourselves but put the engineers to work to implement the necessary changes to match your suggested improvements to our aircraft. While many prototypes were created, 2 very closely related ones stood out above the rest and were made ready for production. I can't deny that some of the other prototypes will also make it to production model, but that won't be for the near future. So let's get started, will we?

Zircon P-201DL & P-201DL+ "Cloudsurfer"

P-201DL on the left and P-201DL+ on the right. As you can already see, both models are very alike.

Let's start by going over the common ground on these 2 aircraft. They both have a passenger capacity of 40, an improvement of 8 over the previous model. Both aircraft also feature the requested swept wing, which we tried to integrate with as few extra parts as possible. These aircraft also still share the same engines and engine setup as the P-201A, making for a lot of common parts, which should simplify the supply chain. We've also taken the effort to implement a larger vertical stabiliser on both aircraft, giving an ever so slight boost to yaw control. Brake power was also increased to 200%, making it easy to land on very small runways. Both aircraft retain a cruise altitude of 7000-8000m.

Let's move on to the differences now, starting out with the P-201DL (DL stands for variant D, Long version). This aircraft is nothing more than a stretched P-201A with swept wings and larger vert stab. However, these changes have had some effect on the statistics of the aircraft. For a start, the price has gone up to  28.644.000, not a change that can be ignored, but in return you do get an extra 8 passengers. The change to swept wings also required the adding and removing of some wing surfaces, in total adding up to a slightly bigger area than before. Result of this is a higher drag factor, slowing the cruise speed to 280m/s. The range has dropt as well, going down to 1800km. The swept wings should stand up better against the speeds than the straight wings, hopefully reducing maintenance costs related to metal fatigue. We can also confidently say that the airplane has not taken a hit when it comes to maneuverability and glideability. Part count has also gone up to 52.

The P-201DL+ is a version that is barely altered when it comes to looks, but its performance places it in a different category. Basically, we've exchanged speed for range. Making the fuel tanks longer allowed us to add 800 units of fuel, which results in a total of 1900 units. Boosting the range of this aircraft to 2500km, well inside the range of medium-haul airliners. Of course, this extra mass does not come without negatives. The plane is noticeably heavier, decreasing climb rate and more importantly cruise speed. The latter sits at 250m/s for this aircraft. Because of the added weight, we've lengthened the wings and increased the flap count, this results in low speed performance very comparable to that of the other 2 Cloudsurfer models. This model features an increased price of  33.344.000 and a part count of 60.

Get your test model for the P-201DL here: https://kerbalx.com/Panzerknoef/Zircon-P-201DL-Cloudsurfer

and your test model of the P-201DL+ here: https://kerbalx.com/Panzerknoef/Zircon-P-201DL+-Cloudsurfer

Once again looking forward to the verdict on our updated aircraft, hope you will all have a wonderful day.

Zircon Aerospace

Looking forward to review this, good job!

 

[chadgaskerman]

The Karkov Helicopter Concern Presents...

The K-72

https://kerbalx.com/chadgaskerman/K-72

Classification;

Short-Haul, Low Capacity, Gyrodyne

Price;

 92,927,000

 

A leap forward in commercial passenger airlines, the K-72 is a ground-breakingly different design in comparison to it’s peers. The K-72 uses a hybrid Monoplane and Co-axial Rotor system that allows the Aircraft to take off like a helicopter and fly like a plane with a lot less moving parts and far less rotor loading than a Tilt-Wing/Tilt-Rotor aircraft whilst still achieving a high speed.

 

 

Flight Notes;

The throttle Controls both the Deploy angle of the Rotors and the throttle of the engines.

Upon reaching 89% Throttle the Rotors will go into a transition Angle of 1 degrees. upon reaching 100m/s, to retain stability, you will toggle the deploy of the rotors (AG 4) so as to stop rotor lean.

 

 

Edited October 30, 2020 by chadgaskerman

[Darkuss]

Can i use part welding mod for my plane?