Better plane control??

[Rutabaga22]

So, I've enjoyed making planes in ksp since I bought it, but I always have  had trouble making them easier to control. How can I make planes that fly better? Also, I want to know how to make shuttles that work better.

Edited May 25, 2022 by Rutabaga22

[Bej Kerman]

25 minutes ago, Rutabaga22 said:

So, I've enjoyed making planes in ksp since I bought it, but I always have  had trouble making them controllable. How can I make planes that fly better? Also, I want to know how to make shuttles that work better.

We can't help you unless you tell us what specifically you're having trouble with.

[Rutabaga22]

My planes just seem to be less controllable than most of the ones I see on here and wanted to know how I can make them more controllable without 10 of the big  grey control surfaces.

[DeadJohn]

Do you know about using the center of mass and lift indicators in SPH? Mass should generally be a little bit ahead of lift.

How are your planes not "controllable": do they flip tail first (see mass and lift comment above), do they droop nose down (mass is too far forward), are the keyboard controls too slow to respond (might need more control surface or shift controls further from center of craft)?

Are you flying with SAS? I generally use SAS in basic stability assist mode for planes. (Or I replace SAS with the Atmospheric Autopilot mod's fly-by-wire that works even better)

Edit: post a picture of your plane with the centers of mass and lift displayed and we can provide better advice.

Edited May 25, 2022 by DeadJohn

[Rutabaga22]

29 minutes ago, DeadJohn said:

w are your planes not "controllable"

I should have said that they are not as contollable as other planes on here.

Edit: I do use SAS but I can never seem to fly flat.

Edited May 25, 2022 by Rutabaga22

[Gargamel]

Move to gameplay questions.  
 

The key to a stable and responsive plane is the correct positioning of your COL relative to your COM.    There’s quite a few tutorials on here that describe this, and I bet somebody more eloquent than I will come along shortly (or perhaps already has posted) and describe this better.