Island Air Race

[ralanboyle]

Welcome to the Island Air Race!

Take off from KSC, do a Touch and Go on the Island Airstrip, return to KSC. 

Rules: 

Start from any launch point at KSC. 

Touch the island with any part of your craft. 

Come to a full stop (<1m/s) back at KSC. 

Your craft must be fully reusable in its final condition. 

(No broken/dropped/single use parts)

Scoring:

Time will be validated by the in game MET timer. Make sure the timer is set to Mission Time.

Videos are always nice, but at least get a screengrab of the Start, the island touch, and the finish (final time at <1 speed).

 

Class Leaderboards:

Whittle Drone

This unkerbaled aircraft is powered only by a single Whittle engine. 

1. @ralanboyle - 3:21

2.  @18Watt - 4:12

3. 

 

Single Engine Jet

This piloted aircraft is powered only by a single airbreathing engine. 

1. @Audaylon - 1:54

2. @ralanboyle - 1:56

3. @18Watt - 2:48

 

Multi Engine JetThis aircraft is powered by any number of air breathing engines. 

1. @ralanboyle - 1:56

2. @18Watt - 3:47

3. 

 

Unlimited Class

Bring on the rockets. 

1. @ralanboyle - 1:49

2. 

3. 

Kraken Class

This vessel does not include any parts from the Engine Menu. 

1. 

2. 

3. 

 

 

Edited January 21 by ralanboyle
Update

[18Watt]

4:12 in the 'Juno Drone' category.  **Note that in KSP2 it's not called the Juno, it's now the 'Whittle', which is a nice homage to Sir Frank.**

More screenshots:

Spoiler

Whittle powered drone, as noted the Whittle was called the 'Juno' in KSP1.  I don't do video, and am sometimes clumsy with my fingers.  I was only planning on performing a touch-and-go landing at the island.  In case I wasn't able to hit the screenshot buttons fast enough, I wanted a way to prove that I had 'touched' the island.

My solution was to mount an antenna on the belly, which would break off when I 'touched' the island runway.  It worked perfect.  Turns out I didn't need that, because I was able to successfully hit the screenshot buttons while on the ground at the island.  But still, it would have worked..

Ready to depart 09L.

Picking up speed as I pass the KSC complex.

Tailhook extended.  It's an antenna, designed to break off to prove I 'touched' the island runway.

On the island runway.  Tailhook broke off just fine, but I still was able to get a screenshot.

Departing the island runway.  Bad form to bank that close to the ground, but hopefully nobody is watching.

Approaching KSC.  The Whittle engine (aka Juno) performs better than it did in KSP1, I think.  I'm getting over 600 m/s.

Approach to 27R at KSC.  Plane was a little squirrely on landing.  I turned down the friction on the nose tire to about 50%, which helped greatly.

 

 

 

[18Watt]

2:48 in the 'Kerballed Jet' category.

Screenshots:

Spoiler

Note:  Not all screenshots are from the same run.  The plane tipped over after landing at KSC multiple times.  Didn't destroy the plane, but I didn't like the screenshots of the plane sitting on it's back on the runway.

I was able to hit speeds of around 1200-1350 m/s before the plane exploded due to heat.  The Whiplash engine has some spool-up and spool-down times now, so even if you set the throttle to zero the plane will keep accelerating  for several seconds.  That means I needed to be really careful to retard the thrust long before I hit 1000 m/s.

Approaching the island.  Still using the tailhook.  This time I wasn't able to get a screenshot when I hit the runway, things were happening too fast.  I did manage to get all 3 wheels on the ground, briefly.

1100 m/s, and stuff is overheating.  Sadly the fairings have a bug- they don't actually protect the contents from heat.  So using a fairing for the front probably didn't help me any.

 

 

 

 

[18Watt]

I just did some testing with a regular cockpit and a shock-cone intake.  I was able to hit much higher speeds before things started exploding due to heat- the fairings are currently worthless at protecting the contents.

However, the fairings are still very valuable for drag reduction.  The same plane required a lot more thrust to maintain 1200 m/s.  I basically left the throttle at 100%, where with a fairing I had to reduce throttle to ~35% to keep the speed below 1300.

[ralanboyle]

Nice! This gives us all something to shoot for. I've played around some and my times are about 20 seconds slower than yours. Now that I have a benchmark, I'll see if I can go faster! 

[18Watt]

7 minutes ago, ralanboyle said:

my times are about 20 seconds slower than yours.

I'm doing touch-and-go landings at the island, not coming to a full stop.  Timing for the aero-braking also makes a difference, the closer you are to the runway(s), the less time you spend going 'slow'.  I found it difficult designing a plane which was maneuverable enough to bleed off speed quickly.  

In the Kerballed categories, I hate to say this, but I recommend not using fairings, because the stuff inside the fairings will heat up at lower speeds.  I think you'll find you're able to reach higher speeds by not using fairings, before stuff starts exploding.  Once that bug is fixed fairings will probably be the way to go again. 

[ralanboyle]

I was using a cockpit, but after seeing yours I switched to the chair inside a small payload bay. It shaved a few seconds off. 

[ralanboyle]

I got a 2:21 in the Single Jet class after adding airbrakes. 

 

[18Watt]

36 minutes ago, ralanboyle said:

I got a 2:21 in the Single Jet class after adding airbrakes. 

Nice!  Wow, those airbrakes work extremely well!

Also, most of my landings looked like yours.  Except on 90% of mine, the plane tumbled over onto it's back.

[ralanboyle]

Since the most time consuming phase is slowing to stop, and the draggiest parts are the landing gear, I decided to go VTOL for the Whittle racer and ended up with a 3:21. I think there is still room for improvement. 

 

[Astroneer08]

@Socraticat, this sounds like a mission for you!

[18Watt]

3:47 Multi-Engine Category.

2

Spoiler

I tried adding two more Goliaths outboard of the original two engines, but they kept falling off.

Heading to the island.

Island.

Returning.

 

 

 

[ralanboyle]

1 hour ago, 18Watt said:

3:47 Multi-Engine Category.

lol. I put it on the board but something tells me you can go faster! 

[ralanboyle]

Meanwhile, I have also been working on my Multi Engine Jet class. I shot a 1:56 with it. 

 

[ralanboyle]

Alright, I just strapped an SRB to my jet to see what would happen. 1:49

 

[ralanboyle]

I added chutes to my single engine and got it down to 2:05. 

 

[18Watt]

26 minutes ago, ralanboyle said:

I added chutes to my single engine and got it down to 2:05. 

Nice!

I'll throw out a question regarding flight stability.  Almost all of my planes experience rapid pitch oscillations with SAS on above 300-400 m/s or so, the faster I go the worse the pitch oscillations become.  The only way I've been able to stop them is to turn SAS off.

Hard to tell by looking, but it looks like you use a lot of reaction wheels to obtain the pitch authority you need.  I've considered doing that, just to eliminate the violent pitch oscillations I'm getting with the control surfaces.  However, I just prefer using the aero surfaces to do all controlling in atmospheres.  

My last submission, the one with two Goliath engines, had no reaction wheels at all.

Curious if you've seen pitch oscillations at high speeds due to over-acting control surfaces with SAS on?  And if so, if you have any tips on reducing them.  

[Hotel26]

18 minutes ago, 18Watt said:

pitch oscillations

Try CAPS LOCK to nerf SAS over-control?  (It's a very forlorn hope, I'll grant you...)

[ralanboyle]

Yes on all counts. 

I do use one reaction wheel on each of my planes. I’m sure it matters much more with some planes than others. If I’m using a cockpit, I usually just rely on the one built in. 

I see a lot of oscillating with SAS. I assume the reaction wheels help but I also make the control surfaces small relative to the size of the wing. 

[Audaylon]

I've entered the challenge with one air breather.  I claim 1:58.  will also accept 1:59 lol.  Great fun.

 

[ralanboyle]

Congrats @Audaylon on taking the lead in the ASEL class! That little plane looks super maneuverable and I bet you could trim a few more seconds off that run. 

I've refined the final time rule to account for aircraft wabble, now instead of having to hit pause at exactly 0, you just need it to be <1m/s. 

[ralanboyle]

After quite a bit of tinkering I discovered that the cockpit @Audaylon used is faster than the shock cone/probe core I was using even though it is heavier. I guess it has less drag. So, I switched to that and shed some weight. No doubt, his bird is faster than mine but I optimized my flight path pretty well and shot a 1:56. (I was a second or two faster but I forgot to change the timer to MET until the end!) 

 

[Audaylon]

@ralanboyle the unicycle is really impressive. 

[Audaylon]

We playing leapfrog @ralanboyle 1:54 

 

[ralanboyle]

Man, @Audaylon, That's a great looking run and I love that bird. Question; Where do you store your fuel? The cooler doesn't hold enough for this run and I don't see any tanks, though it is hard to tell. Do you have a couple tiny ones clipped inside? No rule against it, I'm just curious since I haven't figured out hot to make a ship as sleek as that.