Maritime Rescue and Salvage

[Mostly Harmless]

A rather curious case took place in my gameplay.

A "Voyager" class light expedition aircraft ran out of fuel somewhat 100 km off the Sandy Island and had to perform an emergency landing. Without any damage, fortunately, but in a quite awkward state.

The crew was evacuated by a "Labrador" class amphibious SAR aircraft from Sandy Island.

However, just leaving the aircraft to the seas didn't sit right with me. So a crazy-ish plan to salvage her was designed. After all, what could go wrong if we just tow the aircraft from the ocean into the air? I mean, it's almost the same as towing gliders, right? Right?

So the "Labrador" has returned with an engineer onboard and some towing equipment.

After the cable was connected and the fuel was pumped over to the "Voyager", the takeoff attempt has begun. "Voyager" had to actually use her engine, as the "Labrador" alone was not powerful enough to get the two of them airborne. After all, what damage could salt water possibly cause to a turbofan?

Finally both were airborne.

After the cable detached due to some aggressive flying, the two proceeded to the Sandy Island airfield in a nice formation.

To avoid one of the aircraft despawning, "Labrador" performed a quick water landing at the docks, leaving the "Voyager" to safely land on the runway.

 

Which it did. Mostly safely though. Apparently caused by being in the salt water, and definitely not due to some awkward placement of parts, the nose wheel failed to extend, and the landing was a bit less nominal than expected.

But in the end both aircraft were safe on runway and mostly in one piece.

 

Mods used:

1. Kerbin Side Remastered - Sandy Island airfield.

2. Kerbal Attachment System - Winch and cable for towing

3. Airplane Plus - Parts (especially engines and cockpit) used in the "Labrador"

4. MechJeb2 - Airplane Autopilot (flying two aircraft at the same time without it would have been impossible for me)

[Snark]

Hello, and welcome to the forums!

Really cool mission report, thank you for sharing.