Dart I long-ranged aircraft

[Jeb x Valentina]

Hello kerbonauts. It's been a while since I've posted any craft lately, so, I decided to just go ahead and break the silence

INTRODUCING: The Dart (a.k.a the big paper plane)

 

Specs:

Mass: 18t  |  Cost: 23k funds  |  Height: 3.9 m (Including landing gear and tail fin) | Length: 15m | Wingspan: 14.5m

Range: Around 2000km

Takeoff speed: 100 m/s

Max speed @ 10km cruising altitude: 200 - 400 m/s (varies with fuel level)

Max speed during a power bomb (more info on that later): 550 - 870 m/s (again, varies with fuel level)

Flight instructions:

• Accelerate up to 100 m/s and then pitch up until takeoff
• Retract langing gear and get to a 10° inclination
• Climb until you're 10km ASL
• Fly horizontally

How to power bomb (optional):

• After you get to cruising altitude, pitch down
• Point SAS to prograde after you've picked up some speed
• Allow the flight computer to do the bomb (unless you get too below 3km above ground level, in case that happens, pitch up inmediatly)
• After the power bomb, turn SAS to stability assist and ascend back up to 10km like described before

Landing instructions:

• Switch panther to dry mode and go to minimum throttle (press X and then Shift once)
• Enable airbrakes (B)
• Pitch slightly down until your altitude is of about 150 meters
• Cut throttle (X) 
• Keep pitching up, firing the engine at minimum throttle to make adjustments if necessary
• If all goes to plan, you should be landed by this point

Very important notes:

• Don't remove the oxidizer in the nosecone. It's there for stability purposes, to serve as a counterweight for the heavy engine on the back
• Don't shutdown the radiators. They serve to cool the engine and allow long operations of it (They should last for about an hour, although I've only tested this thing for 40 mins)
• Should you be away from the KSC, use Kerbnet to look for a flat spot to land on
• DON'T ATTEMPT WATER LANDINGS OR LANDINGS ON ROUGH SURFACES

 

This is a good plane for career survey contracts (as long as it doesn't require a kerbonaut) or to get to the [SPOILER WARNING]

Spoiler

Discoverable launch sites

It also provides some insane lift thanks to the FAT-455 wings (which I'm not sure are meant to be placed like this but oh well

It also has remarkable Kerbnet capabilities thanks to the Mk2 frone core, which can be used to look for biomes or [SPOILERS AHEAD]

Spoiler

Anomalies (Easter eggs)

 

 

KerbalX link (moar images there): KerbalX - Dart I