How to build a plane?

[Jas0n]

How do you build a plane in ksp? My plane either flip over and crash on the runway or crash into the ground or ocean at the end of the runway:mad:.

[Neodyme]

Center of lift should be a tiny bit behind centre of gravity, and if you cant lift off either kore speed/less mass, or increase angle of attack by having your hose pitched u p slightly on the runway using wheels. Also ASAS or Avionic package is practically required unless your a ninja

[Jas0n]

Thanks, I might try to increase my angle of attack.

[mcbmaestro]

As mentioned above, try rotating the pitch of your tail wings down or your center wings up slightly or combination of both so the wings do the lifting off the runway. But keep in mind I find it harder to keep a plane stable the more I angle pitch of wings so it's a trade off.

I've found I have to build the wings flat first because stuff doesn't attach right after you do the pitch adjustments.

Second in addition to what they said above about wheel angles is true and also you can move your rear wheels forward more, so that the aircraft tilts back easier but obviously not so much you hit the runway.

Also I sometimes for a quicker fix, I toss canard type wings on the nose to see if it does the trick. It's wierd, I have a plane that happens to fly best when it has front canards pitched up one increment.

Also make sure your control surfaces aren't fighting each other ie going up and down on the same wing.

Lastly, any plane that literally rolls out of control while still on the runway is almost always because the wheels are not straight. Go back and make new wheels or double check that your old ones are actually parallel and not crooked. I always put my wheels straight up and down as even angled slightly they don't work for me.

imo, a good design is one that lifts off with a very slight nudge and then flies in a straight line and does not drift up or down.

Edited April 22, 2013 by mcbmaestro

[Neodyme]

See, mine drifts down initially when its picking up speed/altitude (till about 2km-3km) then it decides to go up. Its not an issue for me as even with ASAS on, I can hold W and it'll keep it level. However I'm wondering if this is the root cause of my problems up at 23km when it flips.

Speaking of which, I'm not sure if this is true or not, but I keep my intakes symmetrical on up/down axis, I think they create a TINY amount of drag, which up at the higher speeds is very noticable, so if you have like 2-3 pairs on the top of your aircraft, I'd suggest moving some to the underside, again not sure if its true, but it seems to have made mine more stable (at very least is centralizes your mass moreso) ofc I did make multiple adjustments that period but oh well.

[mcbmaestro]

Sometimes when SAS is fighting me, drifting up or down you can zero it out with the Alt+WASD trim controls and keep a craft straight that way with no SAS on.

[Vanamonde]

How do you build a plane in ksp? My plane either flip over and crash on the runway or crash into the ground or ocean at the end of the runway:mad:.

That IS how you build a plane in KSP. They all crash badly at first, so you keep tinkering with the design until it gets tired of fighting you and starts working. It's a test of will and endurance.

[Jas0n]

Is there a way to find out how much wing surface/lift is needed?

[GROOV3ST3R]

Not that I know of, although you could try Engineer Redux.

To be frank, it's pretty much common sense. If it LOOKS right, it SHOULD fly. If it doesn't fly, add more wings.

[mewp]

Hi Jason,

I can't quite give you a step by step response on building an aircraft (although at some point I'd like to make a video along those lines), however I did make a quick video on aircraft stability

The moral of the story here is to generally keep your center of lift (the blue ball) behind your center of gravity (the yellow ball).

Hope this helps, and feel free to PM me or respond here if you have any further questions.

[katateochi]

See, mine drifts down initially when its picking up speed/altitude (till about 2km-3km) then it decides to go up. Its not an issue for me as even with ASAS on, I can hold W and it'll keep it level. However I'm wondering if this is the root cause of my problems up at 23km when it flips.

*snip*

I'm still very much a noob at plane design, but one thing I could possibly suggest for that is it's your fuel balance. As the fuel is consumed from the front first it might be the cause of your flip higher up. You could try pumping fuel forward to increase the fronts weight, or grab the TAC fuel balancer mod.

[Jas0n]

Thanks guys, I finally made a plane that can take off (almost no stock parts:P).