Landing a spaceplane

[technotica]

Hi!

I built myself a spaceplane with a pilot and space for four passengers. The thing is propelled into space via rockets like the spaceshuttle but can fly on its own (tested it with the same design built in the spaceplane hangar).

Everything works so far with it, I can take off, get into space, dock with my spacestation and return to atmosphere.

What I can't get to work is the landing, when trying to land I never get my speed below about 80-90 m/s. I could fly around with the plane until the fuel is gone but I can't land safely.

Does anyone know what the problem could be? Do I need more lift? There are no flaps to airbreak, are there?

[rryy]

There are no actual flaps, but you can stick some radial intakes on the side of the spaceplane. They have a lot of drag when opened, and you can close them when they are not needed.

[RoboRay]

If you're still burning fuel, throttle back all the way to cut the engine?

If you aren't slowing below 80m/sec, you're descending too steeply. With the throttle back, just keep raising the nose gradually to bleed off speed. The plane's not magic*... it's going to slow down eventually if you're trying to hold altitude without thrust.

*Some planes in KSP are magic. Your experience may deviate from reality. Do not taunt Happy Fun Ball. Warranty not valid on Eve, Tylo or Jool.

[technotica]

Hmm, thanks for the tips. I keep my nose above the horizon but when I cut power to the engines I start to gain speed again after a certain point. So I guess that means my plane doesn't have enough lift to glide? Should I just put more wings on it? It takes off at about 100+ m/s from the runway.

p.s. This is the plane:

p.p.s.

Hmm do spoiler tags not work anymore?

Edited April 30, 2013 by technotica

[ThePsuedoMonkey]

Does it still speed up like that with ASAS off?

[technotica]

Hmm I redesigned the plane and it seems to fly better now. The strange thing is, I just took off vertically from the landing pad using the two jet engines and the nuclear engine (and it really took off!) then flew around a bit. It worked pretty good until I cut the engines to try landing. After cutting the engines the nose started to turn upwards and the plane started to tumble!

Does that mean I have too much lift on the nose or is the rear part of the plane too heavy?

[Exal]

From the looks of it the front of it has to much lift I would say trying to equalize it so the the lift is just slightly behind the center of gravity.

[Tex_NL]

... There are no flaps to airbreak, are there?

Firespitter has airbrakes. Got them on a few of my planes and once fully deployed it's like dropping an anchor.

[MBobrik]

when trying to land I never get my speed below about 80-90 m/s

is there a problem with it ? my smaller plane lands at 75-80 m/s without any difficulties.

[jwatte]

I found this thread on Google, so re-activating it :-)

I also have the problem with my delta wing. With gears out, I can't get it to glide slower than 70 m/s or so (it takes off at 100 m/s.)

And, hitting the runway going 70 m/s makes it insta-blow-up, even though most of that velocity is horizontal, not vertical.

I'm considering putting a chute on this plane as a work-around...

[Hodo]

I found this thread on Google, so re-activating it :-)

I also have the problem with my delta wing. With gears out, I can't get it to glide slower than 70 m/s or so (it takes off at 100 m/s.)

And, hitting the runway going 70 m/s makes it insta-blow-up, even though most of that velocity is horizontal, not vertical.

I'm considering putting a chute on this plane as a work-around...

First, necrothread it is over a year old.

Here is somethings to consider.

70m/s is just shy of a 160mph!

Anything hitting the ground at 160mph is going to explode.

Considering a Boeing 747 AIRLINER, lands at 77m/s or about 150knots I think you are fine if your horizontal velocity is 70-100m/s.

Now if your vertical decent rate is higher than 10m/s then you are SLAMMING into the ground and that is why you are exploding. Try and touchdown at less than 10m/s preferably at 5m/s or less.

Edited July 19, 2014 by Hodo