EASY: The Glider Project

[Xomilin]

The Challenge is to make a glider, and have it glide from The initial base, into the runway at the island about 20km away.

Conditions :

1. Your Initial carrying Vessel must be discarded from your glider (If you use one) Within 10 seconds of deployment (Meaning : Once you activate your engines u got 10 seconds to discard it.)

2.You may use rockets on ur glider, but after u reach the end of the runway they're no longer allowed.

3. You must land decently. (You can break a few things but you can't be completely in pieces.

And yes this is completely possible. I just attempted this, and would have made it if not for the fact that in .21 you need to charge your batteries so once my battery died i was just stuck a few km away doing spirals over the water.

Also: If you guys want You can post your creations w/ ss, to show your design skills

[occar]

Have you considered making the rules standardized for power for a more even playing field? Something like: you can use 1 RT-10 (actually, that was recently a challenge) (gives 30 seconds of un throttleable burn, then nothing). Or 1 tiny fuel tank and a rocket (specify which)

Right now, your rules are so vague that people will end up stacking separatrons on really light things. I think your challenge is looking for glider capability, and so standard power would give you a good measure.

*also* you're going to end up with infiniglide exploiters (even if by accident).

Also, please read the guidelines. You need some sort of quantitative scoring design to designate a winner. You also should give us an example of your own creation, and score that as an example for how scoring works.

Edited July 26, 2013 by occar

[astropapi1]

please use "you" and "your". This forum isn't like a chat, you have time to type your stuff.

[Xomilin]

Eh, slipped my mind Astro, but im not particularly worried about it. And yeah, i guess i should say stock only, hmm ill think alittle about the conditions.

[Tex_NL]

All 'glider' challenges are inherently flawed!

This statement may sound harsh but as long as the 'infiniglide' bug isn't fixed it is the truth.

In the past I personally made an 100% stock, un-powered glider (about 10 parts) that could literally stay airborne for hours. Even without any key input.

[Phenom Anon X]

Well, I did it. I've never designed a plane (other than stock STS in the VAB).

I used Procedural wings for this as it seems the most logical thing to do. I generally run stock parts until I've played them to death before I go with larger mods.

This one is made up of 2 sections, the Glider and the Launcher. The Glider is about 10 parts (15 or so with struts and RTG) and the Launcher is 6 parts (10 with struts).

The Launcher is just a mk part with an intake and basic jet engine and wheels. It litterally took off right away, so in accordance with the rules, I counted down from 10 and jettisoned the launcher at just over 500m. I maintained level flight as much as I could without gaining too much speed. at 80m/s, the stabilizers go a little nuts, so I had to keep the speed low in order to be able to land.

I essentially lined up the flight path and let the rate of descent fall by about 1m/s, with the occasional maneuver to line up the glideslope and maintain altitude.

I don't know what this infiniglide bug is, but I did notice and observe how it's possible. That would have defeated the purpose for this challenge. After a few test flights and landings, I had calculated an optimal altitude to maintain a proper descent for landing. Finding the right landing speed took some trial and error at the Space center and I managed to land without incident on the first attempt.

Thanks for the challenge. It got me out of the VAB and into the SPH for the first time.

Here are my results: http://imgur.com/a/LdclX#0

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Edited July 26, 2013 by Phenom Anon X

[Alex Verb]

Hello everyone. 

Here is my first glider for the challenge:

The second one will be available soon.

[Royalswissarmyknife]

7 hours ago, Alex Verb said:

Hello everyone. 

Here is my first glider for the challenge:

The second one will be available soon.

The first submission for the challenge happened more then a decade later. 

[Duke MelTdoWn]

Good that someone revived this challenge!

I used FAT-455 Aeroplane Wings. 2x Thumpers for 8 sec boost on liftoff. Lift/Drag ratio ~ 14 at 60 m/s. Stall Speed ~ 20 m/s.
I needed 4 attempts to stick the landing on the Island Airfield runway. I came in too quick and bounced of the runway - should have added some airbrakes. Handling is nice!

Steam workshop: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3037537556

Spoiler

 

Edited September 18, 2023 by Duke MelTdoWn

[Alex Verb]

Hello again.

 

Here is my 2nd attempt.

 

 

Glider with separated boosting stage.