Hover with lander or VTOL craft

[1greywind]

I'm not very skilled pilot and use keyboard as main input device, so it is sometimes difficult simultaneously keep an eye on vertical speed, craft orientation and look for flat landing spot.

So I wonder is there any plugin or addon that will automaticaly set throttle setting so craft TWR is exacly 1.0 with respect to current orbiting body, current mass and trust vector orientation?

In other words - is there autopilot of some kind that will be able to hover on one height?

Edited October 11, 2013 by 1greywind

[Nasakev]

I believe mechjeb has that capability.

[Diazo]

I ran into this exact problem and wrote a mod to help me out.

In my sig is the link to the Vertical Velocity Control.

When enabled, setting your vertical velocity to 0m/s is the same as setting it to a TWR of 1 in your opening post.

It will then maintain that velocity, adjusting for both the mass lost to fuel consumption and for how far off vertical your ship is angled.

As a bonus you can set the speed, so you can descend slowly at 2m/s to nail that landing exactly where you want.

The one thing is does not do (yet) is account for engines not mounted vertically. If you have engines mounted off vertical for some reason the mod will not work. I plan to add that feature but at the moment the Touchscreen mod has priority.

D.

[1greywind]

@Diazo: Thank you! This is exactly that I need I'll try your mod out.