Shuttle testing needed! Am I just a rubbish pilot-

[Hammer Tech]

-or do I need to redesign?

Hey chaps, does anyone fancy giving my shuttle a test-run? It's pretty mod-heavy so I don't expect many people to be able to use it... but if you can I would really appreciate finding out if my inability to land it safely is just my incompetence or an actual design flaw . Mods are B9, ALCOR (and the IVA mod on which it relies), KW, Klockheed Martian Shuttle Engines, Procedural Wings, Realchutes, VNG EVA Chutes, Infernal Robotics, KAS, and FusTek station parts (the original not the expansion). It was designed with FAR, so if by some miracle you have all the aforementioned mods but not FAR don't be surprised if you can't get it off the runway.

I can get it into orbit (it does need to be mothered a bit; hence the auto-staging), but try as I might I cannot land the damn thing. Check the action groups and so-on before you launch.

Cheers.

https://mega.co.nz/#!oMhxRY4B!gsCy-fLS8UyeXKZIJnt59nd7D95oYEE8tV7HjuaglLo

[shenherm]

--DELETED--

Edited August 6, 2021 by shenherm

[SkyHook]

The largest problem with your design is the wings. The wingspan is simply too long to be realistic and greatly affect performance. Download PWings and design a custom wing. If you don't wanna do that, then get rid of the outermost wing section. You don't need that much lift for such a small shuttle, especially at the approach speeds that you will be reaching. Your SRBs are too large for such a small shuttle. It's inefficient, but if it works then there's not much to complain about lol. Also, build your lift systems in the VAB and launch from the launchpad. The symmetry thing is much more important than you think. Hope this helps!

[acc]

is see you use FAR and for sure Deadly Reentry too. so this shuttle design will have a hard time on reentry and high speeds in general. the wings are way to huge. btw the two large air brakes are overpowered. for this shuttle class you only need a pair of the small ones. the air brakes from B9 are in general overpowered, so be carefull using them.

[Hammer Tech]

Cheers for the help guys. It occurred to me, too, that the wings were way too big. On reentry it would just flip to face vertically and I'd lose all control, so:

The MkII version was born!

As you can see, this retains full control upon reentry. (Possibly has slightly too little drag, as during its first test one of the wings actually burned up in the atmosphere...)

I'll fit the smaller air brakes, and maybe a couple of drogue chutes to bleed off some velocity early on, and hopefully it'll be good to go

[SkyHook]

Cheers for the help guys. It occurred to me, too, that the wings were way too big. On reentry it would just flip to face vertically and I'd lose all control, so:

What a beauty!! I love the new wings! Shuttles can be frustrating, but they are a joy to operate, and offer the best of both worlds. Welcome to the club!

is see you use FAR and for sure Deadly Reentry too. so this shuttle design will have a hard time on reentry and high speeds in general. the wings are way to huge. btw the two large air brakes are overpowered. for this shuttle class you only need a pair of the small ones. the air brakes from B9 are in general overpowered, so be carefull using them.

A Shuttlebug is born everyday