MAW Skyhorse - Taming infiniglider propulsion!

[jmiki8]

Hi there!

Our engineers at MAW are specialized in designing cars and land vehicles, but they also design aircraft in their free time. One of these aircraft designs was noticed by the MAW HQ. Seeing the potential in the design, the company has released the aircraft on the market, the aircraft which became known as the "Skyhorse".

The skyhorse is a lightweight soarplane self-conscious living being, which utilizes the newest breakthroughs in the infiniglider researches. Unlike most infinigliders, this one is (more or less) controllable*, is able to land, and has a high kerbal survival rate.

Like real horses, the Skyhorse's performance depends on its rider. If you handle it with care, the Skyhorse will be grateful to you. If you try to offend it, it will make your life short a pain.

To make the Skyhorse your best friend, we included some instructions, which we highly recommend to follow:

1. Getting into the saddle

Just get out of the included command pod, and climb towards the Skyhorse. You don't have to let go, as the distance between the closer end of the ladder and the saddle is short enough. After getting on the back of the Skyhorse, you should remove the command pod by pressing the spacebar. The command pod should fly away, and explode after a ~500m free fall. You may also need to "wiggle" the horse with q and e in order to get moving.

2. Movement

The Skyhorse includes an emergency propulsion system, which we are not going to use. For taking off, simply press and hold the up OR down button to gain speed. Once you've gained enough speed, carefully lift the Skyhorse's nose to gain altitude.

3. Maintaining/gaining speed in midair

The Skyhorse can gain speed by the traditional wing-flapping technique (pressing W and S in faster pace). However, there is also a bug, which riders may encounter while using SAS. The skyhorse may get mad as it notices the SAS turned on, meaning it would accelerate very fast, to speeds of more hundred m/s. To prevent this, it's highly advised to turn the SAS normally OFF, and only use it for short boosts! Excessive G forces during the acceleration may break poor horsie (and its rider) apart. Normal cruising speed is around ~20 m/s-~70m/s (however it's still airworthy at 10 m/s).

The SAS bug is shown in the latter picture.

4. Landing

As with most infinigliders, landing the Skyhorse requires skills. As the Skyhorse may accelerate by the smallest flappings of the control surfaces, it's advised to use the whole length of the runway. You should fly on the same heading as the runway's, and slowly glide down until touchdown, while using the fins for the smallest adjustments. After touchdown, just wait for the Skyhorse to stop. (It reacts very sensitively when braking). You could also activate SAS to maintain the glide path.

Safety measures

The Skyhorse is equipped with an emergency catapult system, which launches the seat off, and deploys a parachute. (Results may vary)

The seat can be decoupled with the key [1], and the parachute can be deployed by pressing key [2].

Head landings were never so soft before

Part count: 36 (with the disposeable pod); 23 (without the pod)

Weight: 2,3t (with the disposeable pod); 0,85t (without the pod)

Insterested?

Download it here!

Have fun!

Edited February 28, 2014 by jmiki8

[Gue__1]

You get a 10 for your presentation and making up names!!

Gue

[Jeb Cubed]

Well, that looks like a fun toy for Jebidiah.

[9t3ndo]

I dont know why but the first thought i have was it looks like a batmobile ^^'

[Brandano]

I like that ejector seat, I might add something like it to my gnat microplane!