How do I switch planes while in atmosphere?

[HockeyGoalie35]

I've seen several videos of planes shooting down others, or several planes flying at the same time but whenever I try to switch between crafts, I get: "cannot switch in atmosphere"

Are there mods to remove this, or am I over thinking this?

[Overfloater]

"[" and "]" buttons don't work? Because I EVA'd in high atmosphere a few times and switched between the plane & the Kerbal with no problem :-/

I also recall myself switching between hundreds of flying debris too, with the [ ] keys.

[HockeyGoalie35]

Yeah, its fine with kerbals and debris, but when it comes to switching from one craft to a separate distinct craft, its has issues apparently....

[Claw]

I suspect you are trying to switch to a second craft that is still on the ground. If both craft are airborne, you can switch with the same keys.

Currently the game is meched such that if you are in-flight, you can't switch to a craft on the ground. I'm guessing this is to prevent accidents while you aren't paying attention. There are some mods that override this feature.

Alternatively, you can try and launch both craft at the same time (which is not always easy or practical).

Cheers,

~Claw

[dstonecross]

[...] There are some mods that override this feature.[...]

And those are...?

[HarrySeaward]

On 8/1/2014 at 2:14 PM, Claw said:

I suspect you are trying to switch to a second craft that is still on the ground. If both craft are airborne, you can switch with the same keys.

Currently the game is meched such that if you are in-flight, you can't switch to a craft on the ground. I'm guessing this is to prevent accidents while you aren't paying attention. There are some mods that override this feature.

Alternatively, you can try and launch both craft at the same time (which is not always easy or practical).

Cheers,

~Claw

But how do you get 2 in the air if one does not start with the second on the ground?

[Kryxal]

Decouplers or a craft that takes off without any control inputs?

[ForScience6686]

No, this does work just fine, but the range is reduced to ~2-300m.  I used it for my mid air refueling build:

https://kerbalx.com/ForScience6686/B-1-Refueler-WIP

I had some issues with getting in range and in a stable flight pattern before the switch, but it became easier with practice.  I saw a video recently where a guy put together a spacecraft in flight with modules with this method.  Amazing work by that guy, wish I had the video to share.