Greetings.

[Rivin]

Hello. New to KSP, as i just got the game after many days of wanting it. I have to say, its a hell of a lot better than i thought it was going to be.

I do have question however. I quite enjoy sandbox mode, getting to make anything id like, but i can never seem to build a plane that actually flies without being horrible sluggish or flipping out of control on take off. Is there a trick or something to building the space planes or are they just some better than others at not horribly failing?

[Vanamonde]

Aircraft are the hardest things to make in this game. I've been playing for two years and still only have ever made 6 or so planes that are worth using.

A fair number of helpful people have made tutorials and such, though, which you can find in the Tutorials section. Here is helpful Specialist290's guide to most of the better ones.

Good luck, and I hope you have more success with planes than I. (You could hardly do worse... )

[Komasuta]

Hey! KSP is a blast, if you like it now you're going to love it more once you get better. When you're building a plane, turn on the mass and lift indicators. I recommend putting your wings right on the center of mass, and set your canards/elevators so the lift is just behind the center of mass (because fuel moves back as your ship burns through it). If you're still having trouble you can cheat a little bit and add a few reaction wheels to help keep your craft a bit more stable. Good luck!

[Rivin]

Yeah ive been finding that the rockets are easy to make, however orbits are still difficult for me. i keep doing the tutorial okay but then when i go try to make one myself, i never have enough fuel and never know where to start my burn. (height to start)

the planes somewhat work for me when i make huge wings, so there's that. just very slow turning and then rapid flipping.

[NFUN]

The consensus is that it is usually best to start your gravity burn about 10,000m (± 1000) high-- at this point, you've risen above the soup and about half the actual atmosphere.. If you want to practice when to start the burn, you can turn infinite fuel on with the debug menu (F12).

For planes, you may want to look at some examples to help you out. Pay attention to the placement of wings and canards as others have mentioned, and take a look at the mass and lift rating too. You've joined the game at the perfect time for building planes, since the mod Spaceplanes+ has just been added.

[Rivin]

Thanks a ton for the tips guys. I've been playing around with it more and have actually got 2 planes working now. Still need to practice with my orbits. I probably shouldnt jump right into building a space shuttle-ish thing though.

Still, i got one ship into orbit so far! so there's that!

[jaddbo]

i completely ignored the sph for a few months before i got around to it.