Aircraft Suspension

[katateochi]

I found this out totally by accident, not sure if its a known thing or not; but structural intakes + small gear bay = bouncy aircraft!

I'd attached a gear bay to an intake under the wing just to lower the wheel a bit, when the craft loaded it bounced in a rather pleasing way. I didn't expect it to work at all, but surprisingly the wheels are stable, just they can move up and down a bit. I can see that with some aircraft it won't work well, but for some designs its quite nice to have a bit of padding in the wheels as you land. I've not tried putting "suspension" on the front wheel, I expect that to go badly. Anyway just thought I'd share that.

[rdwulfe]

Noticed this before too! A heavy load squishes them down, might need to add a 2nd set of gear if it's too bad... But yes, it's a nice little touch and I'm glad they did it! You really see it when you're touching down, too.

[Ignamious]

Yeah, if i remember that was also an issue with SP+ 1.3. strutting it helps... ads some rigidity to it. I use Remote Tech 2 in my game, and my SSTO's are launch vessels for them (cheap!) i have a 7% CMF rate on it, during LKPD - VII (Low Kerbin Payload Delivery) I think in my latest save i've used the my plane 15 times, 6 com sats for the moons of kerbin, 4 in geostationary 2 in polar LKO 2 at Duna (one landed) and then one lost when a fuel tank ruptured in flight (i blame the kraken) during the XST-2 trials, the gear were attached to the intake for the added hight, but found it unstable, with XST-3 the struts helped, but not enough, so XST-4 the plane had a redesign. sadly the suspension is not stiff enough, and when your landing deadstick you kit harder, and can break your engine off (typical landing speed is 140m/s-200m/s with FAR installed.

But now that B9 is updated to .25 i can use the larger landing gear, and the LKPD mk3 can be born! (again)

[Roflcopterkklol]

The same can be achieved for larger craft using structural pillars like i have done on this, need to leave about a meter of clearance and it will increase your landing speeds by more than double, makes for very durable gear.

[worir4]

That suspension is what saves you on hard landings so be great full for it! Also if you don't like it i think there is an option to disable it.

[sal_vager]

Try wings on structural intakes, stock ornithopter