My first actually successful spaceplane

[lordmuffin]

It only flew for 19 seconds, but hey, it flew!

This is my first plane ever to get off the ground. Finally learnt that you need those control surfaces.

It is kind of unstable, but it flies!

[prophet_01]

Not bad. In my opinion getting into the air is the hardest part. Why did it crash after 19 seconds?

And as always, if you don't know where the problem is ask YouTube

[Alshain]

It only flew for 19 seconds, but hey, it flew!

http://i.imgur.com/OUhGhhX.jpg

This is my first plane ever to get off the ground. Finally learnt that you need those control surfaces.

It is kind of unstable, but it flies!

Congrats!

Did you want suggestions or were you just sharing your accomplishment?

[AmpsterMan]

Pretty cool! It looks like that jet plane the Germans built in WWII (forgot the name) Fitting if it is your first successful plane .

[InterCity]

Good job!

If you want some advice, you want to keep your center of lift as close to your center of gravity, and if it looks like a flying industrial plant and you want to move the wings rather backwards than forward. And remember: "Moar boosterz doesn't always work. Moar wingz does."

[Secuas]

Pretty cool! It looks like that jet plane the Germans built in WWII (forgot the name) Fitting if it is your first successful plane .

You mean this one? http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0e/Messerschmitt_Me_262A_at_the_National_Museum_of_the_USAF.jpg

[theend3r]

"Spaceplane" + flied only 19 seconds = in orbit in 19 seconds? Wow. It usually takes me at least 5 minutes. But keep experimenting, SSTO spaceplanes are the most rewarding thing in the game.

[lordmuffin]

Sorry, not spaceplane, its just a plane. I think there's a difference.

It crashed into the water after 19 seconds because it was a bit unstable. I think the main cause is because it doesnt have the back control surface, plus it goes kinda fast.

[lordmuffin]

Congrats!

Did you want suggestions or were you just sharing your accomplishment?

A bit of both.

[theend3r]

A bit of both.

1) Have enough lift, you can liftoff even without it with enough power but you probably won't land.

2) Fully fueled plane: CoL as close to CoM as possible but never in front of it.

3) Fully drained plane: CoL as close to CoM as possible but never in front of it.

4) If you want to orbit then pack more intakes (airhog). Detachable fuel tanks or boosters make everything much easier although your plane won't be a SSTO.

The further the CoL behind the CoM is the more stable but less maneuverable your plane is.

As for suggestions:

1) Tilted wheels usually behave strangely for me.

2) I'm not sure those intakes are efficient, especially for such a lightweight design. There's a reason they're hardly ever seen here.

Edited November 5, 2014 by theend3r

[Alshain]

A bit of both.

OK, well then my suggestion for a plane this size is to choose smaller wings. Those big B9 wings are meant for massive planes (pun intended). The stock wings have less mass making them a bit more suitable for a small 1.25m plane. You really only need a single engine for this design. It's so small, a turbojet should get you to orbit and using only one air breather will eliminate complications from flameout.

For the best suggestions you need to post an image of the side of the plane with CoM and CoL showing.

It is hard to tell but it looks like you have 2 control surfaces that are sitting around where I would expect CoM. Those would be good for roll but not for pitch. You need to right click the surface and choose it's function, best not have it do all 3. Roll (aileron) should be at center of mass, pitch should be far behind (elevator) or in front (canard) of it. Elevons are a combination of roll and pitch, typically seen on fighter jets, they need to be in about the same position as the elevator would be, not the roll which is what I think you have here. Yaw control is optional, flight does not require a rudder, but it can help control the nose while banking.

Feel free to browse the catalog of planes in my signature, there are several designs of planes this size that should give you some ideas of how it works. They are, however, designed for NEAR/FAR (mostly the difference is a matter of wing position to balance the CoM/CoL)

Edited November 5, 2014 by Alshain

[Meecrob]

Yaw control is optional, flight does not require a rudder, but it can help control the nose while banking.

You can get away without using a rudder, but the OP seems to be new to spaceplanes and planes in general, and with keyboard controls being what they are, I think his turns at first will be yawing for fine heading changes and roll+pitch for large changes. It's a pattern I've noticed with people new to flight sims combined with keyboard control. There seems to be a tendency to stay wings level if possible.

[Alshain]

You can get away without using a rudder, but the OP seems to be new to spaceplanes and planes in general, and with keyboard controls being what they are, I think his turns at first will be yawing for fine heading changes and roll+pitch for large changes. It's a pattern I've noticed with people new to flight sims combined with keyboard control. There seems to be a tendency to stay wings level if possible.

That it exactly why beginners SHOULD NOT design with rudders. Bad practices are bad practices. Learn it right the first time.

OP: I don't know your skill level so I'm going to explain it all, forgive me if you know some of this. When a plane wants to turn it doesn't do so like a car... side to side (i.e. yaw). Instead instead the pilot will roll in the direction he wants to go and pull back on the stick (pitch up). This causes the plane to turn, but unless you roll all the way so that the artificial horizon is vertical (which isn't a good thing) then your plane is going to pitch up as well in this process. A rudder's purpose is to allow the pilot to push the nose back down and keep it on the horizon while doing this turning maneuver, so you can turn without gaining altitude. The other option is to turn a little, level off, go back down, rinse repeat. This is why rudders are optional, but they do come in handy.

Fine adjustments are done simply by rolling and letting the wind push you around a little. This technique is useful for maintaining inclination while ascending an SSTO.

The rudder in the real world can be used to turn... slowly. But in KSP that's difficult if not impossible to do it properly due to the digital nature of the keyboard. If you have a flight stick or some other analog control, you might be able to pull it off, but for the most part I recommend using ailerons.

Edited November 6, 2014 by Alshain

[Meecrob]

That it exactly why beginners SHOULD NOT design with rudders. Bad practices are bad practices. Learn it right the first time.

I agree with you 100% that it is a bad practice. I do think beginners should include rudders though. It is notoriously easy to tell flight training students who play flight sims apart from ones who don't - ones who play flight sims have pitch and roll down pat before sitting in the plane but have zero yaw skills. The lack of use of a rudder is a bad practice also. I think I'm more stuck in the train of thought that a keyboard controlling a plane is crap no matter what and bad practices will be developed no matter what. Especially without an "instructor" to beat it out of them like in real flight training.

Back to my original post though, I'll be the first to admit what I said is NOT the proper way to fly. In real life, a sim, anywhere. I also admit that I made an assumption of the op's intentions.

So OP! do you want to learn the proper way to fly because flight is what interests you or do you want to design a vehicle to get you to a destination without having to worry about the finer points of flying and realism be damned?