Simplest Funtional Plane

[CrazyJebGuy]

The Kerbal engineers (and some of the staff) have all caught a nasty disease. They will be OK, but it will take some months to recover. So the only engineers are new and inexperienced. The Kerbals desperately need some atmospheric planes, to send mail to parts of Kerbin. But the new engineers, well, can't assemble complicated planes. The planes need as little parts as possible.

Rules___________________________________________________________________________________

-All entries MUST be stock. (Mechjeb is acceptable)

-Sub-assemblies are OK, but count as as all the parts they are made up of.

-Craft must be able to carry 2 kerbals or 1 ton load without too much trouble.

-Must not break apart in time warp x4. Bending (a bit) is ok, but points will be detracted.

-Must have a safe way to land. (without damage)

-NO infiniglide. (Is it still in 0.90?)

-Must go at least 150 m/s (Though faster is nice)

-Has to be able to land, then take off from most terrain. (Doing it on mountains and other hilly terrain is not needed, but much more points for it) (plains, desert, highlands, etc)

-No alt F12 cheats.

That's about it. Try to use as little parts as possible.

Achivements:

Wind in my face: seat a kerbal(s) on the outside.

Long range: Make it to a pole and have half (or more) fuel left.

Biome Hopper: Visit 3+ biomes.(KSC doesn't count)

Bomber: Carries radial decouplers under wings.(They are bombs so don't count towards part total, unless attached to something other than the wing)

Safe to fly: Make spins and flip-outs very hard to do.

Low budget: Cost less than $10 000

Edited December 29, 2014 by CrazyJebGuy

[Pecan]

2 x Mk1 command-pods.

1 x OSCAR-B and 48-7S.

4 parts = took off and landed several times for 'safe to fly' (you have to really try if you want it to spin!) and 'low budget'

Bit short on range and speed though ...

[Pds314]

I'd like to point out that almost anything can visit 3+ biomes. Even a rocket car with no torque, wings, control or steering can do that.

Also, is it 2 Kerbals AND a tonne of payload or 2 Kerbals OR a tonne of payload?

LOL, Pecan, I'm not sure I'd call that a plane. Planes usually use aerodynamic lift.

Edited December 29, 2014 by Pds314

[Pecan]

...with no torque, wings, control or steering can do that...

And you tell me off? Still winning by two achievements *grin*

[foamyesque]

What d'ye mean by "1 ton load" and is it "carry 2 kerbals >and< 1 ton of load" or is it "either 2 kerbals OR 1 ton of load"?

[Pds314]

My very simple plane. It holds 2 Kerbals, takes off vertically and lands on its tail fins with a parachute. It consists of 7 stock parts:

1 Mk2 cockpit for the cockpit, holding 2 Kerbals

1 Engine Nacelle for fuel and intake

1 Mk2-R radial mount parachute for landings.

1 Basic jet engine for propulsion

2 Delta-deluxe winglets for the wings and 2 landing legs

1 Delta-deluxe winglet for a vertical stabilizer and 3rd landing leg.

I used the 0.90 part handles to adjust things around until it worked.

It can land damn-near anywhere at damn-near any speed, thanks to the 'chute.

The chute must be re-packed before take-off, otherwise landing safely will be impossible. It is, however, possible to have a Kerbal exit the vehicle while in motion, repack the 'chute, and then return to the safety of the vehicle.

It goes 185-ish m/s in FAR at top speed, and has a TWR of like 4, so it should reach over 150 m/s in the stock soup-o-sphere at sea level, and much higher speeds at altitude.

Low-budget: with fuel, the craft costs $8482.

Safe to fly: as long as point-towards-prograde SAS is on, it is very hard to make it flip out at reasonable speeds. If you try, you might, but simply pulling up as hard as possible and turning won't. Additionally, due to extremely strong engine and torque, as well as parachute and instant-off switch on intake abort system, all stalls that you somehow cause are recoverable.

Biome Hopper: I found water, shores, mountains, highlands, Tundra (weirdly, this is used as a border biome between shores and grassland) and grasslands in one flight.

Bomber: I tried flying it with 1.5 tonnes worth of decouplers and monoprop tanks under the wings, and it is perfectly useable.

@Pecan, I've got 2 acheivemants beyond that now... and a plane.

Edited December 29, 2014 by Pds314

[foamyesque]

@Pecan, I've got 2 acheivemants beyond that now... and a plane.

That's not a plane, that's a rocket with a couple of fins.

This is a plane:

I thrust limited the jet engine so as to ensure I was using aerodynamic lift to fly, not raw engine power. It has the classic tricycle landing gear, and is fully controllable through airflow alone: I disable the torque on the cockpit pods. It is extremely stable and will in fact fly itself. I conducted a test flight to the North Pole of Kerbin.

I flew essentially the entire trip at 4x physics and without touching the controls, with the exceptions of dodging mountains and a couple of course corrections.

To land, which I did with a half-tank left to see where I'd end up, all I did was cut engine thrust, extend the gear, and wait.

Flawless control-less touchdown at 4x physicswarp.

Didn't quite make the pole on the half-tank, so I can't claim the long-range achievement, but I think it's possible with a more efficient flight path, perhaps higher up.

No SAS whatsoever was used in flight. Highest cruise speed registered was 120m/s, but I still have half a tank of fuel left to try and get high enough to fix that; it is obviously possible to exceed 150m/s in a dive. Alternatively, I could just remove the thrust limits, which would make it trivial.

Part count: 17. Cost: 9,912.

Your move

Edited January 10, 2015 by foamyesque

[GoSlash27]

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner!

All stock

2 Kerbals

doesn't break at warp

lands/ takes off safely and easily in rough terrain

no infiniglide (it doesn't have any control surfaces!)

goes well over 2km/sec at 36 km altitude

no cheats or part clipping

achievements:

Long range

biome hopper

safe to fly

Part count 14

cost $12,032

http://wikisend.com/download/259628/lil' plane.craft

This little bugger's *got* to be useful for something!

Best,

-Slashy

[hoioh]

Introducing Tiny DOT:

2 Kerbals in command seats (requires separate delivery system for Kerbals)

Doesn't break at warp 4

Lands and takes off safely thanks to parachute (requires a slight retro burn to reduce landing velocity)

No control surfaces thus no infiniglide

Achieves 150m/s esily

she's by no measn safe to fly and doens't make it anywhere really, but she's real friggin' cheap!

Costs a mere $7167,- Kerbucks

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Wind in my face

Low budget

[foamyesque]

Oh I see how it is. Why are we even bothering with wings, then?

Landing on steep slopes is a bit tricky, though. On the other hand, it can get to orbit. So, y'know, tradeoffs.

[SRV Ron]

From the 24 days of Christmas challenge. I'll have to check the parts count.

Can travel at very high speed

And, long range.

[biollante44]

Not sure if I can compete with these but heres my entry:P

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[ihtoit]

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner!

All stock

2 Kerbals

doesn't break at warp

lands/ takes off safely and easily in rough terrain

no infiniglide (it doesn't have any control surfaces!)

goes well over 2km/sec at 36 km altitude

no cheats or part clipping

achievements:

Long range

biome hopper

safe to fly

Part count 14

cost $12,032

http://wikisend.com/download/259628/lil' plane.craft

This little bugger's *got* to be useful for something!

Best,

-Slashy

I wonder... will it go supersonic at <10km?

[GoSlash27]

I wonder... will it go supersonic at <10km?

ihtoit,

Good morning...

I have no idea. I linked the craft file, so you could always test it out. I have the thrust limited to 30%, so it should go a good deal faster at low altitudes by opening it up.

Best,

-Slashy

[Pds314]

Someone ought to define what a "plane" is. I would define it as something that uses aerodynamic lift in order to stay at altitude, and engine thrust in order to stay at speed, so a normal rocket isn't a plane, a rocket with fins for control or stabilization isn't a plane, but a rocket with fins that allow it to continuously generate enough lift for 9.8 m/s^2 of acceleration perpendicular to it's thrust vector at 1 atmosphere is a plane, regardless of whether it looks like one. Likewise, a big airliner with wings that cannot generate that much lift, that instead relies mostly on thrust, orbital lift, buoyancy, something else, or some combination of those in order to stay airborne is not a plane. In other words, a plane should be capable of aerodynamic flight, even if thrust only came from a horizontal direction.

- - - Updated - - -

Okay, for that matter, someone should define the scoring system of this challenge. Is it to make a plane, and not a wingless VTOL only capable of flight through thrust or are said vehicles permissible? Is it to get achievements or to make something that qualifies and has the fewest parts? It's there a secondary condition for a tie-breaker? Does it need to take off horizontally or are VTOL planes allowed? Does it need to land horizontally? If not, are parachutes considered acceptable, or only engine landings? Is it okay to have a plane that can land and take off, but only in water, From the tops of mountains, or from some other exotic location?

Does it need jet engines? Or are rockets and rcs thrusters allowed?

[Jean Deaux]

This is my entry for this challenge, introducing the Wisp.

-All parts stock (14 in total)

-No sub-assemblies

-Craft carries 2 Kerbals (one exterior for achievement)

-Doesn't break at 4X speed, actually flew rather well

-Safely lands and takes off again

-Travels at least 150 m/s, though not sure how fast as I never opened her up to save fuel

-No cheats or mods used

Achievements

Wind in my Face : Done

Long Range : Just got it

Biome Hopper : Easy score

Bomber : Didn't attempt

Safe to Fly : Hell ya, assuming you're a pilot!

Low Budget : Yep, got this one too with a price tag of 9,700

I need a pretty badge to put in my achievement bar below...

Edited January 7, 2015 by Jean Deaux

[percyPrune]

My tuppence worth:

Can't get lower than 14 parts but managed less than 10000 funds (9833), Bill gets windswept while Jeb gets the cockpit and, as a bonus, I got VTOL capability. NOT used for forward flight - only to compensate for the lack of (expensive) wheels!

Alternatively:

11 parts, 7790 funds but lousy range! (Gave Jeb the wind in the hair this time)

Edited January 8, 2015 by percyPrune
Thought of another!