You will need more jets at the nose and tail than on the wingtips, as there will be more forces on pitch when transitioning to or from level flight. Basic Plane Design - KSP Tutorials #9 - YouTube On the other hand, something with a wide wingspan but narrow wings (like the connector Cs) will pitch easily but need more oomph to roll. Browse other questions tagged, Start here for a quick overview of the site, Detailed answers to any questions you might have, Discuss the workings and policies of this site. I'm going to strongly suggest using the angle set to 90 degrees + symmetry mode to place landing gears. You should have something called an "Elevon 1"; this will be the moving part for your wings. I was a diehard rocketer (5k hours or so) until a month ago and then suddenly got the spaceplane bug, I can now see why some people (*cough*Val*cough*) come out with dozens of designs: it's neat when it works so well. If the CoM is in the back, then it will ALWAYS not be able to get out of a stall, flatspin all the time, and will be an all around horrible plane. A VTOLaircraftas discussed here is a craft that's designed to fly aerodynamically, using lift produced by lifting surfaces, but take off and land vertically. And start small. My question is really about controllability. If it starts tipping in one direction, you're really likely to flip over and crash dramatically, like a tree falling over. Remember the, fuel flows from the front in KSP, so you might want to start off with the CoM in front of the CoL. For more information, please see our The gear of the craft can also easily be overlooked, but can make the difference between flying masterpiece and soon-to-be-scraps. Roll is the main way to change direction in flight, and best way to crash the plane on the ground. The solution is to house the hoverjets in a cargo bay of some kind, with the doors opening downwards. The Kerbal Space Program subreddit. You can horse hundreds of tonnes, up and down both, with the standard canard pieces. Also, excessive use of the rudder usually causes the plane to spin out of control and crash. I have also used rocket-powered VTOLs on Duna. Please see the. As such, you will need various control surfaces. I'm trying to build a high altitude plane and have found out that the rules are different. LTTP but anyway: the question is, practical for what? You too!Like - Subscribe - Check out my other tutorials. Your, Add enough downward-pointing jets to lift the plane, as symmetrically as you can around the, Adjust the thrust limiter on the fore (or aft) hoverjets until the thrust vector lines up with the. The rudder is mostly used when landing and when attempting to line up a shot (in a fighter plane). 2023 Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. More air is better. New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast. This plane will be able to take off, travel somewhere, perform a crew report, and then land. air) that high up. Mount your rear wheels out on the wings for better stability. We still don't know what his craft even looks like yet For all we know it could be a single SRB with canards at the front. In vanilla KSP, wings have a predefined lift factor. Powered by Invision Community. Adding a vertical intake helps. To do this, take a few barrels of your jet fuel, stick them on the back of your aircraft. For more information, please see our Thanks to this guide I did my first ever landing on the VAB helipad! What is Wario dropping at the end of Super Mario Land 2 and why? The buttons show you CoM (Center of Mass, The anvil button), CoL (Center of, Lift, the canard button), and finally CoT (Center of Thrust, the thruster button). http://kerbalspaceprogram.com. Building planes is one of the more fun things to do in Kerbal Space Program, and also leads to more science on kerbin and eventually SSTO spaceplanes. front, then it automatically disbalances the weight moving the weight to the back. You want to keep the CoL slightly behind the CoM, but not too much to not create torque. Which was the first Sci-Fi story to predict obnoxious "robo calls"? Also, layout matters: aircraft with a wing that runs along the length of the craft, but with a narrow wingspan (like the Mk2 fuselages or wing strakes, and to a lesser extend swept or delta wings) will take more effort to pitch over but will roll very, very easily. A bigger twin-boom design using two arrays of 18 Junos on each boom and a single array of 9 on the nose. For all your gaming related, space exploration needs. as a rule of thumb they all lose thrust at higher altitudes and at high velocities. You need about 150 m/s for the landing, less than that for take-off. Cookie Notice Valentina would really appreciate if I could get my airplane off the ground, but it keeps exploding on the runway by the exact same failure mode: The plane veers to one side or another, either I or SAS correct it, which starts a left/right wobble, which builds until one of the wings hits pavement, at which point the craft quickly brings Valentina to her untimely end. Paste as plain text instead, zombie2u, Remembering the FW TA152 and the U2 I put long wings on it and while its turn rate makes an airliner look like a fighter plane it is stable enough at 19000m. The juno 8-pack in a mk2 bay is my go-to, plus, a single Engine nacelle will provide enough air for them all and fuel is self-contained, making the design easy to scale for larger craft. Before you can make a successful plane, you must understand what makes a plane go in places other than the ground - the wings. But be careful and don't crash it! By clicking Accept all cookies, you agree Stack Exchange can store cookies on your device and disclose information in accordance with our Cookie Policy. Can I use the spell Immovable Object to create a castle which floats above the clouds? This ensures that your aircraft will go up once it achieves a high enough speed, and also helps with placing ailerons. Please consider starting a new thread rather than reviving this one. Guest, I've covered all my bases, as far as I can tell: It seems if I turn off SAS, I can prevent the oscillation from starting as it's initiated by some control input, whether from me or SAS, but then the plane veers off the runway until it hits something. This page was last edited on 17 December 2021, at 13:14. Upload or insert images from URL. instead i atach the fuel tanks as radial fuel tanks, or underwing droptanks, so i can slide them on the hull. 2023 Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. The absurdly big wing and control surfaces make it highly economical for high-altitude supercruising. Put the big wings right at the back of the plane. In the crash log, it says that at 00:00:00 there is "Lift-Off!" 2 will usually do nicely, but 3 or 4 are usually better (but of course heavier, and this tutorial assumes you use 2). My 'plane science' is more advanced than my 'rocket science' (career mode) because I got tired of seeing all the high-altitude missions I had on the books and wanted to finish them. I haven't encountered oscillations like that in an airplane but I have encountered them aplenty in case of lightweight probes that have too strong control authority - too good RCS or reaction wheels, so I suspect the source here is the same. [Stock] Brikoleur's Guide to VTOL Aircraft - Kerbal Space Program Forums ps2. But it should most definitely be in front of it, and preferably NEVER move behind it, even with empty fuel tanks. All rights reserved. Powered by Invision Community. You would need a lot of orbits at 69 km to come down into the ground. Wings have been flown both with and without struts, Wheel friction was even decreased to 0.3 for front wheel and increased to 2.0 for rear wheels, as per a tip found online. In other words, your fuel tanks need to be placed symmetrically around the centre of mass so it doesn't shift as the tanks dry, and you need to get your vertical thrust vector exactly aligned with said centre of mass. I can make a design that's quite good at hovering, landing, and maneuvering around a site like a helicopter, but it'll be crap as an actual aerodynamic plane- as the control surfaces and wing setup are designed for forward flight - and for hovering I want something that has no forward-bias (ever started sliding backwards in a vtol craft designed for otherwise normal forward flight? Center of Mass - The average of all weight on the plane, this tool will show where gravity will pull . But it flies horribly, it's all over the place even with SAS on it doesn't fly even remotely stable. Kerbal Space Program - Beginners Guide to Aircraft Aerodynamics (KSP 1.9.1) Subscribe - http://www.youtube.com/c/MikeAben?sub-confirmation=1 Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/MikeAbenPatreon supporters receive early, ad-free, access to videos, kOS and craft files, and more. Absolute Beginner's Playlist - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLB3Ia8aQsDKgGHrNZnz2ca8NVuyj7eHXc Craft File - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cfFBMm4EBhDh8mQ2UuOn9f5DL6jBgM05/view?usp=drivesdk0:00 - Introduction1:42 - Planning our Science Collection3:36 - Starting our Build4:49 - Changing Symmetry Mode6:40 - Adding Fuel8:07 - Adding Jet Engines \u0026 Air Intakes9:10 - Adding Wings \u0026 Elevons10:55 - Adding a Tail12:03 - Understanding Center of Lift16:24 - Understanding Control Surfaces18:31 - Adding Landing Gear22:25 - Summary For comparison the speed of a stable Low Kerbin Orbit at 70 km (outside the atmosphere . It is only visible to you. Thanks for any answers! (Yes, you personally, you lucky thing! Aim to get your speed below 50m/s, and have plenty of water ahead of you; keep the plane level, and pitch up to shed velocity. You might still be able to turn very quickly, but if you don't have enough wing you won't drag your velocity vector with you, which means you force your wings into a stall and bleed energy in a hurry (and can also lose control, depending). That is really weird. About the landing gear, the best way to stop the weird self steering issue is to increase the spring and damper strength. Pasted as rich text. the vertical stabilizer only handles yaw? People put waaaaaaaaay too many control surfaces on things from a lot of the screenshots I see. @italian man Great guide, and for people who would like to know the basics of plane building i will be pointing them here. The same applies to Laythe, although it has gentler topography. For the CoM / CoL relationship to get a stable-yet-maneuverable craft, I'd recommend doing the tweaks in two stages. That's what this guide is all about, so we're not talking about VTOL rockets that don't make use of wings to produce lift. I have some really good tips and tricks to add to your tutorial,but Im on my phone at the moment. Set the thrust limiter on your main engines to zero. First thing you're going to want to do in the SPH is turn on your centre of mass indicator (this is the point that the plane will rotate around when rolling, pitching, or yawing) and your centre of lift indicator (the Aerodynamic Overlay). By Unfortunately, with only these basic parts, landing on the runway won't be easy; a viable alternative is to throttle down to nothing, then belly-flop in the ocean. How do I build a good stable basic plane? : r/KerbalAcademy - Reddit Then this tutorial is for you. There are lots of ways to make this work, but here are some designs I've used successfully: For rocket-powered hover, use Spark,Aerospike, or Vector (if you really need a lotof hover power). Kerbin has some biomes that are difficult to reach any other way. It only takes a minute to sign up. Simply changing the intakes made it fly completely out of control and impossible to land. Now to try it on one of those high altitude missions. The fastest known plane demonstrated, in version 0.23, a top speed of about 2377 m/s relative to Kerbin's surface just short of Mach 7. Next question? I've spent some time scouring the internet for ways of solving this problem, and found a number of pieces of advice on preventing wobble and improving planes in general, some of which made it into the above list, but Valentina's still dying, and I'm tired of Kerbal funerals. What Trump's very stable geniuses lack in intelligence they more than make up for in confidence. Privacy Policy. [1] At this speed it is possible to circumnavigate Kerbin in about 29 minutes at an altitude of 40 km. One of the most finicky problems with VTOL craft is managing centre of mass. What are the arguments for/against anonymous authorship of the Gospels. I was hoping that the new intakes would give it the added altitude. Intriguingly, there is one thing I've found that does prevent the wobble from starting, and that is to use a single engine mounted directly on the back of the fuselage, which prevents using a tail and is ultimately a fairly significant restriction to build around. This item will only be visible to you, admins, and anyone marked as a creator. 19000m. You can pick the main cockpit and rotate the whole craft with it in SPH to see where your CoL will drift. I decided to look into that two intakes thing, and it turns out to make 11-12 m/s difference at 19,000m with my plane. These tend to handle . If you placed the main wings at the centre of mass and then added the smaller wings behind, this should be correct already. Have you set your control surfaces to only respond to appropriate controls? 2. Some more advanced tips you can use in the guide: In stock (no FAR) game to have a stable plane its also important to place control surfaces behind the wings, since their lift increases faster with AoA. First off, make whatever you want, just, start off making sense. In other words classic tripod. Ok, you will want to start building. Intakes are your friend when you use liquid fuel. If it doesn't, he can just make the stabilizer bigger; instead of turning down control authority, just add more fixed wing. by fixing the suspension issues the need to sacrifice traction, and in turn, braking power, is not needed. I've been having some trouble lately in newer with respect to air flow. Also stock fuel priority is in 1.2, allowing very stable CoM builds. Hovering is expensive but you don't really need all that many seconds of hover either for take-off or for landing. Touch down, CUT throttle, CUT engines, BRAKES ON. Hint:The engine pre-cooler and engine nacelle are fantastic air intakes, and they can be mounted in-line or combined with other elements. @gokcet @DANKTER I usually run my front wheel override friction on 0.3 when the front gear has steering disabled, it needs lower friction. Additionally if you have any off-center fuel tanks, double check the fuel is drawn from both at the same rate (same priority). Cookie Notice What version is the Kerbal Space Program demo? Your CoT vector will disappear. The craft will lift off once generated lift + hoverjet thrust overcome its mass. How do I make aircraft stable & smooth to control? Drive gently off the runway and use the huge grassy field to take off, without care in the world about the plane veering to a side. It also depends on whether you're using FAR or another aerodynamic rewrite mod that would change the way your aircraft behave. There's no tutorial in KSP that explains plane design to you and this guide could have taken the lead on that. the front should be close to double the rear gears strength) And Good Guide! that being said, one thing I noticed is that you said the whiplash is for SSTOs, this isn't true, it's used for high speed atmospheric flight, it doesn't have a closed cycle mode, so it can't be used to complete an orbital trajectory. Can't remember where I saw/read about it - Scott Manley maybe? Your link has been automatically embedded. When your airspeed is near zero and you're above your landing spot, reduce throttle until you start descending. Turns out it was wheel positioning! Your plane is almost finished. Now stick a jet engine on the back, and don't forget to put an air intake or other air-sucking device (you can find them in aerodynamics) on the airplane. I didn't try for 20000m as it probably wouldn't do well. That would oscillate slowly between 16000m and 17000m but was otherwise fully controllable. Why did DOS-based Windows require HIMEM.SYS to boot? Interesting, though even being exponential theres a chance it starts out so small it takes longer than a takeoff to reach noticeable levels. You've landed. Of course the cargo capacity is less than with a HTOL since you're using some of it to haul those vertical thrusters. They sometimes coincide with elevators. I would really suggest this guide for beginners trying to get into the world of planes in Kerbal Space Program. This one is balanced with reaction wheels. Now stick a jet engine on the back, and don't forget to put an . E.g. Your plane will be slow and have limited range, or you'll have to make it a lot bigger to brute-force your way around that limitation. Just like with rockets, get some courageous Kerbal in the cockpit and let's get started! The CoL (Center of Lift) is a blue ball. Use Pilot Assistant - it's SAS is meant for aircraft rather than general ( read: rocket ) use. Ill link it if interested. How do I make aircraft stable & smooth to control? She has a horrible turn rate and oscillates a couple of thousand meters at cruise, but it's flyable. Nah, the stabilizer will do it. Getting all of this into one craft is a pretty intricate business, however. Hit the launch button and watch your magnificent bird fly! You know you don't have enough if you're getting engine flame-outs on take-off or, worse, landing. I actually like canard layouts, but I'm going to endorse this post because it's a simple, easy way to do it. We look at the principles behind designing a basic jet.