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VTOL X1

2,680 lowobservable  8.9 years ago

EXPERIENCED PILOTS ONLY!

This is an experimental VTOL aircraft which is designed to land on it's tail.
Take off: Move slider all the way up to position vehicle vertically.
Throttle up to 30 and press 1 to detach (this also turns on TVC)

Land - landing is the tricky part because you essentially need to fly/glide backwards. To do this:
While in forward flight, go 90° vertical while decreasing throttle to around 20% and well above the airfield (for Murphy something like 5000ft. This gives you enough space to balance out).
Then press 2 and use your TVC to balance perfectly upright while you decend at around -100 knots (it is - because it is backwards) Control your speed with throttle to around -50knots.
When about to touch down, be aware that it takes less throttle to hover at lower altitudes, so decrease throttle.

Max touch down speed - 50knots.

You can also land by flying backwards right into the Runway. To do this, be flying at a decent speed, then activate 2 and 5. Balance out and fly towards the Runway. Above the Runway, position 90°, deselect 2 and move VTOL back to reverse thrust.

Sorry for the long instructions. This is a really fun challenge!

General Characteristics

  • Created On Android
  • Wingspan 32.5ft (9.9m)
  • Length 92.7ft (28.3m)
  • Height 21.3ft (6.5m)
  • Empty Weight 6,153lbs (2,790kg)
  • Loaded Weight 28,461lbs (12,910kg)

Performance

  • Power/Weight Ratio 0.473
  • Wing Loading 42.0lbs/ft2 (204.9kg/m2)
  • Wing Area 678.1ft2 (63.0m2)
  • Drag Points 9468

Parts

  • Number of Parts 127
  • Control Surfaces 16
  • Performance Cost 621
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    Np @lowobservable

    8.9 years ago
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    @Stingray haha I wish! :D maybe I'll try make a Falcon 9

    8.9 years ago
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    50.4k Stingray

    (Go get a job with SpaceX instead of burning CPU time on SP) @lowobservable

    8.9 years ago
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    @hadesrocksz @Stingray thanks!

    8.9 years ago
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    50.4k Stingray

    Fun!

    8.9 years ago
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    Woooh! Challenging but fun!

    8.9 years ago
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    Yeah

    8.9 years ago
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    @Noman0rumeral what do you mean it fell? Like it landed then fell on its side?

    8.9 years ago
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    I almost landed but before it stopped it fell

    8.9 years ago
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    @kimo thanks for the quick upvote! Let me know how you go with the landing!

    8.9 years ago