Betelgeuse, the right shoulder and final installment of the Orion Series, is an outsize cargo transport of impressive size and weight comparable to planes like the C-5 Galaxy or An-225 (though Betelgeuse is smaller than those by a little bit). It is surprisingly agile for something with so much mass and sprawl, and when freed from its monstrous low-altitude drag at higher altitudes, it can streak through the sky at speeds exceeding 1000mph. The speeds coupled with the sheer amount of fuel contained in the plane give Betelgeuse an incredibly long range. It is equipped with lights, flaps and parachutes.
Flaps are controlled with VTOL.
Lights are activated with AG1.
Parachutes are deployed with AG2.
AG8 shuts off the outboard engines, for lower speed cruising and more precise approach throttling.
To take off, use a lower throttle since the nose will lift too quickly at maximum thrust. Rotate slowly at 200 mph, and keep your angle of attack low enough to prevent the bottom of the fuselage aft of the landing gear from striking the runway. The flaps are mostly useless due to their positioning, and the sheer size of the rest of the plane, so they are mostly for show.
To land, cut throttle to bleed away airspeed (will happen quickly thanks to high drag). At 300 mph, throttle to 10% (20% when running on 2 engines only) and lower landing gear. Use throttle and pitch to slowly descend toward the runway while maintaining an angle of attack that keeps the nose gear from touching first. Use caution during the approach, as a slight yaw instability will manifest at low speeds. Betelgeuse has an incredible amount of momentum, so right after touchdown, use AG2 to deploy parachutes to aid in braking.
Specifications
General Characteristics
- Created On Windows
- Wingspan 219.6ft (66.9m)
- Length 166.5ft (50.8m)
- Height 38.7ft (11.8m)
- Empty Weight 445,337lbs (202,002kg)
- Loaded Weight 540,483lbs (245,159kg)
Performance
- Power/Weight Ratio 0.498
- Wing Loading 48.4lbs/ft2 (236.4kg/m2)
- Wing Area 11,162.5ft2 (1,037.0m2)
- Drag Points 69958
Parts
- Number of Parts 149
- Control Surfaces 16
- Performance Cost 1,090
@SHCow XML code does have a drag modifier, but the value is reset, recalculated, and overwritten automatically when the game loads.
@SHCow The drag calculation process is inherently flawed. And the effect of minor asymmetries on the aircraft's mass to total moment is very exaggerated. Not to pick on the devs or anything, but the core mechanics of the game itself need a lot of improvement.
@SHCow Careful with the decals. It's really easy for hard-edged pieces to produce undesired drag effects.
@SHCow You're certainly deserving of the praise. The paintjob you did on the S/MTD was very stylish.
Not to sound sappy or anything, but I witnessed your growth as a builder from the moment you posted your first plane up to now. It was cool seeing you improve.
@SHCow I know. He's got skills. You seem to be pretty good at it too. Better than me. The fanciest I've done is either the Conroy Tri Turbo Three alternate livery, or the private jet with the tail logo.
@SHCow Right? The part count is too high for my tastes, but you just can't fault that craftsmanship. Superb!
@SHCow Pretty sure this is it. It's absolutely stunning visually. And the handling isn't bad either.
@SHCow No prob. As it is now, I'd call it one of the better F-15s on the site. You should be proud of it.
@SHCow Redoing the pylons could be hit or miss. It's a coinflip. This game gets pretty stupid when it comes to calculating drag.
Yeah, setting the wingtips to a higher-lift setting will offset some of the torque, making the auto-roll much slower. It will still be there, but it will be less of an issue. I tested it, and it's not that bad. The plane is in releasable condition in my opinion. Your trim controls for pitch are inverted, btw.
@SHCow I've determined the source of the roll is a very slight difference between the drag points on a piece of the weapons pylon on the wing. One side has a part that is pinker than the opposite.
I found you can counter most of the rolling by setting both layers of the right wingtip to semi-symmetric.
Very impressive work by the way.
@SHCow HAHA. Heavens no. I gave up on trying to fix auto-rolls after spending countless hours trying to get my P-38 to fly level. They are typically REALLY hard to fix, and seem to plague most complex builds.
However, I'm willing to take a look at it to see if I could alleviate some of the torque. It won't be perfect though.
@SHCow There is an attribute in the second string of the XML file called "size=". I wonder what fiddling around with that does.
@SHCow That would require editing each part individually, then using math to determine the correct coordinates of each part, and how much heavier they should be. That could take weeks!
@SHCow Yeah, the F-15 is probably 2nd in planes I know the most about. Behind the P-38 of course. 3rd is probably the C-5.
@SHCow You don't have to give me that much credit. A mention in the description is good enough.
@SHCow I really wish mirroring didn't automatically add a bunch of unnecessary part connections while deleting disjointed ones. It would be so much more convenient.
@SHCow That is a good idea. Seems difficult to implement though. Hinges and no-collision parts would do it best. The ramps' position is controlled by the flight computer when the switches on the left-hand panel are set to "AUTO". When the switches are flipped to "EMERG", the ramps are locked in the fully open position.
Also, you might even need 5 rotators for the stabilators, since the flight computer also automatically adjusts them to compensate for the pitching when the airbrake is deployed.
@SHCow OK. Good luck.
@SHCow I usually brute force things. I try several different approaches until one of them works. If that doesn't work, I start analyzing things very closely, deducing the source of the problem by process of elimination aided by the information in the XML file. I'm a problem solver by nature. Military mind, attention to detail, that sort of thing.
@Sunnyskies np
@MAHADI Thanks.
the color is Sunny...
@Treadmill103 Thanks!
@SHCow Yes. Just a basic set of instructions on an unlisted starting point will suffice if you want me to fix your plane. I could also start from the beginning on the original downscaled version too, which would probably be easiest for my work style, but would undo whatever work you already did.
@SHCow Yeah, what?