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[MaximumZero]

I find the upper limit on plane speed to be almost exactly mach 4.

After that my engines usually overheat and asplode.

I forget how fast that is in m/s though.

1361.

[Akura]

Care to elaborate on what you mean?

Pretty sure he doesn't want the drag from that strut hanging off the front. The only thing I can think of is a decoupler, but without a front landing gear, landing might get a bit interesting.

[Graknorke]

Care to elaborate on what you mean?

Pretty sure he doesn't want the drag from that strut hanging off the front. The only thing I can think of is a decoupler, but without a front landing gear, landing might get a bit interesting.

Struts and landing gear are physicsless, so that's a non-problem.
As for landing without front gear, you could go the 1960s space race route and use landing legs instead of wheels.

[Rose]

Actually, FAR snapped it off like the twig that it is.

I was more thinking about how ugly it is.

[Graknorke]

FAR

Well there's your problem with that.
The solution is to not have a plane where you need to have the gear so far out from the body.

[Skyrunner]

I have a Mun lander I want to send up, but its classic shape of a command module plus a lander makes for a ton of drag. How do you launch that sort of ship using NEAR/FAR without the rocket flipping? I tried using Procedural Fairings, but the fairings don't attach to the contents and just clip straight through it when I try a gravity turn.

[jocan2003]

Go from puller to pusher from pusher to puller style engines? Might be a designing nightmare to acheive but should be doable-ish.

[Putnam]

Go from puller to pusher from pusher to puller style engines? Might be a designing nightmare to acheive but should be doable-ish.

Why in the world would that help?

EDIT: Just remembered the name, this is referring to the pendulum rocket fallacy.

[nogoodnames]

The pendulum fallacy applies when the idea is hanging a mass below a rocket engine so gravity keeps it pointed in the right direction, like a pendulum. Since gravity acts on the whole rocket with the same force, it doesn't actually work.

However, with aerodynamics it's different. An object with a large amount of drag sitting on top of a rocket will be unstable, but having most drag near the base of the rocket, below the center of gravity, will help keep it pointed in the direction of motion. This is why lots of rockets have fins.

Here's a picture that explains it:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

So for Skyrunner's problem, converting to a puller-style rocket (with the payload at the bottom) is a perfectly valid solution. Using large fins that can overcome the drag of the payload would also work, albeit at a cost to performance.

[Skyrunner]

I broke the payload into two and launched them separately. I immediately regretted it because it was sooo shaky and unstable.

Also, my lander module had a tendancy to spin out when accelerating, even though its center of mass and thrust were aligned, and all parts were attached symmetrically. I have no idea why it did that. All the tanks were loaded symmetically too... ended up just keeping SAS on and accelerating slowly.

[Sean Mirrsen]

Actually, FAR snapped it off like the twig that it is.

I was more thinking about how ugly it is.

If you really need an extender for front landing gear, use a wing piece. Or just don't elevate the front gear at all and use a small engine to pitch up and balance on the rear landing gear at takeoff.

[miauw62]

I got my lander inside the procedural fairings just fine o-o
You should probably just use much more struts so the payload doesn't wobble.

[BFEL]

How do I deal with front wheels like this one?

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I'm...far more concerned with the crazy wings then the crazy wheels.

Tip for you and anyone else using FAR, less is more. Throwing extra ginormous wings in all directions fixes nothing, it just makes everything look insane.

Focus on making a nice big and solid pair of wings from your sides, then stick two tiny yaw stabilizers up near the ends, its really all you need.

_\____O____/_

^roughly what my planes end up looking like from the rear, though the payload (the "O") is usually flatter.

[Putnam]

So you make your planes XFA-36 style?

[BFEL]

So you make your planes XFA-36 style?

Sorta, usually I don't throw the yaw stabilizers right at the tip, and I would try and make the main wings more into one solid piece, but yeah, that looks good.

Also note that I make pretty much every plane with thermal turbojets from Interstellar. Because they can fly in atmosphere for literally 10 years non stop