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[Rose]

My first working plane was before they showed center of mass and lift. Interestingly, I couldn't re-create it using them.

[Twi]

Your first plane should have the center of lift a LITTLE bit behind the center of mass and make sure you even out the fuel tanks as they deplete the center of mass will move so act accordingly, but most of the time having center of lift behind the center of mass is the best way to go, always dont get lazy on lift power you need LOTS of them to be stable and also these little flap thingy? place as many of them as possible, at least thats how i do it and serves me well.

Flaps also exploit the aerodynamic system, so there's that.

This also brings me to a question I've had: Why is it good to have the center of lift behind the center of mass, anyways? I mean, I've seen that it seems to really help with takeoff, at least. But I really dunno why.

[Skyrunner]

Someday I'll have to try this mechjeb thing I keep hearing of.
My experience with mechjeb autopilot has been rather poor. It fails at landing.

If it fails at landing it must be because you have a too poor TWR during suicidal burn ( last full thrust burn before touchdown ). Myself never had any problem for rocket landing, as for plane landing well i always do them manualy, never tried auto-landing with planes.

Also when you do a rocket landing you must make sure you start from a high enough orbit or well... wont work.

I had four radial tanks full of fuel.

Mechjeb didn't even engage the engines, preferring to maneuver into landing position but not actually doing anything. I tried three times then just landed manually, on the Mun.

[da_nang]

Your first plane should have the center of lift a LITTLE bit behind the center of mass and make sure you even out the fuel tanks as they deplete the center of mass will move so act accordingly, but most of the time having center of lift behind the center of mass is the best way to go, always dont get lazy on lift power you need LOTS of them to be stable and also these little flap thingy? place as many of them as possible, at least thats how i do it and serves me well.

Flaps also exploit the aerodynamic system, so there's that.

This also brings me to a question I've had: Why is it good to have the center of lift behind the center of mass, anyways? I mean, I've seen that it seems to really help with takeoff, at least. But I really dunno why.

Load up a basic spaceplane, turn on CoM, CoL and CoT and rotate its pitch. Note the resultant torque direction (including drag) and vary it for various amounts of torque.

[forsaken1111]

Someday I'll have to try this mechjeb thing I keep hearing of.
My experience with mechjeb autopilot has been rather poor. It fails at landing.

If it fails at landing it must be because you have a too poor TWR during suicidal burn ( last full thrust burn before touchdown ). Myself never had any problem for rocket landing, as for plane landing well i always do them manualy, never tried auto-landing with planes.

Also when you do a rocket landing you must make sure you start from a high enough orbit or well... wont work.

I had four radial tanks full of fuel.

Mechjeb didn't even engage the engines, preferring to maneuver into landing position but not actually doing anything. I tried three times then just landed manually, on the Mun.

Thats... odd. Did you have electricity? I believe it does require electricity to function.

[Aseaheru]

it requires the power.

[ShoesandHats]

Well, I got caught by the gravity of Jool. Now, that in it of itself might not seem very big, but keep in mind that this rocket was originally designed to get to Duna. I didn't establish an orbit around Jool, but I still got caught by it. The fact that this rocket can get that far impresses me. Keep in mind, this thing has a heavy-ass lander sitting on top of it the whole time.

[Putnam]

I recently used a rocket intended for the mun to get out of the solar system

(with some help from tylo, mun and jool)

[Knight of Fools]

Yay! I finally landed on the Mun! Thanks, Mech Jeb!

Someday I'll have to try this mechjeb thing I keep hearing of.
My experience with mechjeb autopilot has been rather poor. It fails at landing.

If it fails at landing it must be because you have a too poor TWR during suicidal burn ( last full thrust burn before touchdown ). Myself never had any problem for rocket landing, as for plane landing well i always do them manualy, never tried auto-landing with planes.

Also when you do a rocket landing you must make sure you start from a high enough orbit or well... wont work.

I had four radial tanks full of fuel.

Mechjeb didn't even engage the engines, preferring to maneuver into landing position but not actually doing anything. I tried three times then just landed manually, on the Mun.

It's important to select a target on the surface for landing, I think. At least, Mech Jeb didn't seem to want to do much about the unoptimal horizontal speed I was going until I did that. Heck, Mech Jeb even handled having to eject a set of engines during braking pretty well. I'm pretty sure I would have crashed and burned even if conditions were ideal.

[ThtblovesDF]

Today I learned that rcm thrusters can overheat and explode. TMYK...

[jocan2003]

Today I learned that rcm thrusters can overheat and explode. TMYK...

Never saw RCS truster blow up on me o.O

[Twi]

Today I learned that rcm thrusters can overheat and explode. TMYK...

Never saw RCS truster blow up on me o.O

Fun fact: Everything in Kerbal Space Program, including structural components and wings, can overheat and explode.

Heat Tolerance stat, nuff said.

[tryrar]

....what the hell were you doing that caused the RCS block to overheat?!

[Girlinhat]

Probably mounting it to the bottom of a mainsail.

[Twi]

Probably mounting it to the bottom of a mainsail.

While I feel ashamed to say this as a Bay12er: WHY IN THE NAME OF ALL THINGS HOLY WOULD YOU DO THAT?!?