KerbalX

Details

• Type: SPH
• Class: aircraft
• Part Count: 42
• Pure Stock

Description

I love synchropters!

Version 2.1: Higher clearance tail, more stable prop rotation direction.

Synchropters have two rotors that intermesh like gears, it is a hypnotic but scary arrangement of rotors, but I assure you the blades do not hit each other (you can turn on ‘interact with self’ and see it is true… just don’t unsynch the engines!). In real life this arrangement of rotors has been used for only a few commercial helicopters. It has lift and stability advantages over normal tail rotor helicopters (KSP replicates these lift and stability advantages well) but control authority requires much stronger hydraulics to pitch and tilt the whole dual rotor gear box (Which KSP luckily does not simulate at all with its magics non-power consuming instantaneous blade pitching) or weird blade flap systems. Because of the heavier or more complex control systems needed it never became mainstream verse purely pull-wire controlled tail rotor helicopters, worse if you want to invest in more complex control systems then you might as well go with coaxial rotors to get even more efficent lift than intermesh rotors, thus the synchropter sits in a rarely needed place between the tail rotor and co-axial helicopter arrangements, which is sad because the synchropter is such an elegant and hypnotic design.

A stock aircraft called Eggbeater 2.1. Built with 42 of the finest parts, its root part is Mark2Cockpit.Built in the SPH in KSP version 1.9.0.

Specifications

Max Horizontal Speed: 50 m/s with jets off, 120 m/s with jets on.
Max Cargo Lift Capacity: >17 tons, <34 tons.
Range: 550 km via jet cruise.
Max Altitude: ~6000 m on hover (hover becomes unstabe to control at and beyond this altitude), ~8000 on jet cruise.
Cruise Altitude: ~6500 m at 120 m/s on jet cruise.